SZA says she’s “grateful” for her wins at the 2024 Grammy Awards, despite some fans thinking she was snubbed.
The singer led the Grammy nominations with nine and went home on Sunday with three awards including Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Ghost in the Machine” with Phoebe Bridgers, Best R&B Song for “Snooze,” and Best Progressive R&B Album for SOS.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter on Monday, SZA expressed gratitude for having “survived” the ceremony, where she was also tapped to perform.
“I didn’t crash and burn on national television, and I’m so grateful. Had I not won a lick, won a single thing, I would’ve been so grateful to just have survived the night,” said SZA. “So to have one of my closest friends [Lizzo] present me an award and then also get to take home a couple more is wild. It’s like a fever dream basically.”
One of the more entertaining parts of the evening was watching SZA accept the award for “Best R&B Song,” when the singer ran in from stage left after she couldn’t be found.
“I didn’t know how long people had been waiting, but I swear they didn’t tell me anything, I guess because they can’t, but they just told me I needed to get to my seat and I was like, ‘I’m not about to rush to my seat,’” she said. “And then this lady just started yelling and she was just like, ‘Run to your seat!’”
SZA continued, “So I ran and then I thought I was running into my seat, and then someone just led me down a different corridor and I was onstage and they left me. I was like, ‘Oh, OK.’ Then I was onstage looking lost and he was like, ‘Go that way.’ And I realized it was Lizzo and I heard ‘Snooze’ and I was disoriented. I had a whole plan for how poised I would be and all the things that I would say, the ‘thank yous’ that I would get out, and all that went out the window because I was running and almost missed the award.”
SZA was also up for “Album of the Year” on Sunday with her sophomore album, SOS, but ultimately lost to Taylor Swift’s Midnights. The snub was a disappointment for SZA fans, and her win would’ve made her the first Black female artist to win the award since Lauryn Hill’s This Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999, per THR.
When asked if she had thoughts on losing "Album of the Year," SZA told the outlet, “I don’t actually. I’m grateful I won three. I could have left with nothing and I didn’t, and I’m grateful. My parents got to see it and I didn’t bomb on live television, and that was so scary. And I faced some really big fears and I’m just happy that it all went well, genuinely. And I’m happy for everybody.”
The singer confirmed in an October interview with Rolling Stone that a forthcoming deluxe edition of SOS — rebranded as Lana — will feature 10 new songs, including an unreleased track called “DTM.”
When asked about the new album, SZA told the Hollywood Reporter that she’s keeping details under wraps for now.
“You know, this round, I actually don’t want to say anything. Just because I feel like I do myself a disservice because you can shift the energy of the album. You got to let it form itself. Because I’m not really forming anything,” she told THR.
“I’m just kind of here while energy is forming and I’m just trying to allow it to do what it needs to do, and my voice just follows whatever the frequency is. So I feel like I want to allow it to finish shaping itself and form itself before I speak on it and possibly change the trajectory of what it could be. But I will say I’m in a beautiful space creatively and I feel just very new.”
