SZA dropped her long-awaited new song, “Shirt,” today. In the music video, fans suspect she is already gearing up for the next release after spotting some serious potential easter eggs. After appearing with actor Lakeith Stanfield in the video, there is a snippet of unreleased music as a teaser. (SZA previously teased “Shirt” in the “Good Days” video last year.) While fans don’t have the title of the next song, something is planned.
The teaser of the song plays around the 3:35 video mark. Playing as the credits roll, SZA sings, “I don’t care how much you knew me in the past tense” and “I’m still playing the victim / You still playing the pick me.” Playing for quite a while, the track seemingly appears to be finished. Only time will tell when fans are getting the full-length version.
As for other potential clues in “Shirt,” Stanfield’s getaway car has the license plate “NO CTRL” as a potential nod that her next record won’t be like her 2017 album, CTRL. It also has the date listed as December 2022.
NO CTRL SZA’S SOPHOMORE ALBUM IS COMING DECEMBER 2022 pic.twitter.com/x1EfMns1Gq
— ruben (@FWGRANDEE) October 28, 2022
Meanwhile, back in early 2021, SZA pointed out that she noticed the fans had dubbed her TikTok song as the name “Shirt” — and it clearly just stuck as a title. “I’m fine w that,” she shared on Twitter at the time.
I heard y’all named the tik Tok song “shirt”lol . I’m fine w that
— SZA (@sza) January 8, 2021
‘Shirt’ is super easy to remember and now every time I work on it in the studio I reference it as ‘Shirt,’” she said in a recent interview with CBS This Morning. “Some people call it ‘Blood Stain,’ which is very graphic. Now this song, which I wasn’t even 100 percent sure of the placement on my album has centered itself on my album. Now we shot a video for it.”
Watch SZA’s music video for “Shirt” above to hear the currently-unreleased snippet of a new song.
