SZA is sharing a major personal update.
“Finally took the time [and] got formally diagnosed,” the Grammy-winning singer, 36, wrote via her private Instagram account on Sunday, July 5, according to The Jasmine Brand. “Aspergers/high functioning autism/smarter than u n****s so stop playing in my face cause pattern recognition told me and I WILL get to the bottom of it thanks.”
SZA (real name Solána Imani Rowe) also shared a photo of her medical paperwork, which read, “Solána Rowe is a … woman who presents with a history, patterning of scores, behaviors, on examination that are quite consistent with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Solana has a qualitative impairment in reciprocal social interaction, as both self-reported and observed by this examiner.”
In a comment, SZA added, “Pretty sure this is why I’m taking AI so personally BTW. And also why I’m in every comment section.”
Weeks before revealing her diagnosis, SZA took to her private account to slam artists who use AI music generators like Suno.
“We make up 13 percent of the American population yet influence the world w our sound and perspective,” she wrote on June 20, according to Variety. ”I AINT HEARD A WHITE AI SONG YET … We have no protection in legislature, medical or creative. The easiest to steal from. DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR VIBRANIUM !!! DO NOT TRAIN AI W YOUR GENIUS.”
On her main account, SZA claimed that a search for her name showed that AI models have been trained on 238 of her songs.
“If your [sic] a musician and you support this degenerate s*** ? Your [sic] DISGUSTING and there’s NOTHING YOU COULD EVER SAY TO ME TO MAKE THIS OKAY,” she wrote. “I hope u have the life u deserve.”
A spokesperson for Suno pointed to a LinkedIn post from the company’s chief product officer, Jack Brody, which stated that Suno’s training metadata does not include artists’ names and cannot replicate material from which it was trained.
SZA also recently collaborated with singer-songwriter Steve Lacy on his single “Is It Cool?” She teased via Instagram amid the song’s release in June that working with Lacy, 28, sparked inspiration for her own musical journey.
“After [her albums] SOS, Lana and [the Grand National Tour], I was feeling strange … nothing was inspiring me,” she wrote. “One day Michael showed up with Steve, and he blessed me with an INSANE package of beats. Right then and there, I recorded in front of him. Being near Steve, feeling the deep and raw resonance of his voice, his laugh, his spicy Venus in Aries energy: it literally revived me! He played demos from his album, and I cried.”
