Okay, it's fine No, you're good.

And no and you're clean on the food to you Hey, what's going on everybody for first we feast I'm Sean Evans and you're watching hot ones It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings and today we're joined by SZA She's a four-time Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and Oscar nominee Her album control was named on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest of all time her follow-up So s garnered nine Grammy nominations, including three wins We can't wait to see what happens with the third studio album Lana coming soon SZA if that is SZA.

Welcome to the show Hey Is it me?

I'm tired of being me.

Anyway, oh my god.

I'm ready.

Are you someone who enjoys a spicy meal?

No, I Don't I like a little bit of like a hot sauce for like for Tang.

Mm-hmm for like essence But I'm definitely going mild but I am competitive and that's actually what let me here You I'm wondering if we should even acknowledge the prosthetics.

I know no, let's just keep going Okay, that's yummy I'm drinking milk.

That's nasty, but I feel like for functional purposes any port in a storm, you know what I mean?

That's why you reach for the milk in times like these.

Okay My point, okay So I know that you use freestyling as an entry point to crafting lyrics Like if you're going into a song without a concept in mind, how do you create the cohesion of an album?

Like is it really more about capturing a moment or capturing a time in your life?

I actually feel like a complaint is that my shit is not cohesive But I feel like I consider myself to be the glue like to myself and like the glue to my sound Because I don't have an idea like when I go into shit I'm just like what does this beat make me want to say and I just kind of say it Then when I hear it back, I'm like, oh like I had no idea that that's what that man I had no idea.

I don't know what shit means to me until I say it like as I do it and I'm like It's all I usually ask like I'll ask my engineer.

I'm like, oh that was crazy.

I'm like Kill your ex And so I have a lot of enabling around me and that's how it all just comes together I Just want to hurry and just take me to hell just take me there.

Well, you know what it's a slow walk to hell No show with me says it but we are hand in hand.

This next one is called ghost pepper pear What can I ask you what made you are you punishing me by giving me the new flavors that no one's ever tried yet Are they just like so hot that you just wouldn't do this to anyone else that you cared about?

Well, no, no Listen, I've been through this 350 times, you know, so you could never care about any of that.

No, no So you had an amazing quote talking to billboard about how the Success of kill bill almost pissed you off because it was super easy to write Yeah, are you someone who has a harder time enjoying their music if you don't suffer for it?

I have a harder time enjoying anything if I don't suffer for it interesting and Just why I have this mask on no, but I feel like Nobody gets me is my goal of like, oh I can make a ballad I can like I can do XYZ and then they're just like yeah, but This other song that took you three seconds to write as like a joke to your engineer is what I don't know I guess I just need suffering adds value in all ways You know sometimes and I don't know if this is coming from a place of ego, but sometimes with hot ones I'll get annoyed because I'll be like this episodes underrated, you know This should have way more views than it has, you know Sometimes I feel that way don't say that because now you make me feel like we got to do some wild shit to make Well, I think we're already.

I think we're already checking We're already checking that box today I'm wondering though is there a corollary for you as an artist like is there a project or a song?

That may be deep down you feel like was underappreciated for what you put into it.

Oh my god.

Oh That's great, um You know People say a lot like about control and they're like, oh like like surely, you know But I think people forget like people weren't really fucking with it.

So crazy when it first dropped that was like a slow Ascension into More like a people looked back on it and was like this meant something to me and I didn't realize it meant something to me Maybe if anything, I'm just more surprised how all of it played out not the way I thought it would But more than I ever expected the same time Yeah, an exam fuck with control is so crazy in the first year two years but now we're sitting with people being like like the word it's like I want to whisper like classic is like slightly adjacent to something that I created and that's so crazy and I Definitely didn't see that coming Can't wait to crash out.

I'm ready.

Okay I'm gonna take smaller bites.

I Think you're doing great.

I'm being really ambitious Don't second-guess it you're doing great What made you come up with this idea?

Like why are you doing this to people?

You know this you've done a million interviews you come in and you're kind of in a flight pattern, you know So we were like, well, what can we do to disrupt that and our solve for it was like well What if we had our guests eat increasingly spicy chicken wings over the course of the interview to us as a way to break them And here we are 25 seasons later still doing it.

You know what I'm saying?

What's your morning?

You're rising sign.

I know you're a tourist I don't know.

Maybe you can help me out with that.

I don't know.

Do you know what time you were born?

I was born at a 950 in the morning There's something behind why you're doing this, okay, cool.

Yeah, let's This journey as we work I'm so many questions about you.

Are you married?

No, I'm not actually why is that?

Do you feel like this is more exciting than any connection that you have with like In a way Yeah, in a way.

I think it is like my girlfriend or my wife or something the show.

It's more honest, huh?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, and it's uh, it meets me halfway all the time.

You know what I mean what I put into it I get out of it.

Yeah, I think it is.

You're right.

It's an honest relationship.

I think I fuck with that I wish I could say the same for music.

You wish you could say the same for music.

It's not honest enough for me I never know what's happening.

I'd be like, I thought you liked this and then they're like no stupid We hate this We want more of this and it's just so confusing.

I'm just like what?

Does my boyfriend love me?

Oh, it's abusive, but it's also just like very fulfilling and validating I'm in a different type of relationship.

You have a good thing You're not a toxic relationship with music.

Yeah Yeah, but I'm here.

Yeah, the toxic ones are the most fun And so I am having a good time.

I'm having a blast?

Actually regret saying that I'm competitive This one's got Some tomatillo.

I'm like shaking cuz I'm so scared.

Smoked serranos.

You're doing great though So your SOS store had so many moving parts, you know from a functional lighthouse to you performing on a life raft That's hovering above the crowd when it comes to creating spectacle.

Is there an element of your live show?

That was most challenging to pull off.

It's all the hardest part It's like getting out in front of them and giving people what they're giving you like giving back a fraction of that.

It's so hard because it's like What do you do it, you know?

Twelve thousand people Throwing all this energy you want to do the best you can and like give them More than maybe you even like are possible You gotta like catch the vibe throw it back and then add more like an add 10 on it.

And it's very um It's interesting.

It's like every day every show is different every show no show feels the same and I keep waiting for it to like Hit a stride and be like, okay We doing that thing that we always do and it never feels like that it always feels like today's task is Based on the energy of the day the crowd The state that I'm in the country that I'm in the all the things the signs that I saw in the morning It's just funny When I saw you pick up the other wing I was like, uh Where are we going?

That's how it goes, you know one storm ends and then the next one starts on this show That's life.

In fact.

Yeah, that's right.

That's heavy.

So this one's called a apple caraway I Can tell the bullshit finish time That's a little hot a little hot, you know, oh Getting serious over here.

That's cute So before music I know that you're a competitive gymnast I love that video of you meeting Simone Biles way to set the tone by the way in the lead-up to the Paris I'm joking.

I love you Simone.

I'm so proud of you But yeah, we're not nowhere near as close.

What is the key to holding a handstand?

Um, yeah It's just about like balancing your weight and it was so crazy.

There was like a random section where I thought I wouldn't be able to do a hands anymore because like I got I was thick as hell and I was like Wow, and then I just was still doing that Yeah, booty or not.

It's just about balance.

I guess how would you describe your ideal 30 minutes at a Sky Zone trampoline park?

Um Wow, I literally it's so funny if I could like touch everything like and just move to the next thing one after the other and It's like do a rotation of it over and over again within 30 minutes I would like I want to do the the little gauntlet thing where you're on the beams and you got to fight somebody and stay Up on there.

I want to go to the the pit.

I want to do the trapeze.

I want to go to the tumble track I want to do dodgeball.

I want to hit the squares.

I just Full itinerary.

I just love it Oh Got that pole So this one catch a little cinnamon up front but another level to the heat Which clearly you're identifying I'm gonna join you at the milk party on this one I Start pointing this over my head.

Okay, it's fine.

That's right.

I've seen some things My wig off and rip my mask off.

Just I'm gonna see you around But it's fine So you've been open about your struggles with fame your distaste for the limelight.

I'm curious What do you see is the value of maintaining a sense of mystery in this day and age where you know fans have more access?

To the things they obsess about more than ever I'm actually like I want it born to be an open book for us to shut the fuck up because everyone is crazy and violent and I feel like and judgy and weird and like virtue signaling and projecting and it's like That's the human experience.

Also, we're all doing it and I feel like Also, if I have sauce all over my face, you have to tell me you are clean You literally have to tell me I'm a friend in this don't you worry about that.

I got you.

Okay I've never tried to like maintain mystery.

I guess I just kind of get scared and I dive back in like an idiot What do you see as the value of disguise?

This one brings me so much peace of mind it just in the realm of like being a person is so daunting and like being your own skin and the whole sheboygan and like just the freedom of Yeah, I just for no other reason that just tired of being Not a bug It's like what the fuck Wouldn't you want to be a bug if you could be anything else?

What would you be if you could be anything else right now a bear period, you know?

That's what you need to bring for episode two.

I wish I would have I wish I would have thought to be a bear today You know, no, but it look at the person like why the fuck you didn't come in That's right.

You know what?

I am picking up.

This is energy right now So who knows where this takes me for the rest of the season?

I mean, I have extra prosthetics in there Yeah, you want antennas before this is all said and done yeah, yeah, yeah, let's test some stuff out Seven eight nine ten.

Okay Fuck that was too big That was too big I knew it I know yeah, I fucking knew it When you're performing a song how often if ever does it suck you back into the emotional state that you're in when you wrote it Sometimes nobody gets me 20 something drew Barrymore Nobody gets me because like my ex-fiance hates me so much and it's so unfortunate and Every time I sing it it's just like damn what the fuck and then drew Barrymore I don't know why that hits me so hard.

I feel like It just reminds me of so many house parties that I've gone to like in my hometown and like I Didn't have the night that I wanted, you know, you saw some stupid shit the boy you like was like fucking on some other girl Normal girl, that's another one.

I feel emotional in it when I sing normal girl sometimes Broken glass cuz it reminds me of like an era in my life that whole like control era the whole like making songs at Carter's grandma's house and You know being hungry as fuck Literally, not figuratively.

Well, if you are hungry as fuck you're on the right show you're on the right show SZA This is not a show for hunger This is a show for something else.

I don't know what it's for But it's definitely not for satiation It hurt and I feel like it's finished I heard more I Want my nose All right, lots of changes All these years later.

I never get used to this one.

I feel like you're handling it better than me.

I'm literally sweating Me too a shared experience all the way through this thing.

I Feel like the the fact that I can't see am I drooling?

Okay, it's fine No, you're good and no and you're clean on the food to you Clean all the way through Do you ever actually cook the things that you see on tik-tok, you know, I always laugh when I see a comment from you That's like recipe.

Please King underneath like a lasagna soon.

I do be on it.

I love that guy on Instagram, I Love him.

He makes pasta Why is this hotter now than it was a couple seconds ago?

So they they build on you, you know They build on you as you go like that.

Yeah, I Asked him for the recipe.

He sent it to me next question Did you make it no, I didn't fucking make it Come on now, but you are kind of a home cook.

I do be chef.

Do you have like a go-to recipe?

I Guess I can make no if I take this off.

That's an indicator and I'm just let my body know that I'm panicking.

Okay, I'm fine Um Yeah, I guess I make a lot of pasta make a lot of Salmon a lot of oysters.

Why can't I breathe though?

Yeah, it's just um It's what you just ate is just one of the hottest most brutal hot sauces in the world Has anyone ever like sued you from stomach complications after this?