User:Adrifaye/Blind (SZA song)

"Blind" is a song by American singer-songwriter SZA (also known as Solana Rowe) and the sixth track on her second studio album, SOS (2022). "Blind" is categorized as an R&B song with influences from the Folk-pop genre. "Blind" was produced by Carter Lang, Rob Bisel, Will Miller and Yuli and written by Solana Rowe, her producers, as well as Margaux Alexis and Rosalena Whitney. The song's lyrics discuss how the toxicity of her previous relationships have negatively affected her reputation and self esteem and were even claimed to be part of the best lyrics from 2022. The lyrics and message of "Blind" were so highly appreciated by the public that it resulted in "Blind" landing a spot on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Global 200 as well as it being accredited as part of the success behind SZA reaching the number one spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 Songwriters chart.

Background
SZA had released one album prior to SOS, her debut studio album, Ctrl, in 2017. Primarily an R&B album that deals with themes like heartbreak, Ctrl received widespread critical acclaim for its candid approach to themes of heartbreak and SZA's incredible songwriting abilities, which eventually landed itself a spot on the top of the Billboard's Top R&B Album that year. Critics credit it with establishing her status as a major figure in contemporary pop and R&B music and pushing the boundaries of the R&B genre. Fans waited 5 years for another album, and even listed to Ctrl so many times that it landed the number one spot on the Billboard's Top R&B album again in 2022. Her next studio album was therefore highly anticipated, and with fans anxiously awaiting her return, SZA hinted that a new album would be coming soon in an interview with DJ Kerwin Frost, possibly as early as August of 2019 or early 2020, and that the album would be "even more of me being less afraid". When SZA collaborated with Cosmopolitan for their February 2021 issue, she spoke about her creative process behind the album's conception. She said: "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.

Between albums, SZA released singles "Hit Different" and "Good Days", marking her first solo songs since Ctrl and fueling anticipation for a new album. She also collaborated with Kendrick Lamar in "All the Stars" which was featured in Black panther the album in 2018, with The Weeknd and Travis Scott in "Power Is Power" in 2019, with Justin Timberlake in "The Other Side" in 2020, and with Doja Cat in "Kiss Me More" in 2021. She also worked with the musical turned movie Dear Evan Hansen and was the co-writer and performer of the song "The Anonymous Ones" in the film in 2021. In addition, she released a few singles which would later appear on her album SOS, "I Hate U" and "Shirt".

At the end of the music video for "Good Days" was a snippet of "Shirt", a single from the upcoming album which was released on October 28, 2022. The music video for "Shirt", similar to that for "Good Days", featured a teaser of an unreleased song in the outro. When SZA appeared on Saturday Night Live on December 3, 2022, she debuted a live performance of "Shirt" alongside the unreleased song. The day after, she announced that the album, titled SOS, would be released on December 9, 2022. SZA used the unreleased song to soundtrack a trailer of SOS she posted to social media. The title of the song in question is "Blind".

Composition
"Blind" is an R&B and folk pop song. It is backed by lush pizzicato strings from violin and guitar, and its rhythm lacks a beat. SZA raps the lyrics in a staccato style, changing her flow every few lines. The lyrics contain various wordplay and humorous references to several figures in pop culture, specifically Muhammad Ali ("now they calling me Cassius"), Bob Saget ("raunchy like Bob Saget"), Julia Stiles ("I ain't no Julia Stiles, this ain't no Last Dance"), and Jesus ("third day, pop out the tomb"). Vulture noted that the pop-culture references in "Blind" are some out of many in SOS, included by SZA to "add some spice to her already well-seasoned lyrics about growing up and bitch-ass men".

In the lyrics, SZA explores how being in toxic relationships has damaged her self-esteem. She discusses how her reputation has been reduced to her sexual encounters with ex-boyfriends: "My past can't escape me / My pussy precedes me." SZA's voice slows down and she switches to a falsetto vocal register in the chorus, in which she further addresses her self-worth and trust issues. She tells a prospective partner who wants to be with her that before they can get together, she needs to learn how to love herself first. One line reads "it's so embarrassing, all of the things I need living inside of me. I can't see it."

Critical reception
In an NPR round-up of the best lyrics from 2022 songs, critic Kiana Fitzgerald chose one line from the chorus of "Blind", citing its relatability to anyone who has been in a relationship: "feelings of inadequacy, feelings of jealousy or trust issues or anything that you might have with someone that you're willing to deal with romantically. You know, we've all - or many of us, I should say - have been through relationships, situationships, dysfunctional functioning, whatever. And there's always some kind of tug and pull when it comes to love."

Pitchfork reviewed the song "Blind" and characterized it as a "dazzling statement piece from her [SZA] new album SOS". They also describe SZA as "real and stylistically electric as ever on “Blind,” musing over lush violins and the delicate guitars of a Sufjan Stevens song, which tiptoe like a ballerina en pointe". They also discuss how this song reflects her classic themes of how hooking up with exes results in reputational damage and the question how long will vulnerability be rewarded with abandonment? This review highlights how in "Blind", "SZA is messy and divine, indulging her desires and reeling from their consequence".