SZA Says The ‘Sh**ty Experience’ Of Being Bullied As A Teen ‘Made Me Who I Am’: I Didn’t Have Any Friends

SZA

SZA Says The ‘Sh**ty Experience’ Of Being Bullied As A Teen ‘Made Me Who I Am’: I Didn’t Have Any Friends

SZA is getting candid about her past experience of being bullied.

During a recent interview, the “Kill Bill” singer shared she experienced bullying in school in different ways. SZA (born Solána Rowe) explained,

“I was bullied because I wasn’t quiet and I was awkward at the same time. I wasn’t this tiny sad victim, but I was more so attacked just because it was giving ‘What is wrong with you?’ energy… I always thought, ‘Oh my God.’ I’ll never have the approval of anyone in life, this must be my defining factor, this must be the bottom line.”

Reflecting on her past, SZA said those negative experiences helped shape her into who she is today and that she has no regrets.

“I realized that all the things that made me feel so lame were actually what made me into who I am. It’s like, I didn’t go to prom because I didn’t have any friends and I had no one to go to prom with … [and now] it’s so weird that my life turned into [having] a bodyguard while traveling to parties.”

SZA

She continued,

“All these things, if I had such a fulfilling existence and experience in high school, I would’ve felt validated to the point where I didn’t need to do anymore. [So] I just had to do more, I had to be more because I was like, ‘This sh*ty experience can’t be the end of it because if it is, I am cooked.’ “

Now, when the “Snooze” singer is overwhelmed or feels the need to unplug, she knows how to properly cope.

“Sometimes it’s crying, sometimes it’s eating my favorite food, or going to the beach, or going for a walk or doing Shambhavi [Mahamudra]…Sometimes it’s just praying straight up by myself and just telling God, ‘Wow, I feel so trash right now and I desperately need your help.'”

SZA later shared some words of encouragement and sound advice for young girls who are in a similar situation.

“Everyone who experiences bullying, that just sucks, but it’s going to lead you to something, it has to. If you could hold on and just wait until high school is over because 10 years from now, I promise you, none of those people will matter.. I’m grateful.”

Last month, SZA released her highly anticipated sophomore album SOS. Soon after, she watched as her album climbed the charts and made her the No. 1 artist globally.

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 breaking the record for the largest streaming week for an R&B album. It marked SZA’s first number-one album in the United States and spent three weeks atop the chart.

In a previous interview, SZA was candid about how she felt watching her newly-dropped album “SOS’ top the music charts, making her Spotify’s No. 1 artist in the world. SZA, who released “SOS” on Dec. 9, said:

“I never thought in a million years that people would like it.”

The 33-year-old continued:

“My dad’s visiting right now, with my mom. Everybody came down to make sure I didn’t lose my mind if the album went bad once it came out. And now we’re just hanging out, ’cause it didn’t go badly!”

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[VIA]