SZA reveals the one celebrity she was ‘so excited’ to see at her Forum concert
SZA is just like us.
Sure, she has a Grammy Award, a sold-out tour and a smash-hit sophomore album. But at her core, she’s an avid TV fan who can’t help but geek out over Pedro Pascal.
The “Nobody Gets Me” singer revealed in a new interview with Elle that of all the major celebrities who went to her back-to-back shows at the Forum in March — among them Adele, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber and Olivia Rodrigo — she was especially thrilled to find out the “Mandalorian” star was in attendance.
Pascal’s presence at her concert was a bit of a full-circle moment for the musician. Her popular song “Drew Barrymore” — from her debut studio album — contains a lyric about watching “Narcos,” the Netflix drama starring Pascal as Javier Peña.
“Oh, Pedro Pascal, I was so excited about,” she said, “because he’s on my favorite show, ‘The Last of Us’ — and ‘Narcos.’ ”
In her 90-minute set, SZA put all the complexities of a messy personal life into a highly focused beam that somehow made her fans feel uniquely seen.
Three months after SZA wrapped her first batch of SOS shows, the “Good Days” artist is scheduled to kick off the European leg of her expanded tour in Amsterdam on Thursday. She’s set to perform at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena and San Francisco’s Chase Center in October.
While speaking with Elle, SZA explained her decision to triple the length of her tour named after her chart-topping, double-platinum sophomore record.
“Even if I win a bunch of Grammys, that s— doesn’t matter,” she said. “It would be so cool. But also I would not be surprised at all if I didn’t win any [more]. Because that’s just how s— goes. But that’s why the tour matters to me. ‘Cause it’s like, No, we packed out these stadiums all over the country and that was real.
“That’s why I can’t let up, because at the end of the day it was like, yeah, [whatever haters say] is good and well, but just make sure you add, we have sold-out dates in all arenas. Make sure you tell them that we sold out the Forum twice and we could have done it four times. Make sure you tell them that I was in the air, and that my mic was on.”
The singer-songwriter took six years between album releases, a lifetime in the streaming era. The result? She’s now one of pop’s biggest and boldest stars.
The “Kill Bill” hitmaker also opened up about her decision to get a Brazilian butt lift after her most recent turn in the spotlight sparked widespread speculation about her body. (On the intro to “SOS,” SZA raps, “That ass so fat, it look natural / It’s not.”)
“I always wanted a really fat ass with less gym time,” she told Elle. “I didn’t succumb to industry pressure. I succumbed to my own eyes in the mirror and being like, No, I need some more ass.”
“I treat my butt like a purse,” she added. “It’s just there to enhance whatever else. And that’s why I paid for it, because it works all by itself.”
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