Review Summary: LANA Del Safe
Choosing to review
LANA as a separate body of work feels like a necessity – rather than extending 2022’s
SOS into a second chapter, it offers a complementary contrast.
SOS was defined by ambition and erraticism, rapidly transforming genres and shifting vibes across its 67 sprawling minutes.
LANA doesn’t necessarily take the same big swings; SZA is laser-focused on creating chart-ready R&B and all 16 tracks feel like they could be a Billboard hit of some degree.
This time there are no forays into pop-rock or dream-pop and no Phoebe Bridgers collab – you could say that SZA is playing it safe, and maybe by her own standards she is, but even the quality of her deluxe tracks is ahead of her R&B contemporaries. The production on
LANA is polished and glistening, with highlights including the hip-hop inspired “What Do I Do” and the throwback slow jam “Kitchen”. SZA’s vocals also shine as per usual, especially as she effortlessly glides into her higher register on the hooks of “My Turn”, “Another Life” and early 2024 hit “Saturn”.
However, having recently revisited SZA’s 2017 breakout album
Ctrl, you can’t help but feel something missing from her music since. Listening to
Ctrl feels like opening a musical virtuoso’s messy diary, with entire paragraphs scrawled out and re-written in different fonts – her melodies, lyrics and harmonies kept you guessing at all times (good luck singing along to “Love Galore” for example).
LANA feels incredibly straightforward in comparison, but I don’t think its a case of her being any less of a messy musical perfectionist, as evidenced by the album’s prolonged rollout and post-release tweaks.
Perhaps I’m being too critical for a deluxe edition, and
LANA is just intended to be a playlist of hits to tide us over until her next
Ctrl-level opus (here’s wishing). It’s hard to say where she goes from here, but something SZA fans know to live by is that unpredictability is always part of the journey.
[Note: this review is based off only the deluxe edition tracks released in 2024]
