SZA’s fans feel like they’ve waited long enough for new music from the singer, whose last album, CTRL, was released more than three years ago. And after quizzing the singer, they’ve now gone straight to her label head and he actually responded.
When fans asked SZA about new music, she replied in a now-deleted tweet: “At this point y’all gotta ask Punch. I’ve done all I can do.” The singer was referring to Top Dawg Entertainment president, Terrence “Punch” Henderson.
And when another fan asked if her relationship with TDE was “adverse or hostile,” SZA made it plain by replying: “BEEN hostile.”
BEEN hostile .
— SZA (@sza) August 20, 2020
It didn’t take long for Punch to reply, retweeting fans who seemed in support of him. He also coyly tweeted, “I am a person and you guys are hurting my feelings.”
I am a person and you guys are hurting my feelings.
— Punch TDE (@iamstillpunch) August 20, 2020
Fans also asked Punch point-blank when SZA’s new music is slated to be released. He said, “Soon.” SZA wrote in response, “This is all he says to me as well. Welcome to my f-cking life.”
This isn’t the first time SZA has complained about TDE and Punch specifically. Back in 2016, SZA revealed to Complex, “Me and Punch never get along—that’s every day. They call me one of the homies. We’re all different, and that was hard to understand [at first] because they’re tough-love people and hard to read, but I dig it now.”
And although she had also said that year she wanted to quit music, hinting at issues with her label, she cleared that up in the same interview, noting: “I don’t have any issues with my label. My label has been nothing but supportive of everything I’ve wanted to do.”
Still, SZA fans were so upset about her latest tweets that #FreeSZA began trending by Thursday afternoon. Here is a small sample of their outrage:
no bc sza wants to release music but punch over here holding her back wtf #FreeSza pic.twitter.com/cOAHJcVXOE
— josh
(@joshjasper22) August 20, 2020
So you mean to tell me all this time SZA couldn’t put out music because of her manager…#freesza pic.twitter.com/a6oNEUVYxZ
— Kris 
(@Krislitee) August 20, 2020
Whole time we been blaming artists for keeping us waiting on their albums or new music, but they are not the problem. Managers are to be blamed.. Punch ain’t shit! #freesza #freesza #freesza pic.twitter.com/INPEtsHVcM
— Stera 
(@SteraClemond) August 20, 2020
Once again sleazy label men sabotaging their female artist’s careers, and for what?He retweeted some of the criticsm too, like he’s proud of it. Disgusting af. #FreeSza pic.twitter.com/nXxHXlTpP2
— We Get By #BLM (@LordeHelpUsAll) August 20, 2020
The post #FreeSZA Trends After Sza Reveals Relationship With Label ‘Been Hostile’ appeared first on Essence.
