Earlier this month, Variety named SZA their Hitmaker of the Year, thanks to her stellar December 2022 album SOS which led to nine Grammy nominations. For this honor, Variety conducted an interview with SZA, where they had an in-depth discussion about her musical influences.
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“What kinds of music were playing in your house when you were growing up?” Variety reporter Jem Aswad asked to begin the conversation.
Once approached with the topic, SZA opened up about many of her favorite artists, and which ones can be found on her Spotify playlists these days. In terms of music from her childhood, she made sure to bring up rock groups like Good Charlotte, Fall Out Boy, blink-182, and Limp Bizkit. Then when discussing some of her favorite artists at the moment, she revealed a lot of acts, both old and new, that have been in her rotation. These included Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Cleo Sol, Hiatus Kaiyote, Incognito, Amy Winehouse, Jill Scott, Bjork, Animal Collective, Erykah Badu, Marvin Gaye, Coldplay, and more.
The most interesting portion of SZA and Aswad’s chat, though, came after the former noted that she had been listening to rock bands like Creed and Nickelback. To this, the reporter “burst out laughing.”
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“I know, I know!” SZA responded, aware these bands aren’t universally loved. “Wait, you know what’s crazy? Do white people hate Creed and Nickelback?”
“Black people love them! They rock! That shit is bomb! Why do you all hate it so much?” she added.
After the reporter called Creed and Nickelback cliché, SZA again went on the defensive.
“I like Creed so much. ‘Higher’? Why are you hating on it?” SZA asked. “Have you ever felt more inspired and uplifted in your life? I’m in the car and I’m blasting ‘Higher,’ I feel like it’s a gospel song, the vocals are going crazy and it’s also somehow slightly romantic, it just feels so fun. Because even if it’s cliche, he’s so fucking dead ass! I will be a Creed fan forever. Like, it started just on a whim in the shower, ‘Oh, let’s play this,’ and then it became a week of Creed and Nickelback.”
Photo by Timothy Norris/FilmMagic
