SZA did some damage control on Twitter after her earlier comment about “hating” her label apparently led to fans lashing out at Top Dawg Entertainment and its president Punch, the most active member on social media. “Punch is my manager (not a machine or a label) lol,” she clarified. “also been like my stage dad the last 10 yrs. be nice to him pls. he really fights for me. Not angry w him. Or anybody really. Jus my own choices.”
Punch is my manager (not a machine or a label) lol also been like my stage dad the last 10 yrs. be nice to him pls ?. he really fights for me. Not angry w him . Or anybody really . Jus my own choices .
— SZA (@sza) May 26, 2021
She also made the self-aware observation that her words were being taken out of context because they were stated on a public forum. “I be in the comments of my supporters pages thinking I’m talking freely to 4 ppl lmao,” she noted. “I’m not. Woops lol.”
I be in the comments of my supporters pages thinking I’m talking freely to 4 ppl lmao I’m not ?woops lol
— SZA (@sza) May 26, 2021
It’s not the first time that one of SZA’s outbursts have led to a stir on social media — and unsurprisingly, also involved Punch. In August of last year, she tweeted, “At this point y’all gotta ask punch. I’ve done all I can do.” However, after fans took her tweet more seriously than she intended (always a danger on Twitter, where concepts like “sarcasm” and “inside jokes” are practically held in contempt if they’re acknowledged at all), she elaborated, “Don’t nobody need to free me. I’m not held hostage n neither is my music!! me n punch be disagreeing ..hes never steered me wrong and I trust Gods timing.”
Incidentally, she might be right; in 2017, after the runaway success of SZA’s debut album CTRL, she told The Guardian that her TDE cohorts had to physically take her hard drive away from her to keep her from tinkering and ensure its release.
