About

Ctrl (pronounced "control") is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter SZA. It was released on June 9, 2017, on Top Dawg Entertainment/RCA Records. Originally scheduled for release in late 2015, it was delayed by SZA's experience of "a kind of blinding paralysis brought on by anxiety." She worked and reworked the album until the record company took away her hard drive in the spring of 2017.

SZA wrote most of the album's lyrics and collaborated with producers including Craig Balmoris, Frank Dukes, Carter Lang, Scum and ThankGod4Cody to achieve its sound. The efforts resulted in a primarily neo-soul and R&B album, with elements of hip-hop, electronic, indie and soul. Lyrically the album has a confessional theme, which touch upon SZA's personal experiences and complexities of modern love; including desire, competition, jealousy, sexual politics, social media and low self-esteem. – Wiki

“SZA unravels through largely improvised meditations on love and sex and all the promise and abandonment that can result from both. From a side-chick manifesto ("The Weekend") to the appreciation of a rom-com icon that mulls the singer's own self-worth ("Drew Barrymore"), SZA flourishes in her own hazy spotlight.” – Rolling Stones

“It seemed intimate and diaristic, but it was never one-note: SZA was at turns happy, sad, liberated, hurt, confused, tormented, jealous, anxious. And while a sense of sexual freedom and youthful energy ran through the record, she was never blind to the consequences of it. Normal Girl wrestled with this directly, a celebration of difference bound up with a longing for acceptance that felt almost Morrissey-esque.” – The Guardian