SZA HAS NOTES

The SOS singer has reached meteoric levels of success, but shhh-don't teIl her that

- SYLVIA OBELL

IT WAS NIGHT ONE OF TWO SOLD-OUT SHOWS SZA would be performing to close out the first leg of her SOS Tour, and fans were lined up for miles in the streets surrounding Los Angeles’s Kia Forum. Making my way into the venue that evening, I asked one of the hordes of teens standing in line what they were doing out there, since it was just past 8 p.m. and the doors had already opened. They told me they had been in line all day, some with chairs and blankets, in hopes of getting whatever cheaper tickets might be released at the box office or by resellers once the show began. I don’t know if I was more surprised that these California residents had the fortitude to withstand the rain earlier in the day, or by the fact that acquiring affordable seats online has become so hard that Gen Z is now forced to take part in the ageold Gen X ritual of camping out for concert tickets.

It was the Grammy winner’s first arena tour run, and the increase in her star power was evident everywhere. Outside the Forum, a huge digital billboard image of SZA starring in the latest Skims campaign sat high in the sky. Inside the arena, fans were screaming at Apple Watch– alert decibels in anticipation of her hitting the stage. Among them were A-list celebrities like Adele, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Justin and Hailey Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Pedro Pascal, and Avril Lavigne. “You left the mansion to come to this, to slum it...” SZA says in disbelief while recalling the night. “Oh, Pedro Pascal, I was so excited about, because he’s on my favorite show, The Last of Us—and Narcos,” she adds.