In August, R&B singer SZA dropped a trio of unreleased tracks via an anonymous SoundCloud account…
With only a handful of features in 2021 (one of which was arguably this year’s biggest, Kiss Me More,) the SoundCloud dump marked SZA’s first solo musical output since her debut LP, Ctrl. And yet, without a surrounding album rollout or very much promotion, the tracks arrived with minimal fanfare.
That was until, as is almost par for the course these days, I Hate U started doing the viral rounds on TikTok. Suddenly, what was once a potential album-reject released on a whim had since become a breakout hit, mirroring the same viral success as SZA’s late 2020 snippet, which has been tentatively named by fans as Shirt.
Now, I Hate U has tied last year’s Good Days as SZA’s longest-running number one song on US Spotify- and for good reason. The track sees the Missourian crooner return with trademark diary entry lyricism, lamenting a failed relationship on top of brooding synths and hooked by the biggest earworm of 2021; ‘And if you wondered if I hate you/ I do.’
The success of I Hate U despite its surprise-release and limited promotion makes two things clear. One, the TikTok-sphere catapults tracks that artists may have otherwise discarded and in the case of SZA, encourages them to release what will inevitably become fan-favourites. And two, the hysteria for SZA’s sophomore album has reached fever pitch. In line with Good Days’ release, my bet’s on a Christmas Day drop; but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
