SZA: "I felt like people were expecting something from me and I was like I don't know how to meet expectations, like I'm just a human being."

SZA: "You just got to sing from different points of view, like from where your mind is at."

SZA: "Every day I grapple between ‘I’m going to get married’ and ‘I’m going to spend the rest of my life alone with a poodle.’"

SZA: "I don’t have any control over what actually happens except for that I have full control over my will for myself, my intention, and why I’m there. That’s all that matters."

SZA: "I felt very invisible around very many people."

SZA: "I’m a Scorpio with a Pisces moon. I am very critical of myself. I’m actually way less critical of others than I am of myself. I’m in my own head a lot. It’s hard and really discouraging."

SZA: "I want to excel at something, to follow through, to not be afraid."

SZA: "I don’t have a background in music… and I have a short attention span. If you put me in the studio every day, I’m gonna get lost."

[On taking different perspectives in her music, based on her own personal experiences in the situations]

SZA: "Even for The Weekend, like a lot of these [songs] have dual meanings, like I'm singing from the girlfriend and from the other perspective, like I've been the girlfriend that didn't know and I've been the girl that didn't know that you had a girlfriend."

SZA: "I think we wonder if we’re supposed to be here if we’re doing the right thing if we even want to be here. At least, I do all the time."

SZA: "I learned everything the hard way – like, literally, everything. I know that God does that to people that he has lessons for. I just wish that I had learned less extreme lessons."

SZA: "You can take care of your body, and it will low-key show you respect in turn."

[On why she changed the sound of her album CTRL]

SZA: "I don't think I consciously changed the sound, I think I just didn't know what my sound was. Like I didn't know who I was or what I wanted to make sonically or what I was trying to achieve or what I was attracted to sonically."

SZA: "I wasn’t popular in high school; I had no friends."

SZA: "I love food, so having a lot of food allergies now and just having a really sensitive body, it forces me to be very mindful and conscious and eat when I’m hungry, not just when I’m bored, and just really slow down. Everything in moderation."

SZA: “Everything I love I over do.”

SZA: "I just think I have too much anxiety to listen to music. Sometimes it feels like noise, and sometimes it’s so affecting that I can’t recover from it."

SZA: "I don’t enjoy being interviewed. I feel like it exhausts a lot of my energy. I feel empty after."

SZA: "I used to be very revenge-motivated, but that’s just because I’m a Scorpio. Now I’m more so, like, practice honesty just because it makes you feel better."

SZA: "People grapple with labeling me as hip-hop, R&B, or pop, and it’s interesting to me. I’m just making music."

SZA: "Control is not real, and I’m really understanding that every day. It’s about the acceptance of relinquishing control that makes it powerful for you."

[On her experiences with wearing a hijab and Islamophobia]

SZA: "Wearing a hijab never made me feel any more conservative – it made me feel safe. Then, after 9/11, I became the butt of a joke on the playground, so I stopped wearing it. Kids can be really cruel when you’re the only black girl in your Girl Scout troop."

SZA: "I've just been growing as a human being and I didn't even realize that I was just like, kind of, in a box. Like I didn't really - I was missing a lot of worlds I'm going, on so I think singing from my perspective of the world where it's like... I don't know. Like I felt, like, trapped in myself and around my friends and then around guys - like I just I couldn't explain it."

SZA: "I have an abundant amount of love in my life, and I’m grateful for that."

SZA: "I’ve been known to wear pajamas onstage for the sole reason of wanting to make sure I’m free enough to execute new things vocally onstage and give my best performance possible."

SZA: "I always used to be like, ‘I don’t need to meditate.’ And it’s not true."

SZA: "I don’t think I’m inherently feminist. I think the universe wants me to be feminist, and I think I resonate with that. I think it just chose me to be this female energy… thing. And I’m very drawn to female energy, but I don’t really have any prerequisites in feminism. I just roll with it."

[On how going into adulthood was a better experience than high school]

SZA: "In the real world, I kind of, like, thrived a little bit. The things that were awkward about me at school, like being hyper passionate… I realized, ‘Oh I’m my own person, and I have my own idiosyncrasies and nuances that I don’t mind.’"

SZA: "On Halloween, because we don’t celebrate it, my dad would drive me somewhere, anywhere different. Like Little Italy in New York to walk around and teach me all about the food and culture."

SZA: "I do a lot of strange things."

SZA: "When your parents regulate everything you hear and everything you intake, it forces you to get creative in other ways. It sparked the writing bug and the very overactive imagination. Because I’ve had a lot of time by myself and a lot of time isolated from regular culture, I created my own."

SZA: "It’s so hard for me to focus on things for a long time that I’m not incredibly passionate about."

SZA: "Sugar makes me feel crazy – like, makes my body hurt kind of a thing. I don’t really eat fruit because it has a lot of sugar. I try not to eat a lot of red meat, but every now and again, I feel like I need iron or something – something that I’m missing."

SZA: "I’ve always loved playing with hair. I used to want dreads like Lauryn Hill, but my mom wouldn’t let me."

SZA: "How many thick black women are there singing whatever I’m singing, surrounded by rappers, but also from the suburbs? I can’t really judge someone else for judging me!"

SZA: "Don’t get discouraged with your skin when it doesn’t do what you want it to do… Give it some time. That’s the only way to get to know yourself."

SZA: "I don’t feel ashamed to be loud, which is an argument I’ve had with lots of men, who thought I was too sassy and unladylike."

SZA: "I try to think of myself as a chic fishing grandpa aesthetically."

SZA: "As long as you’re being honest and there’s the intention in what you’re doing, then I think that energy permeates your field and becomes like a homing signal for other people with like energies."

SZA: "I feel like when you say ‘activist,’ you have to have so much clarity, and I don’t always necessarily have so much clarity on how I want to help others, I just have this weird, deep urge to help other people. I’m trying to let God guide my body and use it as whatever kind of vehicle or vessel it needs to be."

SZA: "I drink a lot of water."

SZA: "It starts with trusting yourself, even if people are telling you you’re too young to trust yourself."