The Source |SZA Opens Up About Protecting Her Mental Health From Online Scrutiny And The Music Industry

SZA, is known for leaving her most vulnerable feelings and emotion in her lyrics but, In a recent interview with Finish Line Women’s Community Voices series for Mental Health Awareness Month, The Grammy Award Winning R&B Singer admits the pressures of fame and being an artist affects her mental health. She, reveals how social media trolls impact her own thoughts, and the difficulties she faces when negative comments match up to her own insecurities.  “It’s weird sometimes when your personal thoughts and feelings align with some of the things people say about you,” she told the outlet. “It’s hard not to fall into that weird hole of self-loathing.” Although she finds refuge in her own creative process, she sometimes wonders if her skin is thick enough to face the pressures and the scrutiny that comes with stardom. “The physical exhaustion, the mental exhaustion does not come from making music,” divulged SZA. “But the exhaustion really comes from expectations, berating, and dehumanizing from outside forces. And that s— makes me feel like, ‘Why am I doing this? Why would I set myself up to be bodied like this on a regular basis?’ How does she find refuge and what are her best ways to cope?  “I’m an escape artist, so I love to get gone,” she said in her interview. “I love to hit an island, go for a walk at a local park, or just go to the beach and sit down.” She adds, “I feel like physical activity, being outside, and also prayer is really powerful for me.” She even escaped the infamous MET Gala party.

“For me, it’s like, I snuck out the back as soon as Lenny Kravitz hit the stage because I was feeling very like, ‘Whoa, my anxiety’s going crazy,’” continued SZA. “So much so that I couldn’t walk down the main steps to exit. I took a cab. I walked like three city blocks with no shoes on…” 

“I just tiptoed a couple of blocks and caught a yellow cab back to my hotel because I was just overwhelmed,” she recalled. “I had too much anxiety to wait for my cab in front of the crowd, and take pictures, and all those things. I didn’t want to do that. So I was looking like a little dirty Cinderella running away with my shoes.”  See SZA’s full interview below: