Top 66 SZA Quotes

You can take care of your body, and it will low-key show you respect in turn.

I’ve fried my hair off. I’ve shaved my hair off. I’ve done it all.

I think we all do: I think we wonder if we’re supposed to be here, if we’re doing the right thing, if we even want to be here. At least, I do all the time.

I want to excel at something, to follow through, to not be afraid.

Oh, Instagram stresses me out on a very deep level!

Wearing a hijab never made me feel any more conservative – it made me feel safe. Then, after 9/11, I became the butt of a joke on the playground, so I stopped wearing it. Kids can be really cruel when you’re the only black girl in your Girl Scout troop.

My anxiety stems from my lack of control no matter what.

I wasn’t popular in high school; I had no friends.

I listen to Stevie Nicks.

Music, or the type of music that I’m writing, is very personal.

In one way, I want to heal people.

I don’t listen to my music if I’m not making it.

It’s interesting to all of a sudden be considered valuable.

I don’t have a primary doctor, a primary hairstylist, a primary anything. I don’t even have a primary address! Everything is just whenever I can find one.

I used to be very revenge-motivated, but that’s just because I’m a Scorpio. Now I’m more so, like, practice honesty just because it makes you feel better.

I worry so much. Like, ‘Damn, how can I be excellent?’ But it’s a journey.

Biochemical interactions are very interesting to me.

I have an abundant amount of love in my life, and I’m grateful for that.

My music is touching people in whatever spaces they need to be touched in.

I’ve been known to wear pajamas onstage for the sole reason of wanting to make sure I’m free enough to execute new things vocally onstage and give my best performance possible.

My parents wanted me to go to school.

I was born in St. Louis, but I’m from Maplewood, New Jersey. Maplewood is completely different than the rest of New Jersey. It’s very small. It’s quietly affluent but more low-key. Lauryn Hill is from my town, though.

Reading makes me so sleepy. Honestly, I’m a visual learner.

My parents are really conservative. My dad is Muslim, and my mom is the most conservative woman you’ve ever met. They’re very aristocratic in the most quaint suburban way.

It starts with trusting yourself, even if people are telling you you’re too young to trust yourself.

My mom was an executive at AT&T, a global account lady. I have no idea what she did. I just know she was never home and speaks several languages.

I don’t want to speak negativity into existence.

When you’re, like, 190 pounds, dark-skinned, and a new artist that no one really cares about, people don’t really take the time to make you look beautiful.

Don’t get discouraged with your skin when it doesn’t do what you want it to do… Give it some time. That’s the only way to get to know yourself.

My mom is a Pan-Africanist. My dad is still Orthodox Sunni Muslim, but he’s super fun. He worked in television for years. He was a Black Panther.

I got a lot of crap for being named SZA but not being affiliated with Wu-Tang, and being a girl.

I love classical jazz.

I was raised orthodox Muslim. Very sheltered, very conservative.

I definitely want to get into environmental science and environmental politics, learning a lot more and preserving what’s left of the world. That’s such a sacred circle to be in. I’d love to contribute to that.

I don’t have any control over what actually happens except for that I have full control over my will for myself, my intention, and why I’m there. That’s all that matters.

I love Modest Mouse.

So many people meet and become friends at my shows that didn’t know each other before.

Music is my form of cleansing and introspection, so I have to grow in order to accomplish it.

When I sing full voice, I get nervous because I get nasal and abrasive and a little scratchy.

I love food, so having a lot of food allergies now and just having a really sensitive body, it forces me to be very mindful and conscious and eat when I’m hungry, not just when I’m bored, and just really slow down. Everything in moderation.

I do a lot of strange things.

I went through this phase of Spandex, high heels, and fur coats when I was my late teens and early twenties; before then, I lived in overalls and baggy T-shirts.

Listening to Alabama Shakes made me less self-conscious about my voice.

I don’t enjoy being interviewed. I feel like it exhausts a lot of my energy. I feel empty after.

The album that defined my childhood was probably Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Greatest Hits,’ whereas my half-sister, who didn’t have the same conservative upbringing, was listening to Cash Money and crunk.

Every day I grapple between ‘I’m going to get married’ and ‘I’m going to spend the rest of my life alone with a poodle.’

I learned everything the hard way – like, literally, everything. I know that God does that to people that he has lessons for. I just wish that I had learned less extreme lessons.

I used to be very figurative and also just kind of scared to talk about the way I felt in a literal way.

Control is not real, and I’m really understanding that every day. It’s about the acceptance of relinquishing control that makes it powerful for you.

I’m a Scorpio with a Pisces moon. I am very critical of myself. I’m actually way less critical of others than I am of myself. I’m in my own head a lot. It’s hard and really discouraging.

There’s something different about growing up black and Muslim, especially in New Jersey. It’s like when I left the mosque and I left my dad, I felt unprotected, but I also felt a weird sense of pride, like I was involved in this other way of living that was cool to me.

People grapple with labeling me as hip-hop, R&B, or pop, and it’s interesting to me. I’m just making music.

I feel like when you say ‘activist,’ you have to have so much clarity, and I don’t always necessarily have so much clarity on how I want to help others, I just have this weird, deep urge to help other people. I’m trying to let God guide my body and use it as whatever kind of vehicle or vessel it needs to be.

On Halloween, because we don’t celebrate it, my dad would drive me somewhere, anywhere different. Like Little Italy in New York to walk around and teach me all about the food and culture.

I don’t feel ashamed to be loud, which is an argument I’ve had with lots of men, who thought I was too sassy and unladylike.

I think music is honest and will make you do honest things.

When I just decided to be myself, that’s when you get questions like, ‘How do you feel about feminism?’ And I have no idea; this is just when I decide what I’m not tolerating and what I genuinely think and a little bit in between.

As long as you’re being honest and there’s intention in what you’re doing, then I think that energy permeates your field and becomes like a homing signal for other people with like energies.

I was unpopular my whole life.

In the real world, I kind of, like, thrived a little bit. The things that were awkward about me at school, like being hyper passionate… I realized, ‘Oh I’m my own person, and I have my own idiosyncrasies and nuances that I don’t mind.’

I use Ecoco EcoStyler gel, but the alcohol-free protein one. That’s the key.

I love cuffing season. It’s a very inspiring season for those who want to be inspired.

It’s so hard for me to focus on things for a long time that I’m not incredibly passionate about.

How many thick black women are there singing whatever I’m singing, surrounded by rappers, but also from the suburbs? I can’t really judge someone else for judging me!

I live in my imagination, so sometimes movies help me get lost. I feel like I’m in it.

I love empowering women. I think it’s crazy: if you ever try to belittle women, you’re playing yourself – I ride with whoever rides with me.