SZA Jokes That Her 'Kill Bill’ Lyrics Were 'So Crazy and Harsh': 'I Was Just Randomly Slightly Enraged'

• SZA revisited her "Kill Bill" lyrics during a recent appearance on Chicken Shop Date
• The Grammy winner called her intense words "so crazy and harsh"
• "Kill Bill," a standout single from SZA's SOS album, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023

SZA knows her lyrics can be a bit extreme sometimes — even she shocks herself.

The singer, 34, reflected on her songwriting during a recent appearance on Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date series — specifically the intense lyrics to her chart-topping SOS hit “Kill Bill,” where she casually sings, “I might kill my ex.”

"Oh my God. It’s like, after I said that, I was like, ‘That was so crazy and harsh,'" SZA joked to Dimoldenberg. "I was just randomly slightly enraged."

Despite “Kill Bill”’s hyperbolic words, the song still peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, which came as no surprise to SZA.

"I knew it would be something that pissed me off,” she told Billboard of predicting the track’s success. “It’s always a song that I don’t give a f--- about that’s just super easy, not the s--- that I put so much heart and energy into.”

According to the hitmaker, she recorded “Kill Bill” in “one take, one night” with help from producers Carter Lang and Rob Bisel. In another Billboard interview, Lang attributed the song’s massive appeal to its authenticity and honesty.

"It had this personality to it already,” he told the outlet. “You can just see a cartoon playing out in your brain. The fact that people loved it and lifted it up like that echoes the sentiment of being able to put your thoughts out there in the most authentic and even aggressive way, but over such a sweet-sounding, psychedelic-sounding beat.”

Although SZA had an inkling that the single would perform well among her listeners, the R&B singer revealed that she was still hesitant to release it to the world in Variety’s 2023 Hitmaker of the Year issue — mainly because of its dramatic lyrics.

“I hated it,” she said before clarifying, “Well, I didn’t hate it. But I was like, ‘Can I say this? Is it silly?’ Rob [Bisel] was like, ‘You have to say it!’”

The “Nobody Gets Me” artist added that she sent the track to a friend of hers who suggested she tweak the lyrics “to clarify” her message. “I was really scared that people would harm each other,” SZA admitted, “’cause some people are f---ing strange. But it was a joke.”

SZA has seemingly since embraced her smash hit, as she performed it live during the 2024 Grammys in February. The singer-songwriter brought the song to life with a Quentin Tarantino-inspired set, complete with dancers, swords and an on-stage fight sequence. Afterward, she accepted the award for best R&B song for her other platinum-selling SOS hit, “Snooze.”

Since the release of her 2022 sophomore album, SZA has been dropping breadcrumbs about her next project, Lana. She was already expected to drop a deluxe version of SOS with new bonus tracks, but following recent leaks, she told X (formerly Twitter) followers in March that she plans to start her forthcoming album “from scratch.”

“Y’all leaked three songs from the deluxe. At this point, y’all can keep the throwaways and leaks. I’ll be starting ‘Lana’ from scratch,” she wrote in a since-deleted post, per Variety. “Do not ask me about it again.”

It seems the upcoming project could arrive soon, as SZA teased its arrival again before previewing a new song during her headlining performance at BST Hyde Park on June 29. Per fan-captured footage, she asked the crowd, “New album, you ready?”