January 14, 2025
SZA revealed the inspiring role of Drew Barrymore in her 2017 hit single under her name.
In a recent chat with Barrymore on the January 13th episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the Saturn singer gave insights into how the Charlie's Angels star inspired the song, Drew Barrymore from her Ctrl album
"It was inspired by you. It wasn't just titled after you," SZA began. "The energy that you carry — even my outfit is inspired by the way you've made me feel my entire life, like, carefree."
The singer shared that she admires Barrymore's "quirky" energy and not-so-perfect smile which helped her feel a deep connection
"You don't understand," noted SZA. "I wrote you this letter that I never sent you, but it talked about how, I guess, you know, when you're younger and you're a black woman there's not a lot of examples all the time. And one of the few lovely white women that I looked up to so much on television… because you were so yourself."
"I have a slight speech impediment, and people laugh all the time, like, ‘What is SZA saying?’ And it's a running joke. But I love the way you talk and just all the you-ness of you — your laugh, even in the movies and in real life," she added.
Barrymore responded to SZA's sweet words saying, "Maybe it’s humble insecurity or whatever — even though we had that talk in the trailer that night, I think I always still convinced myself, ‘It was just words that she used for the song, and the words were my name,’ and I had not really heard you explain it like this."