SZA - SOS Tour: Brooklyn, NY (Night 2)

After waiting an eternity, I finally saw thee Solána Imani Rowe, aka SZA, live in concert. SZA is literally my favorite female artist, so expect this post to be ridiculously biased. I don't care, I don't care.

I attended the Brooklyn, NY, concert on the second night (October 7) at the Barclays Center. SZA mentioned at the concert's end that this was one of the largest arenas she had sold out, and I was genuinely shocked. She should definitely be able to sell out Madison Square Garden easily. Y'all stop playing with my girl and put some respect on her motherfucking name.

I was running mad late getting ready, and I didn't eat beforehand, so while I sat in the concession line and the merch line for a collective hour, I missed the opening act of D4vid.

I was so hurt when I heard him singing “Romantic Homicide” from the merch line; oh my gosh, I don't even want to discuss it. I only found out he was the opening act when I saw his merch was available at the venue. It was such a surprise for such a letdown. It's on me, though.

I'm going to Camp Flog Gnaw in Los Angeles in a month, so I'll see both SZA and D4vid very soon.

Anyway, I got floor seats for the concert, and the view did not disappoint whatsoever. The show's overall production was phenomenal and was so on brand for the SOS album cover.

Her first song was “Seek & Destroy”, and miss girl was wearing that fuchsia two-piece set. The stage background was set up like an abandoned shipyard; her backup dancers were her shipmen.

I really enjoyed how the songs in this concert were split up by the flow and vibe of the songs and not by popularity or album. For the first phase of the show, she sang “Used”, “Love Galore”, “Broken Clocks”, “Forgiveless”, and “Bag Lady” (cover of Erkya Badu).

The mixture of the songs had me on a motherfucking cloud. I transported back to 2017 when she was shining her songs from Ctrl. That album raised me, man. It was a brain reset. I listened to it that summer and started my self-love journey. I cut off my toxic ex-boyfriend, chopped off all my hair, and evolved into somebody unrecognizable.

I truly admire SZA as a Black woman in an older sister's way. But SZA, as an artist, a creator, and a courageous songwriter, was vulnerable enough to put her losses, insecurities, and hard lessons into something beautiful.

I know so many women who were able to put their emotions into words and gave their experiences validation through her music. I'm literally getting emotional writing this because I can't believe how far I've come from listening to Ctrl and Z as a high schooler to now being able to enjoy SZA at her prime on so many features, music festivals, her exclusive in Rolling Stone just came out a couple weeks ago. My girl is on her shit.

In the next phase, SZA sang “Shirt,” “Smoking on My Ex Pack,” and “Prom.” When I tell you guys, I lost my absolute shit when she sang “Prom.” The people around me were laughing, and I had no shame. I prayed so hard she would sing “Prom.” The song does it for me. Heavy on the "Fearing not growing up keeping me up at night. Am I doing enough? Feel like I'm wasting time".

SZA, as a performer, is so gleeful and comfortable; I could tell she was happy to be out there even though she was recovering from a cold (sorry, Toronto).

Next, she sang “Normal Girl,” another of my favorite songs. “Normal Girl” is truly a song for the girls, the gays, and the they's because, at some point, we've felt the uneasiness of being lusted after and being desired for the material parts about us but never experiencing a family meal with their parents or feeling like weren't the spitting image of what our parents envision us to turn out. I can do a whole post on this song, but I'm going to review the concert for now.

After “Normal Girl,” SZA had the audacity to sing “Garden” and “Drew Barrymore” right after! SZA knew exactly what the girls needed, and she delivered 10fold what the fuck. At this point in this concert, my throat was on fire from screaming, and I was out of water but never back down, never what? Never give up. So I proceeded.

Next was “Doves in the Wind,” “Low,” and somewhere in there, she sang “Ghost in the Machine,” which is one of my favorite songs from SOS, but my phone ran out of storage, and I was dealing with that, which is why I don't remember where it came during the show.

Okay, now this was the part of the concert where she gets in the lifeboat and floats across the arena, which was nice, but because I was on the floor, she floated right above my head, and I didn't have the best view of her. But regardless, that microphone was ON, and the vocals were on 10.

She sang about 10 seconds of “Open Arms,” which upset me because that's one of my favorites from SOS, but I completely forgot about that when she transitioned it into Supermodel. Fucking Supermodel live y’all? Yeah, y'all should have been there; I can't put the magic into words.

After the first chorus was a super clean transition into “Special.” At this point, she ascended into the air and right about the floor section of the arena. The last song she sang in the lifeboat was “Gone Girl,” which was the perfect song to end this segment.

She came down from the lifeboat and quickly changed outfits before singing Love Language back on the front stage. Then she sings “Snooze,” and SZA invites the entire crowd the join in and sing Snooze with her, which we were going to do anyway because it's fucking “Snooze” girl. How could we snooze and miss the moment? SZA's just too important.

The best visuals for the entire concert were for “Kill Bill.” It was just like the Japanese window panels and a feel murder scene in the background, fucking insane. “Kill Bill” is a fan favorite, so I knew SZA would act up on this song.

Following “Kill Bill,” she sang “The Weekend.” I love that song so much. I feel like “Snooze,” “Kill Bill,” “The Weekend,” and “Snooze” are all staple songs of her career. They are the most recognizable songs from her discography and timeless tunes.

The final song of the concert was “Good Days” which was perfect because it's always a good day when you listen to SZA. My heart was full at the end of this concert. I was amazed the production, the execution, and SZA's live vocals were everything I wanted and more.

At the concert's end, she did bows and thank you's with D4vid and picked a few people from the first few rows to come backstage and meet her, which I was deeply salty about. I wanted to go backstage, but next time, I will just buy a closer seat and act like a fool again.

And the time for that will be sooner than later because about a month or so ago, SZA did a free concert at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and she announced she was releasing new music by the end of this year. If this is going to be SOS deluxe, then there will not be a concert, but if a new album is coming, I will certainly be securing the best seats. I'm not playing around anymore.