The thing that makes LANA, the deluxe addendum to SZA’s 2022 superb contemporary R&B pop clinic, SOS, such a flex is its unassuming nature. Unlike SOS, which took five years worth of anticipation and fervent Internet catcalls to see the light of day, LANA‘s existence was something that was mentioned in passing, never had the same kind of pressure on it like its predecessors to again change the game, and in being released not as its own proper album but rather bonus material to the one that came before it, she was tempering expectations right from the get-go. But this is SZA. So far, her catalog has been a thing of finessed execution, and even upon its release, LANA was still being reworked on its mixes to ensure it was the version which the singer-songwriter deemed worthy of her listeners’ ears.

As stated in the write-up for its Bossa Nova-meets-French pop highlight, “BMF”, LANA‘s arrival ahead of the New Year is all the more crucial in spite of its setup because of its timing. She’ll be hitting the road later this spring alongside Top Dawg counterpart Kendrick Lamar across a stadium tour, and the music here — an even sweeter concentrate of pop-juiced R&B than the album its attached to — is well worth the squeeze in putting out into the world and reaching the nosebleeds. You could easily argue that LANA outdoes SOS at its own game of genre-hopping without its obvious intentions.

While SOS had its megahits like “Kill Bill” and “Good Days”, moments like the sleepy, folk-tinged “Ghost In the Machine” or the all-too-chill “Open Arms” felt like disjointed scene breaks from SZA’s heaven-sent flow for the sake of forced pandering in cross-stan streaming maximalization at a time when everyone was throwing Phoebe Bridgers and Travis Scott into a guest spot. LANA only has one feature (and that would be an expectant powerhouse team-up with Kendrick on “30 for 30”,) and the rest of it feels like it could stand alone as its own as hit singles, in turn putting any steers into alternative pop and pop noir, jazz-laced soul, and bombastic psychedelia when otherwise driving through her lane of contempo R&B cool onto the same path.

That the album is a meditation on self-love releases each song into the air like each is their own butterfly healed in sanctuary, expecting nothing from the offering yet leaving a lasting impression just the same.

Highlights: “30 for 30”, “BMF”, “Another Life”

SZA’s SOS Deluxe: LANA is available now on Top Dawg Entertainment / RCA Records.

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