Who is SZA? The Glastonbury headliner’s net worth, battling bullies and breast implant fears

American R’n’B singer SZA will take to one of the most prestigious stages in music when she headlines the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury on Sunday 30 June.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter was announced as a headliner last March – along with Coldplay and Dua Lipa – after playing four sold-out shows at the O2 Arena in London.

The 34-year-old has been making a name for herself for more than a decade. Her music career began in 2011 and she has been involved in songs such as “Consideration” for Rihanna’s 2016 album “Anti.” According to Celebrity Net Worth, her net worth is now £47 million.

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Read on to learn more about SZA.

SZA’s real name, early life and experiences with Islamophobia

SZA’s real name is Solána Imani Rowe and she was born on November 8, 1989. She grew up in the suburb of Maplewood, New Jersey.

Her father, Abdul Mubarak-Rowe, and mother, Audrey Rowe, are both media executives who worked for CNN and telecommunications company AT&T. Her mother is Christian and her father is Muslim. She has said that she wore a headscarf in elementary and middle school and decided to take it off after experiencing Islamophobia following the September 11 attacks.

She said, “I stopped reporting after 9/11. I was in middle school and I regret it so much that I was afraid of what people would say about me – that I let others tell me how to be.”

“In direct connection, someone threw a brick into my father’s mosque. That was very strange. The fact that I was chased home by the children at school and my hijab was snatched away is also strange.”

She spoke of regretting that she “always let others tell me how to wear the hijab.” She said, “I started covering myself again in high school, and then they said, ‘What’s the point? You’re not living your life right. You’re not a real Muslim. Shut up.’ I always let others tell me how to be.”

Beginning of music career and abandonment of studies

SZA’s parents recognized her talent at a young age. Mother Audrey told the New York Times, “She had a voice at a very young age,” but said she had to persuade the future star to go on stage at the middle school talent show she had signed up for.

Her parents impressed upon her the importance of going to college, and SZA briefly studied marine biology at Delaware State University, but she spent much of her time there behind the bar and dancing in nearby clubs. In an interview with The New York Times, she recalled, “I drank Malibu every day and smoked weed. And slept.”

She dropped out of college and spent a summer at the Fashion Institute of Technology before her music career took off. She interned at Pharrell Williams-founded fashion label Billionaire Boys Club and streetwear brand 10.Deep, the latter of which required her to deliver 10.Deep gear to Top Dawg Entertainment in New York.

A friend played some of her mixtapes and her voice caught the attention of Terrence “Punch” Henderson, co-president of Top Dawg Entertainment. Although she didn’t sign with the label right away, they stayed in touch.

And her mother now says: “It’s so hard to follow your own dreams. So many of us give up at a young age, especially when the people we respect, love and trust think we could or should do something else. I’m so glad she didn’t listen to me.”

First music releases and fame

After dropping out of college, SZA released the critically acclaimed EPs “See.SZA.Run” (2012) and “S” (2013) on the Independent. These led to her being signed to Top Dawg Entertainment in 2013, making her the label’s first female artist.

She began making guest appearances on other artists’ tracks, including Jill Scott’s “Divinity” in 2014, and co-wrote and performed on Rihanna’s “Consideration” in 2016.

But her rise to fame didn’t really begin until she signed a joint record deal with RCA Records and released her debut studio album Ctrl and the single Love Galore with Travis Scott in 2017. Her second album, SOS, topped the US Billboard 200 for ten weeks and spawned singles such as Kill Bill and Used.

She has collaborated across genres with artists such as Doja Cat, Drake, Phoebe Bridgers, Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5 and Lizzo and has received multiple Grammy nominations. In 2023, she was named Woman of the Year by Billboard.

SZA is known for her brutally honest lyrics about the purest of human emotions – including in Kill Bill, in which she fantasizes about murdering her ex. However, Variety reports that she told the audience at a concert: “I just want to say that I don’t intend to send anyone to hell – no one should inspire that or aspire to that. And don’t kill your exes!”

And she doesn’t like labels. She told Fader: “People have a hard time categorizing me as hip-hop, R&B or pop, and I find that interesting. I just make music.”

“I listen to Stevie Nicks. I love classic jazz. I love folk. I love rap. I love Modest Mouse. I’m doing an album with Tame Impala and Mark Ronson. When you try to label it, you take away its ability to be limitless. That diminishes the music.”

Plastic surgery and removal of breast implants

SZA has spoken about having her breast implants removed for health reasons. In an episode of the podcast “She MD,” she said that breast implants were not advisable due to her increased risk of breast cancer and the excess connective tissue.

She said: “They ended up hurting me. I got way too much scar tissue because my breasts are too dense and I really shouldn’t have breast implants. And I ended up getting extra fibrosis… and I didn’t feel good and it was painful. So I took them out and now it’s just my breasts.”

In an interview with Elle in May 2023, she said she had undergone a Brazilian butt lift. She had alluded to the cosmetic procedure in the intro to the album SOS.

She said: “I treat my butt like a handbag. It’s just there to enhance everything else. And that’s why I paid for it, because it works all by itself.”

However, she stressed that her decision was not due to the pressure of fame, adding: “I succumbed to my own eyes in the mirror and thought, ‘No, I need more…'”

Drake and other love rumors

SZA has managed to keep her private life largely out of the spotlight, but is rumored to have had an affair with rapper Drake. She was also once engaged to a partner she was with for 11 years. She only said that her partner was eight years older and supported her financially.

In an interview with Zane Low in December 2023, she said, “(I) really just made music to prove a point. When I started making music, it was for my ex-fiancé because he paid for everything.

“My food, my clothes, where I lived – and he was eight years older than me, so I was so dependent.”

She told Hot 97 She wrote the song “Nobody Gets Me” about the mixed emotions she felt after her breakup. She said: “This particular song in its entirety is a story about my ex-fiancé and how we went through all these arguments and broke up.

“When we broke up, it was terrible. I felt like I was living in hell for the rest of my life because no one understood me like he did and no one motivated me like he did.”

What does SZA mean and how do you pronounce it?

SZA’s stage name is pronounced “Sizza” and is derived from a subdivision of the upper alphabet of Islam that assigns meanings to the letters of the Roman alphabet.

She told InStyle: “It’s an acronym derived from the Supreme Alphabet, if you know Wu-Tang and RZA. So each letter represents a different ideology and a different theme.

“The S stands for Sovereign or Self, Savior; the Z stands for Zig-Zag-Zig, which means enlightenment and self-knowledge; and the A stands for the Most High (Allah).”

When asked about the strangest pronunciations she’s ever heard, she said, “You can name it. Anything that involves ‘Zah.’ Anything like ‘Zzzz,’ stopping at ‘zzz,’ or going beyond that.”