SZA Explains Why She’s Paranoid In Public

SZA

SZA opened up about the challenges of fame and the paranoia it brings and how her growing popularity impacts her daily life.

SZA admitted that her growing fame has made her “paranoid” while out in public.

She always thinks that anyone with a camera or a phone is trying to take a snap of her.

“It always exposes the ego and vanity when you’re in historical (places) or beautiful nature and you’re like, ‘It’s clearly me,'” she confessed. “But that’s the psychosis of fame. It makes you so paranoid. You’re not even in touch with reality, because you’re so scared.”

SZA is gearing up to release her third album, Lana and she is “desperately” trying to hold on to her close relationship with her fans despite her ever-growing popularity.

The “Kill Bill” hitmaker had an “intimate” relationship with her supporters when she first out, and she is “trying so desperately to keep that” despite her fanbase growing so big that she’s now headlining festivals like Glastonbury and BST Hyde Park.

In an effort to maintain that connection with her fans, SZA selects a bunch to meet her backstage after each show on her tour and has dozens of group chats with her diehard followers, who keep her up to date with feedback from the fan community.

“(One chat is with) day-one fan pages, (who) then became my friends. They keep me abreast of everything,” the R&B singer told British Vogue. “I’ll be like, ‘Guys, should I delete this?’ They’ll be like, ‘No, you’re fine, but you should probably drop another version of that song because people want to hear that.’ They let me know so I don’t have to go look on the internet.”