Music is something that can truly captivate all types of people and bring them together. Music brings out the best in people and we are looking to explore how the Grammy Award-winning artist ‘SZA’ reaches our students here at LHS. I asked students Kaylee Vaughn, Eythan Mozeb, and Shaniya Allen about their favorite songs by SZA, their favorite lyric(s), and what those lyrics meant to them. SZA’s lyricism is truly a work of art and speaks to all too familiar situations that almost everyone has at one time or another experienced.
I asked Senior Kaylee Vaughn what her top 3 favorite songs of SZA’s were, and after some careful consideration, she answered “20 Something”: track 14 off of “Ctrl”, “Normal Girl”: track 12 off of Ctrl, and “Ghost in the Machine” featuring Phoebe Bridgers: track 12 off of SOS. You can find Kaylee’s senior parking spot in the Lamphere parking lot that reads “Class of 20 Something…”. I also asked Kaylee which lyric of SZA’s she most connected with and why, she said “Honesty hurts when you’re getting older”, because honestly I can kind of relate to it because I’m getting older and it’s scary, and there is a lot of new things i’m learning in life.” I asked a follow up question of what she might be scared of while moving on to a new part of her life and getting older. Kaylee responded with “Figuring out how to move on with my life and deciding what I want to do to make money, because I want a job that’s gonna keep me happy.” I think Kaylee perfectly captured all of the feelings of all the seniors in the class of 2026; We all worry about what comes next in life, and how we’re gonna get there.
Next, I interviewed junior Eythan Mozeb. When asked what his favorite song was, he said “Garden(Say It Like Dat)”: track 8 off of Ctrl. This is one of the many favorites of SZA fans across the globe. The lyrics to this song are very relatable and just fun to sing. I think Eythan’s response to what his favorite lyric was might just be my favorite.
The reason behind this specific lyric was that “I gotta get that cash”. The simple answer went a long way and was very funny and to the point.
Senior, Shaniya Allen was the last person I interviewed and she knew exactly what songs and lyrics she wanted right away. When I asked Shaniya what her top 3 songs were from SZA’s discography, she said “Shirt”: track 19 off of SOS-this song was one of SZA’s first singles for this album- 2nd was “Supermodel”: track 1 off of Ctrl, and Love Galore(Alt Version): track 15 off of Ctrl(Deluxe). SZA is very known for collaborating with Travis Scott. The two artists have 2 songs together, one on each of her two studio albums. Shaniya’s last song is a version of a collaboration song without the other artist included, therefore it is called an alt version. I asked her what lyric of SZA’s she most connected with and she answered with “I’m still playing the victim, and you still playing the pick me.” from the song “Blind”: track 6 from SOS. Her reason behind this specific lyric was because, “There is just a lot of people in my life that are still trying to make me the bad guy, when I didn’t even really do nothing to them.” Shaniya was very transparent with this answer and I think it shows a lot about her connection to the lyrics in that whole song.
