SZA rose to the top this year as she became one of the nine most nominated artists in Grammy history. In total, SZA has been nominated twenty four times, but has only won four Grammys, three of which she won this year. This year, SZA was nominated for nine Grammys, one being Album of the Year, which SZA lost to Taylor Swift. While this is not surprising, it is a little disappointing.
Taylor Swift took home two Grammys that night. It is no secret why she won the album of the year Grammy, her album titled Midnights was her eleventh consecutive number one album on the billboard charts. It sold over a million copies and made about 1.578 million dollars in its first week. Based on sales alone, Taylor’s album is the obvious winner. However, SZA’s album was ultimately more deserving of the Grammy for album of the year. It was more lyrically compelling, unique and personal.
SZA’s album, SOS, was released in 2022 and was a massive hit. Both SZA’s albums and Taylor’s usually revolve around their past relationships, but SZA’s songs like Kill Bill and Seek and Destroy go deeper than just insulting SZA’s exes. In Kill Bill, SZA provides nuance, as she talks about still loving her ex, but knowing he was toxic. She also laments that her and her ex have gone separate ways,that they’ve grown apart from each other, and that’s ok. She still wishes the best for him, even though he hurt her. Comparatively, Karma by Taylor Swift is simply about her ex boyfriend receiving, well, karma.
SZA’s Seek and Destroy was especially compelling, reflecting on breaking up with a different boyfriend. She says that she broke off the relationship not because of anything he did but because SZA wanted to focus on herself. That alone is so powerful and mature. To acknowledge the fact that she had been the one who wronged her boyfriend and really just wanted the best for him is incredibly relatable. SZA repeats how she is sorry for “ruining him,” but how she had to for both of their health.
Compared to SZA’s powerful SOS album, Swift’s seemed almost shallow. It was surface level, and while the songs were fun, they were by no means anthems. Unlike SZA, not all of the songs on Midnights were particularly special, and not as deserving of the Grammy for best album as SZA. This goes to show that even though SZA’s album was lyrically better and more mature, numbers and monetary profit seemed to matter more to the voters.
