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Pop star SZA has revealed she felt like she was 'drowning on stage' when she headlined Glastonbury 2024.
The Kill Bill hitmaker, 35, whose real name is Solána Imani Rowe, was the closing night headliner at the festival but her performance was marred by technical issues.
The singer's audio to appear muffled and distorted, leading people to label her set as 'disastrous'.
Now SZA, who is only the third Black woman to grace the Pyramid Stage at the festival after Beyonce in 2011, has shared the immense pressure she was under at the time admitting it is even painful to talk about months on from the performance.
In a new interview with British Vogue, the star said: 'I just felt like nothing I could do would be enough for Glastonbury, no matter what I did. It scared me. I was like, well, I wish I wasn’t doing it, but I couldn’t walk away from it…'
She said she thought at the time: 'I’m scared. I feel like I’m drowning on stage and I feel like I’m failing.'
Pop star SZA has revealed she felt like she was 'drowning on stage' when she headlined Glastonbury 2024
The Kill Bill hitmaker, 35, whose real name is Solána Imani Rowe, was the closing night headliner at the festival but she immediately ran into performance troubles (pictured in June)
And on becoming the second Black soloist in history to headline, she called it 'such a f*****g tall order. It’s like, no matter what you do here, you will be subject to criticism. Because of who you are. But that’s life. That’s life, you know?'
At Glastonbury, the star ended up drawing one of the smallest crowds despite being one of the most dominant forces in the industry as England were also playing in the Euros at the time.
Her studio album SOS dropped in 2022 and it remained in the Billboard 200 for nine consecutive weeks - the first female artist to achieve this since Adele in 2016.
Nonetheless, she announced a break from live music just weeks after her Glastonbury set to 'get her life together' and also revealed to Vogue that staying in the music industry has remained a constant battle.
The star confessed she sometimes thinks maybe she is not meant for fame and feels as if she is 'crashing and burning'.
Admitting she suffers from 'so much' anxiety, SZA said she keeps trying to 'rise to the occasion' and claimed God wouldn't have put her in this position if she wasn't supposed to be in the music industry.
Despite her Glastonbury setback, SZA set London alight with an incredible performance at BST Hyde Park in the same week as her headlining set.
Metro's review called the show 'virtually flawless' and claimed 'her live vocals (are) truly something to be admired' – a sentiment echoed by fans and critics alike.
In a new interview, the star said: 'I just felt like nothing I could do would be enough for Glastonbury, no matter what I did. It scared me. I was like, well, I wish I wasn’t doing it,'
Discussing how she couldn't see faces in the crowd and started to panic, thinking: 'I’m scared. I feel like I’m drowning on stage and I feel like I’m failing'
Despite her reservations with the industry, SZA does have another album, Lana, on the horizon – with estimates that she will be releasing it before autumn is over.
Discussing her thoughts behind the album, the star said she was making new music from a more 'beautiful place' rather than 'angsty'.
She claimed piece by piece her music is 'shifting' and she is not identifying with her 'brokeness' as it is 'not my identity.'
SZA also recently revealed her regrets over getting plastic surgery - specifically her BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift), saying: 'It was just so stupid'.
On getting a BBL she said: 'I'm so mad I did that s***. I gained all this weight from being immobile while recovering and trying to preserve the fat. It was just so stupid. But who gives a f**k?'
'You got a BBL, you realise you didn't need the s**t. It doesn't matter. I'll do a whole bunch more s**t just like it if I want to before I'm f***ing dead because this body is temporary. '
'It just wasn't super necessary – I have other s**t that I need to work on about myself… I need to get my f***ing mental health together… Not to say you can't do those things simultaneously, just, for me, I realise wherever you go, there you'll be.
'But I love my butt. Don't get me wrong. My booty look nice. And I'm grateful that it looks pretty much… I don't know, sometimes natural, but I don't even care. It's something that I wanted. I'm enjoying it. I love shaking it.'
See the full feature in the December issue of British Vogue available via digital download and on newsstands from November 19.
English (US) ·