SZA Reveals Her Fears of Fame & How She Copes With Her Anxieties

SZA realizes that the fame she has now can be gone in an instant.

The 33-year-old singer is very self-aware of the position she finds herself in and wants people to recognize that she wasn’t born famous.

“It’s all really fickle… Had the first three shows of my tour gone poorly, would the rest of my dates have been sold out? Would those people be outside waiting in line by the time we got to L.A.? No,” SZA said.

Keep reading to find out more… “All it takes is, what, three poorly shot TikTok videos to basically decide that this tour is not worth coming to see,” SZA told Elle.

“I know that people don’t love me because love is really unconditional, and I’m one scandal away from being canceled indefinitely like anyone else,” SZA continued. “I’m grateful that they like my art and that it speaks to them, and it connects and tethers all of us together in this weird way. It’s dope, but it’s also still a string that could be cut at any moment. Literally, sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to it. Remember Susan Boyle? Like, what if I’m Susan Boyle?!”

Given the precarious nature of her fame, SZA says she needs to stay grounded. “I need time to prepare myself to be perceived…like, I need to mentally prepare. I need space and time,” SZA said.

“Some people think that, like, me having anxiety or me being shy or struggling with self-esteem is an act. I’m just, deada**, a person,” she explained.

“Everybody else has feelings and fears. Why wouldn’t I be scared to be famous? Would you be scared to be famous? Because I’m famous, I’m not allowed to be scared? I wasn’t born famous,” SZA continued. “I had regular quiet-a** parents from a small town like everybody else. And I guess at some point I’m supposed to acclimate to all of this?”

SZA and Doja Cat recently released the remix for SZA‘s hit song “Kill Bill,” which was featured on her 2022 album SOS.