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“Snooze” is a song by American singer-songwriter SZA from her second studio album, SOS (2022).

SZA had been working on her second studio album, SOS (2022), since 2019, but the song “Snooze” wasn’t composed until late 2021. Leon Thomas III from the production duo the “Rascals said that the song was not originally intended for the album, but it was originally a collaboration with Babyface’s ninth studio album, Girls Night Out (2022), and Babyface recorded some vocals. He continued that “there was no ego; we were trying to make something cool that day. We did the beat that same day, and she recorded the song on the same day”.

In an interview with Wild949 FM’s Angelina Narvaez in late January 2023, SZA reflected on the composition of the song saying: “So when I heard that [sample of song]… I just kinda, like, wandered into the room… he [Leon] was, like, building this beat from scratch, and I was like, this is crazy”.She went on to explain that she loves vocal samples used in the instrumentals of songs, such as ones she used for “SOS” and Ctrl single “Broken Clocks”, which is why she really liked the instrumental of “Snooze”, especially when it came to Leon Thomas III’s additional vocals, which can be heard towards the end of the song. 

SOS has many themes such as love, hate, self-worth, revenge, and growth. The song “Snooze” has been described as a “dreamy ballad” where SZA reflects on a relationship that she wants to put her all into despite feeling like she is the only one trying to make the relationship work. Throughout the SOS album, SZA alludes to other media such as movies. In the number-one single “Kill Bill”, SZA directly references the Quentin Tarantino-directed film of the “name not only with the title, but also throughout the song lyrics and music video (Hopper, 2023). 

In “Snooze”, she references the movie Scarface with the lines: “In a droptop ride with you, I feel like Scarface / Like that white bitch with a bob, I’ll be your main one”.The song also gives the feeling of satire because throughout almost the entire song she sings of the passion she has towards her love interest, going as far as killing and hiding bodies for her said lover, yet at the ending bridge, the lyrics make a switch and start to give off a tone of regret and sadness. 

The language throughout the song is passionate with a hint of violence with words like “kill”, as well as “mobbin’, schemin’, lootin’, hide your bodies”. This violent language directly conflicts with tone of the title that is supposed to give off a dreamy, sleep-like effect, which again plays into the satire tone of the song as a whole.

 

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