Grammy winner SZA announces two New Zealand shows, tickets on sale Monday

7 Feb 2024

NZ Herald

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Grammy winner SZA announces two New Zealand shows tickets on sale Monday

The chart-topping R&B star is coming to see her Kiwi fans for the first time since 2018.

SZA performs on stage during the 66th Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena. Photo / Getty Images

She just won three Grammys and gave an impressive performance, now SZA is coming to New Zealand.

Live Nation announced this morning the 34-year-old American singer-songwriter is returning to the country for the first time since 2018 to perform not one but two huge shows at Auckland’s Spark Arena.

Taking place on April 15 and 16, tickets from the shows will be available to purchase on Monday, February 12, at 2pm.

The announcement comes off the back of SZA’s hugely successful sophomore album, SOS, which was released in December 2022 and earned the superstar the record for the largest streaming week for an R&B album in the United States.

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The album not only launched SZA on to the international stage by claiming 10 non-consecutive weeks at No 1 on the Billboard 200 chart — the most among albums by women in seven years — but earned her nine Grammy nominations and three Grammy wins.

SOS marks the first time the star has toured arenas and many music critics have praised the singer for her show-stopping production.

Rolling Stone said: “SZA lives up to all the anticipation,” while the New York Times called her Madison Square Garden headlining debut “vigorous, confident, theatrical and intimate — the sort of show that manages the rare trick of feeling both vibrantly communicative and also protectively insular”.

SZA — born Solana Imani Rowe — first earned industry recognition with the release of her debut album Ctrl in 2017. Resonating with fans for its raw and honest lyrics, it quickly became No 1 on Billboard’s R&B Albums chart.

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Ctrl remains on the charts and holds the record for the longest run for any black female artist’s debut album.

The star has continued to release chart-topping music including her 2020 song Good Days, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song and has since become her bestselling single.