PSA

## PSASong by SZA

LANA Tracklist

"**PSA**" (also known as "**Potting Season**") is the twenty-fourth track and the first bonus track on the webstore version of SZA's sophomore album, *SOS*. It was released on January 5, 2023 through Top Dawg and RCA.

## Background

SZA released her debut studio album, *Ctrl*, in 2017. Primarily an R&B album that deals with themes like heartbreak, *Ctrl* received widespread critical acclaim and brought SZA to mainstream success. Critics credit it with establishing her status as a major figure in contemporary pop and R&B music and pushing the boundaries of the R&B genre. Her next studio album was therefore highly anticipated, and she alluded to its completion as early as August 2019 during an interview with DJ Kerwin Frost.

In the meantime, SZA had been collaborating with other artists on singles, releasing "What Lovers Do" with Maroon 5 in 2017, "All the Stars" with Kendrick Lamar and "I Do" with Cardi B in 2018, and "Staring at the Sun" with Post Malone in 2019. In 2020, "Hit Different" and "Good Days" were released—the two marked her first solo songs since *Ctrl* and hence fueled anticipation for a new album. She followed it up with two more solo singles in the coming years: "I Hate U" in 2021 and "Shirt" in October 2022.

The song was originally first teased as an unnamed snippet on May 18th, 2022 via SZA’s Instagram story. (Then shortly deleted)

From April to May 2022, SZA told media outlets that she had recently finished the album in Hawaii and said that it was coming soon. Her 33rd birthday came on November 8, several weeks after the release of "Shirt". To celebrate the occasion, a video was uploaded to her YouTube account, and she reposted it on social media with the caption: "Happy birthday to me. Clock starts now."

## Teaser

The video posted to YouTube was a teaser for the upcoming album. The teaser is directed by Bradley J. Calder, and it uses a song titled "PSA". Nearly two minutes long, it features alternating shots of SZA in two scenes: in one, she wears a brown bikini and crouches in a ring of neon green fire, and in the other, she pours blue, fluorescent liquid over her naked self by a beach. As the teaser ends, she makes her way towards the sea, and the video cuts to black before playing Morse code that translates to "SOS".

The instruments in "PSA" consist of soft piano and harps, alongside several background vocal harmonies. SZA raps the lyrics with braggadocio: she demands people call her nothing but the "number one" and serve her, admitting to insisting this because she needs to curb feelings of envy and find a way to cope with her problems: "I don't know how to take losses / Even when, even when they are lost causes." Later, she proceeds to anger someone for her own pleasure—"pissing you off just to get off"—then mocks certain "bottom feeders" who "suck dick by the liter", perceiving them as of less value than her. She closes the song with the lines: "You should go cry about it, not trying to fight about it."

## Release

In a *Billboard* cover story published a week later, SZA revealed that the title of her second album was *SOS*, scheduled for release sometime next month. Shortly before release, she shared a photo of the cover art on social media; it features her alone in the middle of the ocean. *SOS* was released on December 9, 2022, and it debuted atop the *Billboard* 200 chart, giving SZA her first number 1 album in the United States. It spent its first three weeks on the *Billboard* 200 at number 1.

Despite being used for the teaser, "PSA" was not included as one of the 23 songs in the album's final cut. SZA said that Punch, president of her label Top Dawg Entertainment, ordered not to include unreleased tracks like "PSA" on the standard edition despite her and her fans' wishes because it did not fit with his vision for *SOS*. In her words, "He just has a very strong opinion about curation." As a response, she suggested that the song could be included as a bonus track in a deluxe edition of an album.

The tracking week ending January 6, 2023, marked *SOS*'s fourth week on the *Billboard* 200; SZA released a digital version of her album on January 5th, 2023 that contained bonus material, which would boost her albums' chart performance. she released a digital-exclusive edition of *SOS* that can be bought only on Top Dawg's website. It consisted of all 23 songs from the standard edition alongside 2 previously-unreleased songs—"PSA" was one of them.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

I don't want nobody callin' me anything but number one

Know I got problems, I don't know how to take losses

Even when, even when they are lost causes

I waste my energy plenty, serve me to bury my envy, but

I'd rather chase it in Henny

I'd rather pay you in pennies

Pissin' you off just to get off, suck like Baryshnikov

Still dodgin', hit you up, you playin' possum

Actin' like bottom feeders

Y'all suckin' dick by the liter

Y'all playin' monkey see, monkey do

I'm playin', monkey, get got

I put your ass in the pot

You don't deserve what I got

**[Verse 2]**

I always knew things would be just fine

Ooh, I always knew, pick your worst with time

(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

You should go cry about it, ohh-oh

(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

Not tryna fight about it, ooh-oh

## Trivia

* SZA has confirmed that she has made an extended version of the song for the deluxe version of *SOS "LANA".*

## References

1. ↑ *SOS Digital Album + PSA & Open Arms Solo Version (Cover 2)*
2. ↑ *SZA via Instagram Stories - May 18, 2022*
3. ↑ *SZA via Twitter - November 8, 2022*