Watch SZA Perform “The Weekend” at Her New Jersey High School
Photos by Christopher Polk/Getty, Michael Kovac/GettyBefore she was SZA, she was Solána Rowe, and she was a student at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J. The hip-hop/R&B queen returned to Columbia on Monday to commemorate her induction into the school’s hall of fame, treating students to both an uplifting speech and a high-energy performance of her Ctrl track “The Weekend,” thusly conducting the best assembly period of all time. SPIN gathered up fan-shot footage from the presentation, which you can watch below.
It was a deafening roar from students and faculty that ushered SZA onstage, in response to which she promptly beamed. She reminisced about her time at high school, but wasn’t afraid to reconcile with the more difficult times she encountered there, as well. “I was incredibly unpopular here,” she said, later following up with,”I got nominated for five Grammys,” during her performance. She continued, “You have to pay attention to how God is working in your life in tiny, tiny ways. It starts with compassion. It starts with trusting yourself.”
SZA recently took a break from touring with Top Dawg Entertainment due to vocal distress. It was even revealed last week, via a series of SZA’s now-deleted tweets, that the damage could be permanent. However, all seemed well during her high school performance, so here’s hoping she’s on the road to recovery.
You can watch the recently released music video for Ctrl track “Garden (Say It Like Dat)” featuring Donald Glover and SZA’s mom, Audrey Rowe, here. Read our 2017 review of Ctrl here.