Low (SZA song)

"Low" is a song by American singer-songwriter SZA from her second album, SOS (2022). The song features adlibs from American rapper Travis Scott. It charted in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, with a number 24 peak on the Billboard Global 200. The song received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance at the 66th ceremony.

Background
SZA released her debut studio album, Ctrl, in 2017. Primarily an R&B album that deals with themes like heartbreak, it received widespread acclaim for SZA's vocal performance, the musical style, and the songwriting. The album brought SZA to mainstream fame, and critics credit it with establishing her as a major figure in contemporary pop and R&B music and pushing the boundaries of R&B. Her next studio album was highly anticipated, and she alluded to its completion as early as August 2019,  during an interview with DJ Kerwin Frost.

Commenting on the creative process behind the album, SZA stated it would be just as candid and personal as Ctrl: "This next album is even more of me being less afraid of who am I when I have no choice? When I'm not out trying to curate myself and contain." When SZA collaborated with Cosmopolitan for their February 2021 issue, she spoke about her creative process for the album: "this album is going to be the shit that made me feel something in my...here and in here", pointing to her heart and gut.

From April to May 2022, SZA told media outlets that she had recently finished the album in Hawaii and said it was her most relatable or "unisex" body of work as of then. During an interview with Complex, she described the album's composition: "I have no idea what it sounds like to anybody else. I really don't know. It's so bizarre. It's weird that I can't put my finger on it. It's a little bit of everything", and she added that certain tracks on the album had a soft or balladic sound.

During a Billboard cover story published in November, SZA revealed that the title of her second album was SOS, and it was scheduled for release sometime the following month. On December 3, 2022, she announced it would be released on December 9, and two days later, she posted the track list on Twitter. Out of 23 songs, "Low" appears as the album's fourth track.

Music and production
"Low" was written and recorded around Thanksgiving 2022. The song was produced by Alessandro Buccellati, Rob Bisel and Aire Atlantica, who used AutoTune on SZA's vocals.

Release and reception
The song reached the top 40 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, with chart peaks of number 34, number 21, number 36, and number 17, respectively. It peaked at number 6 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart; out of 20 songs from SOS that debuted in the United States, "Low" was the fourth highest, behind "Kill Bill", "Nobody Gets Me", and "Blind". On February 7, 2023, it, along with three other songs from SOS, were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for surpassing 500,000 units sold. On April 7, 2023, it was certified platinum by them for 1,000,000 units sold.

Time called "Low" a "strip club anthem".

Credits
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of SOS.

Recording and management


 * Engineered at Westlake Studio A (Los Angeles, California)
 * Mixed at The Gift Shop (DTLA)
 * Mastered at Becker Mastering (Pasadena, California)

Personnel


 * Solána Rowe (SZA) lead vocals, songwriting
 * Rob Bisel songwriting, production, keyboards, additional vocals, engineering
 * Alessandro Buccellati songwriting, production, keyboards, accordion, additional vocals
 * Joseph Pincus (Aire Atlantica) songwriting, production, drum programming
 * Jocelyn A. Donald songwriting
 * Travis Scott additional vocals
 * Derek "206derek" Anderson vocal engineering and mixing (for Scott)
 * Robert N. Johnson assistant engineering
 * Jon Castelli mixing
 * Josh Deguzman engineering (for mix)
 * Dale Becker mastering
 * Katie Harvey assistant mastering
 * Noah McCorkle assistant mastering

Note