In 2022. Sza’s SOS solidified her position as an amazing artist with a knack for translating her deepest and innermost thoughts into relatable and heartfelt music. The album became an instant success, and made it on charts like Apple Music’s Top 100 Albums. On December 20th 2024, SZA dropped the deluxe version of the SOS album, “Lana”, containing all the songs from the original album and 15 new amazing tracks such as “Scorose Baby Daddy” and “Kitchen,” and is even more candid and vulnerable than the original SOS.

Although SOS Deluxe was released in the end 2024, the original release was rumored in 2023. However,  it had to be cancelled and songs had to be remade due to multiple leaks of the tracks being released by fans. SZA has mentioned her negative feelings towards people leaking her music and said in a Variety interview that, “When people leak my songs, they ruin them. Then it’s not mine any more, it’s yours. It’s something unfinished that you decided should be shared. And it’s like, now I’m not releasing it”. A lot of the leaked songs resulted in unreleased music and soundtracks not making the album. SZA also explained in November of 2023 that the album started becoming a lot of songs and  could be its own album, justifying the later release date. However, after almost a full year of having to listen to unreleased songs on soundcloud and reddit, the new album was announced to release in December of 2024. Although it was rumored on platforms like soundcloud and reddit that Lana would be its own project, some possible reasons for Lana to be a deluxe version of SOS could be to build on the album’s original success, and because many of the songs still dive into and are related to the creative themes and feelings expressed in SOS, and deluxe albums are a popular way for music artists to reintroduce their albums and build up support by adding collaborations from other artists, like how SZA has made more collaborations with Kendrick Lamar. 

Unlike the diverse amount of genres in SOS, Lana is more aesthetically coherent with warm ballads and tempos throughout the album, and feels more like her album CTRL. Across the new tracks, SZA shows more of her vulnerable sides to herself as she sings about her weaknesses and acknowledging her flaws all while trying to find peace in herself. For example, in “What Do I Do” and “Smoking on my Ex Pack”  she sings about having to deal with breaking off from a toxic partner while moving on, and in songs “Forgiveness” and “Conceited” she sings about trying to focus on her self worth. SZA’s “What Do I Do” focuses on dealing with toxic relationships and cheating, as the song begins and ends with a phone call and SZA sings about contemplating what to do about cheating throughout the song. Throughout the album, SZA continues to show her growth lyrically and musically, combining calm instrumentals and beats while sharing her meaningful and relatable lyrics. 

Lana has moments of clarity and vulnerability where SZA sings about the struggle of healing and facing your struggles while also trying to find the deeper meaning within her problems that she must go through. Although the wait for the album was extremely long, it was certainly worth the wait and it not only builds off of the success of SOS but also has amazing new tracks that are not so similar to the songs on the original album. After listening and obsessing over the entire album, I give it a full 5/5 and am ever more excited for the tour with her and Kendrick Lamar.