Lana (album)

Lana is the upcoming third studio album by American singer-songwriter SZA. It is scheduled to be released through Top Dawg Entertainment and RCA Records. Originally planned as the deluxe edition of SZA's previous studio album, SOS (2022), Lana evolved into its own album that would consist solely of new music.

Background
American singer-songwriter SZA released her second studio album SOS on December 9, 2022, to widespread acclaim and high commercial success. It opened with a score of 94 on the review aggregate website Metacritic, debuted atop the Billboard 200, broke a string of chart records, and spawned several career milestones. SZA teased the imminent release of its deluxe version on Instagram upon SOS release, and she teased it again on a December 21 post, where she expressed gratitude for the album's number-one debut: "Imma take another swing at it for the deluxe then shut up for a while."

During the album rollout, many of SZA's unreleased songs were circulating the Internet. Fans gravitated towards them and wanted them on the tracklist like SZA did, but Punch, president of SZA's label Top Dawg Entertainment, had reservations. She described him, who primarily curated the standard version's tracklist, as someone with "a very strong opinion" about the matter in a December 2022 Consequence cover story. She told Rolling Stone the same month that one song was excluded because "no one wanted to hear songs that were out for years", and another was not deemed exciting enough for inclusion despite the positive reception from fans on Twitter. In a January 2023 interview with Most Requested Live, SZA said the deluxe edition would feature the awaited outtakes: "that's what deluxe and things are for. Sometimes it's 10 songs that didn't make the cut, so we'll see."

On February 25, 2023, Billboard reported that ten songs will be released as part of the deluxe edition of SOS. SZA officially announced in September that it had become a "whole 'nother album" titled Lana, which she confirmed again during a Variety feature story. She told the magazine that the release would be unexpected, and she compared herself to Frank Ocean and André 3000 in that she was free to do whatever she wanted. Elaborating on her decision to release another full album worth of material, she said that it had become more than expected and referred to the creative process as fun and did not spend too much time living in her "own head".

Recording and release
SZA wrote and recorded over 100 songs for SOS within a timespan of five years. She and her collaborator, album producer Carter Lang, continued to make music after its release specifically for Lana, motivated by sporadic bursts of creativity. By February 4, 2024, the day of the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, SZA told The Hollywood Reporter that the album was still "shaping itself" as she let her voice follow "whatever the [album]'s frequency [was]", though she refused to disclose more details. She reasoned that doing so would inadvertently change her creative direction for the album.

The official announcement for the upcoming album took place during a surprise party held in Brooklyn Navy Yard to celebrate the success of SOS. During the event, SZA performed four songs intended for the deluxe edition: "Saturn", "PSA", "DTM", and "Boy from South Detroit". On December 10, SZA revealed six cover art variants for Lana on Instagram. She once again alluded its release was on the way on March 12, 2024, while teasing an unreleased song; the accompanying video depicts SZA as she poses in a camping tent wearing nothing but a red bikini.

"Saturn" was released to streaming services on February 22, 2024, reportedly as Lana lead single. She previously performed "Saturn" for a Mastercard commercial during the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, swinging in front of a backdrop covered by tree and flower props that referenced a company's tree-planting campaign started by the company to combat climate change.

On March 25, SZA claimed in now-deleted Twitter posts that following the leaks of three songs intended for SOS, she would be "starting [the album] from scratch" and added: "At this point, y’all can keep the throwaways and leaks [...] Seems like a fair deal. Enjoy." However, she seemed to change her mind as hours later, she posted again to say that the leaks and other outtakes would be officially released on another deluxe edition of SOS as to "not prolong" the wait for Lana itself.

Title
SZA, whose real name is Solána, used one of her nicknames to give SOS its title, and the same was true for Lana. She got her nickname "Lana" at 13 years old, when she planned to have her first name tattooed on her. According to her, she had to pay $10 per letter, but having only $40, she used only the last four letters of "Solana" for her tattoo.