SZA

Ctrl

Ctrl is SZA’s debut studio album, recorded between 2014 and 2017 at the TDE Red Room in Carson, California, and other locations including Chicago and Carter Lang’s Michigan home. It uses analog techniques—physically unplugging and re-plugging wires—to shape sound. Rick Rubin guided its minimalism, stripping reverb and background vocals to foreground SZA’s voice. Producers competed, exchanging beats; SZA studied Top 40 hits from the 1940s and 1980s for stylistic reference. The album features sampled voice recordings of her maternal grandmother, Norma Rowe. It was universally acclaimed, earned seven Grammy nominations, and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200.