SZA shows off her powerful pipes in Vancouver
At Fortune Sound Club on Friday, August 29
Although SZA hasn't had much mainstream success to date, it's hard to think of an artist whose music seems more calculated to get bloggers of all stripes in a lather. The singer, aka Solana Rowe, ticks a lot of boxes, citing everyone from Bjork to Wu-Tang Clan as inspirations. She may be signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, making her a labelmate of rap stars Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q, but some of her songs, such as the dreamily sublime "Julia" and the Toro Y Moi–produced "Hiijack", are grounded more in chillwave or dream pop than they are in hip-hop.
Mind you, such distinctions are getting harder to make. Consider, for example, that Shoolboy Q's biggest hit, "Man of the Year", relies heavily on a sample of synth-pop act Chromatics, and that Lamar's "Money Trees" borrows from a Beach House track. Beach House has also been a go-to sample library for the Weeknd, who did much to popularize so-called PBR&B, a description that, for better or worse, will inevitably be attached to SZA.
Expectations, then, were understandably high when Rowe and her band hit the stage at Fortune Sound Club on Friday night, although the fact that they were doing so 90 minutes past their scheduled start time might have dampened the audience's enthusiasm somewhat. The late start might have been explained by the singer's admission that she had gotten far higher than she intended to earlier in the evening. (Vancouver weed will do that to you, or so reliable sources have informed me.) Rowe has earned a reputation for her eccentric stage attire, with her repertoire including pajamas and suburban-grandpa fishing shirts. On this night, she went with an Orange Is the New Black prison jumpsuit—well, below the waist, at least. Above that she sported a baggy white Nike tank top.
The members of her backing band were more nondescript, which was fitting. Despite having a live keyboardist, drummer, and bassist, the one who got the greatest workout on-stage was the guy running the sampler. This made perfect sense, given that "Child's Play" is essentially XXYYXX's "About You" with singing on top, while "Country" gives similar treatment to the Empire of the Sun song of the same title. There were times during SZA's Fortune set when everyone on-stage who wasn't Rowe or Sampler Guy seemed superfluous. She probably could have dispensed with the other three, but then it wouldn't have been a concert so much as a glorified karaoke exhibition.
As things were, it was a performance that showed just how important production is to SZA's appeal. Don't get me wrong: Rowe is a very good singer, and she demonstrated that quite effectively. The thing is, she didn't sound much like the ethereal diva heard on her three EPs. The multi-tracked, effects-saturated SZA of "Ice Moon" doesn't exist in the real world; she's a studio creation, and one that couldn't be brought to life without some high-level trickery. To her credit, Rowe seems to have no interest in fooling anyone. Her voice is powerful enough that she doesn't need to.
If she has a weakness, it's in her songwriting. She can write pretty melodies, but throughout her hour-long set it became clear that, if she possesses an ability to craft memorable hooks, she has yet to tap into it. The 23-year-old performer is less than three years into her musical career, though, and she'll have plenty of opportunity to prove herself, and to give bloggers a collective hardon.
Comments
3 Comments
SZA
Aug 31, 2014 at 8:12am
Just so your clear my set was pushed back 90 minutes by the VENUE. We were asked to start later we sound checked at 5:30 pm . As for everything else .... Take care and thanks for coming Vancouver is beautiful .
Bradley
Aug 31, 2014 at 10:59am
Great set! Hope you actually were able to sample some of our BC bud. Looking forward to more tracks from you and the rest of the TDE family.
Subway
Aug 31, 2014 at 3:10pm
This was one of the worst music reviews I've ever read: snarky and diminishing, without really talking in detail about the music. FYI: being a critic doesn't mean making cruel observations as a way of coming off as authoritative. In contrast, to be a good music critic, is to have a sensitive and cultivated ear, so you can illuminate the music and produce complex and nuanced interpretations.