Z

'Z' is the third EP and first commercial EP by Solána Imani Rowe, known by the stage name SZA, released on April 8th, 2014 under Top Dawg Entertainment.

Background
SZA started releasing music in 2012 with the release of her first self-released EP, See.SZA.Run. Prior to the release of the EP, she met the owners of Top Dawg Entertainment and would later sign before the release of Z. After See.SZA.Run, she released her next EP, S in 2013 which was meant to be a trilogy concept of her stage name 'SZA'. The EP was well recieved and finally in October 2013, she was signed to Top Dawg Entertainment.

Writing and recording
The album was recorded in summer 2013 with frequent collaborator Isaiah Rashad. The album was produced by several new producers such as Emile Haynie, Holy Other, Larry Fisherman (Mac Miller), Felix Snow, among many others.

The album was fully written solely by Solána, and she noted that 'now that I’m actually singing I don’t write any of my lyrics. I just kind of freestyle them off the top of my head. Whatever comes to my mind I just let it out the way it comes, which sometimes doesn’t make any sense even to me.'

Commercial performance
The EP was much more successful than her previous EPs, with her first charting in the UK in both the Albums Chart and the R&B chart, reaching 197 on the Albums chart and 23 on the R&B charts.

In the USA, the EP was also successful, debuting at 39 on the Billboard 200, number 7 on the Independent Albums Chart and number 9 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

Scrapped third installment
The third installment of the 'SZA' EP trilogy was originally titled A, however it was scrapped as Solána stated she thought she owed people more than an EP. On 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' where she debuted the lead single of her debut album, she stated that her debut album would be titled A, however it would end up being renamed to Ctrl.

Tracklist

 * Ur
 * 1) Child's Play (ft. Chance the Rapper)
 * 2) Julia
 * 3) Warm Winds (ft. Isaiah Rashad)
 * 4) HiiiJack
 * 5) Green Mile
 * 6) Babylon (ft. Kendrick Lamar)
 * 7) Sweet November
 * 8) Shattered Ring
 * 9) Omega