By Grace Polaneczky – Guest Writer
Eloquent musicality, moving lyricism and suave production integrate to make Z an admirable and gratifying work.
A fresh face on the independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment, American recording artist Solana Rowe, better known as SZA, presents a resplendent blend of likable pop melodies and brutally honest lyrics
Incorporating aspects of R&B, jazz, classic rock, 80s pop and experimental genres to create a multi-faceted and unique listening experience in her third EP, Z.
The EP has 10 tracks and displays stylistic diversity, in part because of the handful of big names who produced the EP including XXYYXX, Dae One, Mac Miller and Kendrick Lamar.
Z opens with the track “Ur,” an easy-listening introduction to the chill ambience of the rest of the album, followed by the emotional highlight of the record, “Childs Play,” produced by XXYYXX. The song samples “About You” by XXYYXX featuring Chancelor Bennett, better known as Chance the Rapper.
The track is nostalgic but also depicts bittersweet memories of childhood,”Rippin the heads off all my Barbie dolls/Toss em to the side,” and is perhaps the track where Rowe delves into herself the deepest. Bennett creates the same sad but sweet atmosphere as the song fades out in in a swelling vocal duet singing “Memories keep playing back/All the nights we used to love.”
Rowe grew up listening almost exclusively to jazz music which is clearly influenced in her songs. This is probably most noticeable on “Sweet November” where low rumbling guitar and whispery vocals gives it a soulful and bluesy sound similar to that of artists like Amy Winehouse.
“Julia” is an exuberant contemporary take on 80s synth pop that picks up the pace after the slightly more melancholy than the track “Child’s Play,” followed by “Warm Winds” featuring Isaiah Rashad which has a meandering feel-good vibe that tones down the high energy of the previous song.
“HiiiJack” is a gentle love song at its core, flowing effortlessly with meticulous beats behind it, vowing “I’d stay/For you, for you.”
The album closes with “Omega,” an ardent cry to the divine, “Palms to the sky/Adonai, ya Allah.” Rowe, who was raised by a Christian mother and a Muslim father, manifests a sense of vulnerability in this song as she sings of giving herself to a higher power, wrapping up the album in an otherworldly haze.
Although it is only a 10-track EP, Z packs incredible strength and resonates with with the listener in a way that even more seasoned musicians cannot achieve in a much longer album.
