SZA has dubbed the Grammys a “thirsty, dark space.”
The “Kill Bill” hitmaker is not a fan of the atmosphere created by artists seeking “validation” from awards, describing being amongst acknowledgment-seeking stars as “the weirdest”, “not normal” experience.
“It’s not normal. I hate that [other artists] be acting like this s*** is normal and nobody talks about it at all,” she said in an interview with Rolling Stone.
“There is so much wanting in there. Wanting to be noticed, wanting to be, like, acknowledged, to win, wanting to just be amongst [other artists] in the room, wanting to feel valuable or validated. All of us are in there striving for something. It’s like a thirsty, dark space,” she continued.
SZA herself has won one Grammy from 14 nominations to date, in 2022, for “Kiss Me More” with Doja Cat.
“It means something, even though, like, this isn’t everything. But it’s kind of important that I’m here. It kind of matters,” she said.
The chart-topping star previously insisted she’s not motivated by accolades.
“I try not to care too much because I really had some deep disappointments when I would just be so invested. But I can’t invest because none of it is real. Even if I win a bunch of Grammys, that s*** doesn’t matter. It would be so cool. But also I would not be surprised at all if I didn’t win any [more]. Because that’s just how s*** goes,” said the “Good Days” singer, whose real name is Solana Rowe.
Meanwhile, SZA’s longtime manager recently suggested that she didn’t perform at the MTV Video Music Awards due to not being nominated for Artist of The Year.
Top Dawg Entertainment co-president Terrence “Punch” Henderson told The Hollywood Reporter: “Obviously, she had one of the best years, if not the best year, of any artist at this point. I don’t see why she wouldn’t be nominated or artist of the year. It just really didn’t make any sense to me. It’s disrespectful.”
“And they ended up saying, ‘Okay, well we could do another call’ because there were people on [the call] about logistics for the show who didn’t have anything to do with [the nominations]. When we tried to set up the second call, they didn’t want to discuss Artist of the Year, which to me was really a slap in the face,” she concluded.
