SZA has dubbed the Grammys a “thirsty, dark space”.
The ‘Kill Bill’ hitmaker is not a fan of the atmosphere created by artists seeking “validation” from awards, describing being amongst acknowledgment-seeking stars as “the weirdest”, “not normal” experience.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, she said: “It’s not normal.
“I hate that [other artists] be acting like this s*** is normal and nobody talks about it at all.”
She continued: “There is so much wanting in there.
“Wanting to be noticed, wanting to be, like, acknowledged, to win, wanting to just be amongst [other artists] in the room, wanting to feel valuable or validated. All of us are in there striving for something.
“It’s like a thirsty, dark space.”
SZA herself has won one Grammy from 14 nominations to date, in 2022, for ‘Kiss Me More’ with Doja Cat.
She said: “It means something, even though, like, this isn’t everything.
“But it’s kind of important that I’m here. It kind of matters.”
The chart-topping star previously insisted she’s not motivated by accolades.
The ‘Good Days’ singer – whose real name is Solana Rowe – said: “I try not to care too much because I really had some deep disappointments when I would just be so invested. But I can’t invest because none of it is real.
“Even if I win a bunch of Grammys, that s*** doesn’t matter. It would be so cool. But also I would not be surprised at all if I didn’t win any [more]. Because that’s just how s*** goes.”
Meanwhile, SZA’s longtime manager recently suggested that she didn’t perform at the MTV Video Music Awards due to not being nominated for Artist of The Year.
Top Dawg Entertainment co-president Terrence ‘Punch’ Henderson told The Hollywood Reporter: “Obviously, she had one of the best years, if not the best year, of any artist at this point. I don’t see why she wouldn’t be nominated for artist of the year. It just really didn’t make any sense to me. It’s disrespectful.”
He went on: “And they ended up saying, ‘OK, well we could do another call’ because there were people on [the call] about logistics for the show who didn’t have anything to do with [the nominations]. When we tried to set up the second call, they didn’t want to discuss Artist of the Year, which to me was really a slap in the face.”