Music

It was clear right away in December 2022 that SZA‘s sophomore album SOS represented a commercial leveling-up for the R&B superstar, with the set moving over 300,000 units in its first frame and spending 10 total weeks atop the Billboard 200 albums chart. But perhaps even more telling has been how she’s continued to dominate in the nine months since — a run capped this week by her scoring two simultaneous top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Snooze,” her slow-growing second smash from SOS, hits a new peak of No. 3 this week on the Hot 100, thanks in large part to a boost from a new acoustic version of the song featuring pop icon Justin Bieber. And “Slime You Out,” her long-awaited collab with hip-hop behemoth Drake, debuts atop the chart, despite some negative fan responses in its first week.

What’s the biggest reason she’s been able to maintain such success this long after SOS‘ release? And where does she rank currently among the globe’s biggest pop stars? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.

1. Drake scores his 12th No. 1 and on the Hot 100 and SZA scores her second this week thanks to their new collab “Slime You Out.” Does the song’s initial success mean more to (or about) either artist right now?

Hannah Dailey: I think this feat is definitely more of a triumph for SZA. It’s a testament to how quickly and magnificently her career is exploding, especially given how she only scored her first ever No. 1 with “Kill Bill” just a few months ago. That first Hot 100-topper proved how fast she’s on the rise, while this second one just goes to show that she isn’t leaving the top of the heap anytime soon.

Kyle Denis: For Drake, the success of “Slime You Out” is a simple reminder that he’s still in a space where he can sneeze and get a top five hit. For SZA, this is just further proof that she’s in an imperial phase right now. Between the ubiquity of the SOS singles, successful featured turns on tracks from Travis Scott and Lizzo (and now Drake), and a smash world tour — she’s got the Midas touch.

Jason Lipshutz: For anyone doubting Drake’s chart dominance this long into his career — and after a little over a calendar year since his last chart-topper — “Slime You Out” debuting at No. 1 on the Hot 100 should quell any anxieties about his staying power. While “Slime You Out” features an assist from SZA for an added dose of blockbuster appeal, the song is also a moody, downbeat sneer towards an ex — but no matter, it’s still the biggest song in the country. More than a decade into his run, Drake still possesses the power to turn any type of song into a smash.

Heran Mamo: I think it means more about Drake and means more to SZA. Having one of the first singles from For All the Dogs debut at No. 1 shortly before the album comes out is a good indicator that he’s creating enough buzz in time for its release. And for Drake, this is sort of like checking off something from a to-do list, because he’s had at least one song from his last few solo projects go No. 1: “Jimmy Cooks” (2022’s Honestly, Nevermind); “Way 2 Sexy” (2021’s Certified Lover Boy); “Toosie Slide” (2020’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes); and “God’s Plan,” “Nice for What” and “In My Feelings” (2018’s Scorpion). “Slime You Out” shows The Boy that he’s still hitting the mark every time. And he might be hitting an even bigger one soon: Drake needs only one more No. 1 to tie Michael Jackson as the male solo artist with the most No. 1s in Hot 100 history.  

Andrew Unterberger: Drake certainly had more to lose if this song didn’t go to No. 1; after both his solo “Search & Rescue” and his 21 Savage team-up “Rich Flex” debuted at No. 2, to not secure the top spot with his much-hyped SZA teamup would’ve surely made him look at least slightly vulnerable commercially for the first time in a long time. But I think it says more about SZA that her added juice was needed to get this song over the hump; it wasn’t all that long ago that Drake having a SZA feature would’ve seemed more like a career favor for the latter artist.

2. The song’s debut comes while the majority of the public response surrounding the song has seemingly been fairly negative. Was a No. 1 debut just inevitable for the first team-up between two artists at this commercial level — or has the criticism of the song just been a silent majority drowning out the majority of listeners who have actually embraced the song?  

Hannah Dailey: I think this phenomenon is majorly due to that one yikes-inducing Drake lyric – “Whipped and chained you like American slaves” – which has opened the song up to a lot of controversy online. And with any controversial song, for better or worse, people are going to tune in.

Kyle Denis: I think a No. 1 debut was definitely inevitable at some level. As for the song’s reception? Given that it hasn’t completely collapsed on streaming a week after its debut, I’d say that there definitely seems to be more than enough listeners who like the song just fine. To that point, it’s been some years since Drake put out a (close to) universally acclaimed project yet he’s still consistently one of the most-consumed artists in the world. Middling public reception hasn’t seriously negatively impacted the commercial performance of a Drake song in years, and it wasn’t going to happen now – especially with one of the year’s biggest stars as a guest on the track.

Jason Lipshutz: The No. 1 debut does feel like an inevitability. I’m sure “Slime You Out” has its fans, but it’s hard to believe that a five-minute track that’s cynical in approach and hook-less in structure is the most surefire choice for a single uniting two powerhouse artists. Sometimes, those details simply don’t matter if two artists are prominent enough and launch their collaboration at the perfect moment; or Drake and SZA, “Slime You Out” was too big to fail.

Heran Mamo: It was ultimately inevitable given their combined star power and romantic history: Drake rapped “‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ’08” on “Mr. Right Now” from Metro Boomin and 21 Savage’s 2020 joint album Savage Mode II, and that’s just one example of the two referencing each other and each other’s music in songs. Having two superstar exes on the same track for the first time ever was the perfect recipe for a No. 1. Even Halle Berry chiming in about how she didn’t approve of the single’s cover art — which is from her getting slimed at the 2012 Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards — probably helped garner extra listeners.  

I also feel like the controversial nature of “Slime You Out” has helped others gravitate toward it: Fans are arguing that the song is neither Drake nor SZA’s best work and his “Whipped and chained you like American slaves” bar is distasteful, but SZA’s verse and Drizzy’s fourth verse, where he runs through a full-year cycle of what a woman goes through, remain highlights. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s all you can talk about, which is probably the only thing Drake cares about, and that’s why we’re here. 

Andrew Unterberger: Let’s see where the song is in a few weeks. I didn’t see “Search & Rescue” hanging around the Hot 100 as long as it did, which ultimately made for decent evidence that people liked the song more than its lukewarm initial reception suggested. If “Slime” Toosie Slides out of the top 40 by Halloween, though, then it’ll be a pretty good sign that it was indeed just the hype of its two A-list artists linking on record for the first time that allowed it to debut on top. (I suspect it will be.)

3. Meanwhile, SZA’s “Snooze” has also crept into the chart’s top five for the first time, reaching No. 3 in its 41st week on the listing. Outside of the Justin Bieber remix — which helps give it a final boost this week — what do you think the biggest reason is for the song’s slow-burning success? 

Hannah Dailey: Is it a cop out to say I honestly think it’s just a really good song? SOS is clearly still on rotation for a lot of people, and I suspect that “Snooze” simply grew organically on listeners who started to single it out while listening to the album on repeat.

Kyle Denis: “Snooze” was always a standout on SOS; I remember many people immediately latching onto that one even in the thick of the “Kill Bill” craze earlier this year. For a song to stick around for close to an entire calendar year and patiently wait for its moment in the limelight after five prior hit singles from the same parent album means that it’s genuinely connecting with audiences. I think the fact that this wasn’t a remix-revives-song-from-the-dead situation speaks to that point; “Snooze” had already spent a handful of weeks in the top 10 before the Justin Bieber remix, and the original solo version is still driving the majority of the song’s overall consumption.

Jason Lipshutz: “Snooze” has benefitted from the continued goodwill toward SOS, which, nine months after its release, now looks likely to become one of the most beloved full-lengths of the decade. The album remains in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart 41 weeks into its run, and after “Kill Bill” translated that listenership into streaming playlist placement and radio play, now it’s the follow-up’s turn to continue representing SOS on those platforms. I wouldn’t be surprised if “Snooze” is followed by another hit or two from SOS — that’s how resonant SZA’s second album has proven to be.

Heran Mamo: Being serviced to (and succeeding at) rhythmic, R&B/hip-hop and pop radio over the last few months has definitely played a huge role. Our senior R&B/hip-hop charts and data analyst Trevor Anderson wrote it best: “Radio gains, in turn, push the single to new peaks on multiple multimetric charts.” With a major radio push coming from different angles, “Snooze” was able to steadily climb up the Hot 100, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and more charts. At that point, nobody can sleep on that song anymore.  

Andrew Unterberger: Timing really is everything with songs like this. Credit to SZA and her RCA team for pushing all the right buttons on “Snooze”: They promoted it to radio at the right time, released the music video at the right time, and now dropped this Bieber remix at the right time. The song is more of a gradual creeper than an immediate show-stopper, so they were wise to play the long game with it — and they’ve played it perfectly for over half a year now.

4. Despite SZA’s SOS technically coming out in late 2022, it’s still proving weekly to be one of the most impactful releases on 2023, at a time when albums rarely cast shadows that long. What’s something she has done with the SOS promo cycle that you think has really allowed her album and its singles to have such a pronounced and elongated impact?  

Hannah Dailey: I think her consistency with hopping on songs with other artists in the months since SOS dropped has really helped keep her name at the forefront of consciousness in both pop culture and pop music. She’s always been an avid collaborator, but now it’s effectively doubling as unofficial promo for SOS.

Kyle Denis: I think elongating the pre-release cycle really helped lay the foundation for the longevity of SOS. It took two years just to get from the release of the record’s oldest song — “Good Days” — to the full album, so there’s a level of investment in the world of SOS that towers over records with more truncated cycles. With each new music video teasing the next single, SZA was able to keep fans engaged while also prepping audiences’ ears and anticipation for those tracks. That strategy routinely resulted in lofty debuts and substantial longevity once singles like “Shirt” and its accompanying music videos finally arrived.

With LANA — a deluxe version – on the way, the SOS cycle could extend well into next summer. I think the most important element of this promo cycle, however, is SZA’s ability to make sure her pop culture presence is ubiquitous but not overbearing.

Jason Lipshutz: In hindsight, SZA’s tour in support of SOS — which kicked off in the U.S. in February, traveled to Europe in the spring and is now back in North America through October — continued the momentum from the December album release to get SZA in arenas within a matter of weeks and demonstrate why these new songs deserved to reach her largest audiences yet. “Kill Bill” was already a hit by the time the SOS Tour kicked off, but taking the album on the road relatively soon after its release, and reaching so many markets across 2023, has no doubt helped the album sustain that success.

Heran Mamo: I think supply and demand is a huge factor here. The demand for new music from SZA had reached a boiling point by the time she actually dropped SOS, and we know she isn’t the type of artist to be dropping again soon. So if this is what’s going to be satisfying fans for the next few years, she’s going to stretch the album out for as long as possible. In the nine-month period following SOS’ release, she’s released three of the songs as singles, with accompanying music videos, and gone on tour – allowing the fans to connect with the music in a more intimate way. The way she gave us her all while making this album is the way she’s giving us her all while promoting it.  

Andrew Unterberger: It’s hard to think of too many artists in the past half-decade that have allowed their singles room to breathe as effectively as SZA has. Each of the major hits that have come from SOS — whether before or after the album’s release — has been given the solo spotlight for months, without SZA crowding it by rushing out the next radio single or music video or remix. She allows singles to exist as their own mini-eras, and fans are happy to live in them as long as she lets them. (It also helps, of course, that the songs are each strong enough to support such lengthy runs.)

5. Is SZA one of the 10 biggest pop stars in the world right now?

Hannah Dailey: I would say so, barring how inventive and genre-bending her music itself is. On top of the recent chart accomplishments we already discussed, she’s one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify right now in spite of there being nine months separating her from the release of SOS, and she’s a name that other top 10 pop stars want to collaborate with (Drake, Justin Bieber, Doja Cat).

Kyle Denis: Easily. If we’re talking 10 biggest pop stars who are currently touring and actively promoting an album cycle? She’s top five.

Jason Lipshutz: Definitely. Other artists have deeper catalogs and more secure statuses as solo hitmakers, but there aren’t many artists right now with a discography as impeccable, or a mass approval rating as high. Hopefully SZA won’t take another six years to release a new album, but whenever she does, that will immediately become the most anticipated album of that year.

Heran Mamo: Yes. Her recent success with SOS has been unavoidable, even if you weren’t a fan of hers before or you’re not the biggest R&B fan. And we’ve seen R&B stars like Usher, The Weeknd and Beyoncé crossover to become pop stars. I think SZA is following that trajectory, and SOS marked the beginning of her crossover moment. 

Andrew Unterberger: Unquestionably. The real question is if there are any current superstars — outside of her “Slime” partner and pop’s official QB1 — who can be definitively ranked above her at this point.