SZA announced that she's reworking her plans for the deluxe edition of SOS thanks to leakers—and pivoting to Lana being its own project rather than an extension of her mega-hit album.
"So we'll make this really simple. Y'all leaked 3 songs from the deluxe. Atp y'all can keep the throw aways and leaks," she tweeted, as reported by Variety. "I'll be starting LANA from scratch do not ask me about it again. Thank you 🫶🏾🙏🏾💗."
"I’ll round up the leaks y'all already got and u can have those," she added minutes later. "Seems like a fair deal. ENJOY."
Both tweets have since been deleted.
In this case, SZA scrapped Lana, which had been in limbo for quite some time. She first disclosed the project at a concert in Brooklyn last September, describing it as a deluxe version of SOS that is a "whole 'nother album." She said at the time it would be out in the fall.
After photos and audio leaked, SZA decided this week that Lana "deserves more time and music no one's ever heard before."
SZA believes that by rounding up all the leaked songs and other tracks associated with SOS, she can avoid running into this situation again and focus entirely on Lana.
"And please be clear anybody defending a thief is weird as fuck," she wrote at the end of a (not-deleted) thread. "I don’t come in your job and take shit and fuck up your work. Why would that be okay? Where’s the home training? Nobody wants to prosecute a young woman. We’ve all asked very nicely for some time now."
SZA aired out her frustrations on social media in January over leaked tracks.
"Leaking my music is stealing," she wrote in all caps on X. "This is my job. This is my life and my intellectual property. You are a fucking thief and I promise to put maximum energy into holding everyone accountable to the full extent of the law. I am tired."
Top Dawg Entertainment president Punch—who also manages SZA—followed that up with what turned out to be a prophetic message about what can happen when leaks occur.
On Wednesday, possibly in response to SZA's Lana decision, Punch tweeted, "Over saturation lowers the value. It’s basic economics! This’ll make more sense later.
