Solána Imani Rowe was born on November 8, 1989, in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Known professionally as SZA, her singer's music persona is pronounced "Sizza.” which is an acronym of letters in the Supreme Alphabet, which was created by Clarence 13X, founder of the Five Percent Nation. As she explained, “The S stands for Sovereign or Self, Savior; the Z stands for Zig-Zag-Zig, which is enlightenment and acknowledgment of one’s self; and the A stands for the most high of all,” a reference to Allah.
Sza was raised in Maplewood, New Jersey, in the orthodox Muslim tradition. She attended a Muslim prep school on top of her regular schooling, frequently wore a hijab, and dressed in baggy clothing to conform to ideals of modesty. She often felt ostracized as one of the few Black people in her predominantly white community, and she experienced bullying after the September 11 attacks in 2001. She often took off her hijab at school in an attempt to fit in. Her relationship with her religion was sometimes fraught while she was growing up, but she remained devoted to it. As she recalled in a 2013 interview, “I’ll feel most comfortable with Islam forever.”
After graduating from high school in 2008, Rowe attended three different colleges before eventually deciding to study marine biology at Delaware State University.After leaving Delaware State, she spent a summer at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and developed a keen fashion sense. She interned for Billionaire Boys Club, a clothing brand founded by fashion designers and music producers Pharrell Williams and Nigo, and later worked for 10.Deep, a streetwear clothing brand, which assigned her to hand out merchandise at a Kendrick Lamar concert. A friend was playing some of SZA's music, capturing the attention of Top Dawg Entertainment co-president Terrence "Punch" Henderson. The two stayed in touch, and after SZA began generating buzz with the release of her first two EPs, TDE stepped in to sign her the label's first female artist in 2013.
In 2014 SZA released a second EP, Z, which, like her first two projects, delivered a dreamlike, enchanting sound. In that same year, she cowrote the song “Feeling Myself,” which was performed by Nicki Minaj and featured Beyoncé. In 2016 she was featured on Rihanna’s album ANTI.In 2017 SZA released Ctrl, her debut studio album, featuring a contemporary rhythm-and-blues sound and exploring themes of romance, nostalgia, and insecurity. The album, which included the popular songs “Broken Clocks,” “The Weekend,” and “Love Galore,” reached number one on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart and number three on the Billboard 200 chart, and it also received several Grammy Award nominations. In 2018 she collaborated with Kendrick Lamar on the song “All the Stars,” which was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Black Panther. The song earned them several Grammy Award nominations and an Academy Award nomination.
After Ctrl, SZA released singles and collaborations with artists including Justin Timberlake, Cardi B, and Post Malone. One of her most successful collaborations was “Kiss Me More” with rapper Doja Cat, which peaked in 2021 at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned SZA her first Grammy Award, for best pop duo/group performance. SZA's long-awaited second album, SOS, was released on December 9, 2022. It reached number-one on Billboard 200 chart, breaking the record for the biggest streaming week ever for an R&B album, and remained atop the chart for nine non-consecutive weeks. The album's singles "Nobody Gets Me" and "Kill Bill" were both top-ten hits; the latter peaked at number one on the Billboard Global 200 charts.