Writing About SZA and Recovering from Ugly Duckling Syndrome
Hey there. Want to read this thing I wrote about connecting to SZA's music, being a recovering ugly duckling and happily making it to a confident place? Yeah? Well, here you go.
SZA Wished to be 'Normal,' But Like This Writer, She Did Much Better
One of the things I love most about my job is when I get to connect my life experiences to art and this was one of those times. My wife and I went to SZA's concert in September. Prior to it I had been excited to see her live. Her debut album Ctrl was one of the year's best. It's narrative is one of a young woman finding herself in her world and feeling like she wasn't enough of the things she admired in others. I tend to connect with artists who experienced what I'll call an inferiority complex, feeling that they lack in blatant and not so obvious ways.In my formative years, I was a skinny kid with glasses and jacked up teeth who envied the cool kids, but never managed to be one. I wasn't invited to one birthday party or sleepover, nor did I do anything more than hug a girl that I crushed on back in high school. Nerd City, y'all. Population: me. I'm sure there were people who felt like me around. But just as the teenage experience for those who are quite far from Mr. Popular status is portrayed in the movies, it felt like an immensely lonely one.Since then I've grown a bunch and become a person that I'm super happy with. And if you've heard Ctrl, it seems SZA has, too. When I first went to her show, I had no plan of writing the piece that it became. At first I wanted to make my story for Flaunt exclusively about her. But as we watched her perform, hearing the things she'd say between songs, I knew I'd have to write something that included me.I don't want to spoil your read by telling you why, so just go for it. Thanks for letting me share. -bw