SZA Says Pharrell Tried To Add Drums To "Supermodel" But It Didn't Work

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SZA attends Black Girls Rock! 2017 at NJPAC on August 5, 2017 in Newark, New Jersey.
SZA had a tough time building "Supermodel" after its initial composition.

SZA's had an impeccable with the release of CTRL. The album catapulted her career to another level and made her one of the most revered artists in R&B today. The album has since gone gold as well as several songs on the album. In a recent interview, she revealed how the album's intro track came about.

In an interview for Billboard's "How It Went Down" series, SZA explained the process of CTRL's intro song. The dark, acoustic tune has been regarded as a stand-out on the album and the song's strength landed a placement on HBO's Insecure. She explained to Billboard the difficulties she had building the song after it's initial composition. She said the song was the first acoustic song she ever made or even attempted to make. Her friend and the song's co-writer, Tyron Donaldson, just learned how to play the guitar a few days before that. While they were jamming and smoking their regular morning joint, the chords he played moved her so much that she later asked him to record a loop of it and hopped into the booth and freestyled the songs lyrics. However, after the two of them wrapped up the song's initial recording, they decided that it needed an extra something. 

"At the end of a song, you want to mix it and make it better and add shit to it and like figure out, 'Does it need backgrounds?'" She says, "Everything we've ever tried to add to that song did not work. Pharrell tried to add drums to the song but it's not on a grid, it's not quantized. It's just Ty trying to play guitar for the third time ever in his life."

Despite the fact that he didn't add anything on the production side of the single, he does have credits for additional vocals on the song. 

In other SZA related news, she announced that she's working on an album with Tame Impala's Kevin Parker and Mark Ronson. The announcement came shortly after Parker and Ronson debuted an unreleased collaboration between the three at Governor's Ball. Hopefully that project sees the light of day soon.

Check out SZA's break down of "Supermodel" below:


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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