SZA Gets Real About Fame: “I Didn’t Even Know What I Was Signing Up For” [Video]

SZA might be killing it in music, but being famous? That’s still something she’s trying to wrap her head around.

During an interview with Extra for her new movie One of Them Days with Issa Rae and Keke Palmer, she admitted she hasn’t fully accepted her celebrity status.

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“Some people are very well acclimated in being perceived,” SZA said, giving props to Keke for how easily she handles the spotlight. “Keke has this crazy network of a mechanism where everything just kind of flows, even when the cameras are on.”

For SZA, it’s different. “I don’t really know what is happening. I don’t know what the hell going on. I grew up in the ’burbs, went to regular school, went to regular college, did regular odd jobs until everything popped off,” she explained. Being famous wasn’t part of her original plan—it just kind of happened.

“I’ve never been examined in this way,” she continued. “I get just a comfortability with letting my shoulders down and knowing that I’m not in danger just because I’m being perceived by people that I don’t know.”

SZA also agreed with Palmer’s take that fame is “weird,” saying people often assume it’s normal for her by now. “They be like, ‘That’s what you signed up for,’ and I’m like, ‘I didn’t even know what I was signing up for, actually.’ I just made a couple songs, and I was grateful they were liked, and then I kept going.”

She touched on comments she made to British Vogue last year about possibly quitting music, saying, “Every day I grapple with, ‘Am I done with music?’ Maybe I’m just not meant to be famous – I’m crashing and burning and behaving erratically.

But despite her anxiety, she’s doing her best to keep pushing forward. “I just keep trying to rise to the occasion. But I’m also just like, ‘Please, the occasion is beating my ass.’”

Fame may not be something SZA ever fully embraces, but her honesty about it is something fans respect.