SZA on leaks: “When people leak my songs, they ruin them”

Miley Cyrus to “Barbie” soundtrack standout Billie Eilish to blockbuster-tour titans Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, women rocked many of the best songs of 2023.There was even a black female songwriter — Tracy Chapman — behind a historic country hit, Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car.”And when the nominees for the 2024 Grammy Awards were announced last month, women ruled — make that, owned — the Big 4 categories: Album, Record and Song of the Year, plus Best New Artist.In fact, there is only one man — former “Late Show” bandleader Jon Batiste — among the eight nominees for Record of the Year.Still, a couple of octogenarian gents were not about to fade away: Even as both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards turned 80, the still-rocking Rolling Stones gave us a dose of testosterone.Here are the top 10 tracks that deserved their “Flowers” in 2023.After squeaking in her long-awaited sophomore set, “SOS,” at the end of 2022, SZA made like Uma —Thurman, that is — and killed it with her first No. 1 single.

Nope and Hustlers actor filed a restraining order against her ex-partner Darius Jackson, and requested the sole custody of their son.She accused Jackson of abusing her several times during their two-year relationship, and claimed that she had security footage from an incident where he “trespassed into my home without my knowledge or consent”.She reportedly claimed in the court filings that he “threatened” her, before “lunging for my neck, striking me, throwing me over the couch and stealing my phone.”In the new Instagram post, Palmer wrote: “When reality tv makes everyone believe all celebrities are just one big marketing strategy and scheme but my life is truly unraveling at the seams and I just wear trauma like a Dolce & Gabbana coat because Sharon didn’t raise no b****.” The post is tagged with Nicki Minaj’s track ‘Seeing Green’.The November legal action also saw Palmer attempt to gain sole custody over their 8-month-old son, Leodis, following Jackson’s alleged behaviour.She claimed there have been “many instances of physical violence” including “destroying my personal property…throwing my belongings into the street, throwing my car keys to prevent me from driving away, hitting [me] in front of our son, spewing profanities about me to our son, threatening to kill himself with a gun if I left him, harassment, and other physical and emotional abuse.”Jackson has not made a public comment about the dispute.Speculation about their relationship began to circulate in July when Jackson made a comment about Palmer’s outfit at an Usher concert.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Variety Hitmaker of the Year SZA, Karol G and Peso Pluma are among the big honorees in the Recording Industry Association of America’s year-end tally and its “Class of 2023,” recognizing the top albums, singles and first-timers who earned their first Gold & Platinum certifications in 2023. Highlights include: SZA has the most certifications with 15 titles, including the Top Album with 3x Platinum SOS and Top Single with 5x Platinum “Kill Bill” Peso Pluma scored the highest album certification for a first-time artist with his Platinum collection, “Génesis” Karol G scored the top Latin album with 5x “Platino Mañana Será Bonito,” while Carin Leon & Grupo Frontera’s collaboration “Que Vuelvas” is the top Latin single.

SZA has revealed six variations of the cover art for ‘Lana’, the deluxe version of her latest album ‘SOS‘.The R&B singer released her chart-topping album on December 9, 2022, and announced back in September of this year that the deluxe edition would be called ‘Lana’.SZA, whose real name is Solána Rowe, teased six different versions o the cover art early today (December 11), three of which features her amongst farm animals wearing the blue American football-style jersey she wears on the original ‘SOS’ cover art and also featured throughout her recent tour.In another cover, the singer wears all white and sits on a fold up chair, while the other variations capture her inside a tent alongside a final picture of her adorned with a headdress made of foliage while wearing leafy bikini bottoms.The artist previously said that the deluxe release would be like “a whole ‘nother album” that will feature “7-10 songs”.Check out the cover variations below.A post shared by SZA (@sza)A post shared by SZA (@sza)A post shared by SZA (@sza)A post shared by SZA (@sza)A post shared by SZA (@sza)A post shared by SZA (@sza)In a separate Instagram post yesterday (December 10) proceeding the ‘Lana’ teasers, SZA reflected on the anniversary of the release of second studio album ‘SOS’.“A day late but Happy 1 year anniversary to an album that is ACTIVELY CHANGING MY LIFE .. like rn currently changing my life,” she wrote.“I haven’t processed this year AT ALL cause it’s still happening ..

Filmmaker Stephan Komandarev, whose credits include two previous Bulgarian Oscar entries including the shortlisted The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner, wrapped a movie trilogy about the social ills of post-communist society with Blaga’s Lessons, about the harrowing journey of a retired teacher through the dangerous world of phone scams.

Norman Lear was serenaded with the theme songs of his television life as he slipped away, his son-in-law has revealed.

Lana Del Rey has reflected on being cut off at Glastonbury earlier this year, suggesting she wasn’t aware the consequences would be quite so severe if she started late.Del Rey’s performance, in which she headlined The Other Stage, was abruptly cut short after she came on stage 30 minutes late and ran beyond the site’s strict curfew. Organisers cut off her microphone and switched off the screens while she was midway through performing ‘White Mustang’, which was met by booing from the crowd.Del Rey then lead the crowd in an acapella singalong of ‘Video Games’ and walked into the crowd as they continued to sing and hugged and took photos with fans.Now, Del Rey has spoken more about the incident in a new interview with the Sunday Times, which she admitted that she was still frustrated by almost six months on.“I’ve heard of curfews before,” she said.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Boygenius made a connection with Joan Baez. Billie Eilish was giddy at the sight of Bernie Taupin. Olivia Rodrigo and St.

Macaulay Culkin sang fiancee Brenda Song‘s praises while accepting his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

SZA is reflecting on what it means to be a hitmaker!

SZA has revealed that she once had to allow her song ‘Consideration’ to be used on Rihanna’s 2016 album ‘ANTI’, and she was not happy about it. The song had been recorded, ready to be included on SZA’s 2017 debut album ‘Ctrl’, but days before the music video was released, she heard that Rihanna’s team had entered negotiations for the song to be included on ‘ANTI’ instead. “It was like the centrepiece to my album at the time,” SZA said this week in an interview with Variety.

SZA has been honored with Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year Award. After the release of her debut album “Ctrl” in 2017, the shapeshifting singer released her follow-up “SOS” to great anticipation. And it paid off.

Macaulay Culkin is sharing how his son feels about his most famous movie, Home Alone!

Macaulay Culkin had some very special guests with him when he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday (December 1) in Hollywood, Calif.

SZA spoke to Variety for a new cover story published on Thursday and talk turned to the music she likes to listen to. SZA reeled off an eclectic list of her favorite artists, naming everyone from Stevie Wonder to King Krule via Fever Ray.

Sweet Home season two.At a press conference for the new season of the Netflix series, the 29-year-old actor confirmed that Sweet Home season two, which premieres later today (December 1), will be his “last show” before his enlistment.“That’s the way things are. It’s obviously something that is my responsibility so I will fulfil my duty as a military serviceman, and I will be back healthy and well,” Song Kang said, per AsiaOne.All able-bodied male citizens of South Korea are required to serve between 18 to 21 of military service, usually before the age of 30.

SZA has expressed her love for the music of two of rock’s most polarising bands, Creed and Nickelback in a new interview.The ‘Kill Bill’ singer named Creed and Nickelback while speaking to Variety about her favourite music in commemoration of being named the magazine’s ‘Hitmaker of the Year’.“The other day you know what I pulled up? Creed, Nickelback, Train’s ‘Drops of Jupiter’, just a whole bunch of that,” she said, as the interviewer facepalmed and burst out in laughter. “Wait, you know what’s crazy? Do white people hate Creed and Nickelback? Why? Black people love them! They rock! That shit is bomb!”She proceeded to specifically express her admiration for ‘Higher’, the ninth track off Creed’s 1999 sophomore full-length, ‘Human Clay’.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s obvious from SZA’s music that she has a wide range of influences, from classic R&B to Joni Mitchell, jazz to pop-punk and beyond. But just how far those influences range becomes dramatically clear when she talks about the music in her house and at school growing up, and best of all, when starts looking at the playlists in her phone. For much more from this remarkable interview, see our “SZA: Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year” article. What kinds of music were playing in your house when you were growing up? My mom has a lot of church music; my dad has a lot of jazz and abstract music; my sister plays a lot of melodic hip-hop and rap. And I love classical music, I love jazz, I love music with color.

SZA opened up about her song “Consideration,” which wound up on Rihanna‘s last studio album ANTI back in 2016.

SZA is vigorously scrolling. “I never have topics before I start a song,” she says about her creative process, late one August night, high in the hills of Malibu, while zipping through months of memos and voice notes on her phone. “I just let the beat tell me what to do, and then I start babbling and making words, and it starts to form itself.