“This has been a year to remember for SZA,” Trevor Noah said during Grammys 2024, and it's true. At the Grammys, SZA showed exactly why she leads the pack in Grammy nominations this year — with nine total, including Album of the Year for SOS.
Related: Grammy Nominations 2024: See Full List of Nominees Here
Clad in a hat and trench coat, SZA kicked things off with “Snooze,” singing in a fiery alleyway. An outfit and set change later, and she was in all-black cargo pants for “Kill Bill,” backed by sword-swinging dancers as she choked a man into the air.
“My personal lesson is to get out of my own head,” she said in a pre-performance video celebrating SOS, referencing her nerves and anxieties. “Being the most nominated person at the Grammys is a blessing … it represents the culmination of everything that has happened in my career.”
Related: Grammys 2024 Performers: Travis Scott, Billie Eilish, SZA, and More
Much is in store for SZA in 2024, too, including a soon-to-be-released collaboration with Paramore and a recently released live performance through Apple Music.
All this despite her ongoing hatred of fame. “I hate being famous. It sucks. I hate scrutiny. I hate being perceived,” she told Apple Music last week. She's more interested in the music, and in connection. “I love connecting with people in the crowd when I feel like it's really me and you right now. And I go eye to eye with so many people during this show, and it's something about tour that it makes the love real, and tangible. "
She's already won a couple of her Grammy noms early in the night: Pop Duo/Group Performance and Urban Contemporary Album. More are soon to come — but SZA has already achieved her goals.
“I don't have any more goals,” she told Apple Music. “And that sounds terrible, but career-wise, I keep saying that, nobody believes me, but you don't understand, these are my goals. I've already, I've gone platinum. I didn't think I'd ever go platinum. I sold a bunch of records. I got to meet Stevie Wonder. I got to meet Beyoncé and work with her. I got to meet Frank Ocean. My mom came and my dad came to all these cool countries to see me perform. I've had sold out shows. I got to headline a festival. What else do I want? I've been nominated for Grammys. I won a Grammy. I'm done. So anything past this is so much more than I wanted, thought of, dreamed of.”
Watch SZA's Grammys 2024 performance of “Kill Bill” and “Snooze” below:
