SZA’s “Shirt” is finally here.
Two years after teasing the track, SZA delivers her long-awaited single “Shirt.” Produced by Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, the song was first previewed on Instagram in late 2020 and at the end of SZA’s “Good Days” video.
“Bloodstain on my shirt / New bitch on my nerves / Old ni**a got curved / Going back on my word / Damn, bitch, you so thirsty,” sings SZA.
She teams up with actor LaKeith Stanfield in the Dave Meyers-directed video. The two play a couple of lovers who go on a shooting rampage while delivering pizza and going undercover as nuns before their love story comes to a tragic end. During the end credits, she teases yet another new track.
SZA wasn’t originally planning to include “Shirt” on her upcoming sophomore album, but she changed her mind after it went viral on TikTok.
“It’s always interesting to see what people gravitate toward and what they don’t,” she told PEOPLE. “And I think that teaches a lot about the human psyche and our culture at the same time. It’s always a surprise for me, always on both ends, whether something is positively received or negatively received.”
This marks the first new music from SZA since “Hate U” in December 2021. She recently told TMZ that she has recorded around 100 songs for the follow-up to her 2017 debut Ctrl, which does not have a release date. However, fans noticed that the “Shirt” video includes a scene with a license plate that says “No Ctrl” with a December registration sticker, hinting at a possible album title and release date.