SZA’s ‘SOS Deluxe: Lana’ Is a Low-Key But Satisfying Collection to Tide Fans Over Until Her Next Chapter: Album Review

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The title of SZA’s long-awaited “SOS Deluxe: Lana” seems designed to manage expectations: Despite her comments earlier this year that the much-delayed project would be a collection of new material, she seems to have reverted to her original plan of making it “outtakes from ‘SOS’ and a couple of new songs,” as she described it to Variety in August of 2023.

Consequently, it’s similar to the deluxe edition of her 2017 full-length debut “Ctrl”: a low-key but satisfying collection outtakes from the album’s sessions and various other tracks that have been floating around the internet for the past couple of years, with a couple of apparently new songs thrown in.

It is clearly not the next chapter of her musical evolution, despite her forthcoming tour with Kendrick Lamar and the new imagery (sexy bugs!) that accompanies it.

Anyone seeking another culture-shaking song like “Kill Bill” won’t find it here, but there’s plenty to keep fans happy until that next era arrives (which might be a while: Five years passed between the release of “Ctrl” and “SOS”).