"Kitchen" is a song by American singer-songwriter SZA from Lana (2024), the reissue of her second studio album SOS (2022). It is a reverb-drenched song with an earthy, luminescent sound. The production is built around a discordant electric guitar, sampled from "Voyage to Atlantis" (1977) by the band the Isley Brothers. In the lyrics, the narrator returns to a toxic relationship with an abusive man, whom she has forgiven. However, she is conflicted on whether to stay or not.
The song was released on December 20, 2024. "Kitchen" debuted within the top 15 of the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at number 71. In reviews of Lana, critics wrote positively about the song, focusing on the airy and sparkly production.
Background
SZA first teased a deluxe version of her second studio album, SOS (2022), on an Instagram post shared immediately after the album's release.[1] In a 2023 invite-only concert, she announced that the deluxe edition had expanded into a bigger project akin to a "whole 'nother" album. SZA named it Lana.[2]
In celebration of SOS's second anniversary on December 9, 2024, SZA posted a trailer for Lana on her social media. In the video, she walks in a forest and urinates beside a stream.[3] It closes with an overlaid text of Lana's title, which appears above the words "SOS Deluxe".[4] The video was accompanied by a snippet of the song "Kitchen".[5][6]
Music and lyrics
"Kitchen" is a song with a sparkly, luminescent production,[7][8] an earthy sound,[8][9] and heavy reverb.[9] In a review for Pitchfork, Shaad D'Souza writes that the instrumental "glow[s] with the luster of a full moon".[8] The production is built around '70s-inspired electric guitar, derived from a sample of "Voyage to Atlantis" (1977) by the Isley Brothers.[10] The guitars are characterized by an experimental and discordant sound, with a somewhat degraded audio quality seemingly achieved through sample rate reduction.[9] Craig Jenkins of Vulture describes the resulting musical style as "the aesthetic imperfections of a literally unearthed demo".[9] SZA's vocal performance is airy and breathy, incorporating her falsetto.[11]
The song is about the narrator returning to a relationship with an ex-boyfriend, despite breaking up with him for its toxicity.[7] The lyrics see her forgive him for his mistreatment and abuse, a theme present across Lana.[10] Conflicted, the narrator finds herself in a loop of deciding whether to finally leave him or continue to stay.[7] As she reflects on their "real history",[6] she sings: "You know that dick been good to me/ You make it hard for me to choose me."[11] Other lyrics chronicle her dancing in a kitchen, while intoxicated by psychedelic mushrooms.[10]Billboard's Mackenzie Cummings-Grady writes that "[i]t feels like SZA's trapped in a fever dream, as she slowly looses herself more and more in this unhealthy relationship."[7]
Release
"Kitchen" is the eleventh track of Lana, released on December 20, 2024.[12] It peaked at number 71 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart,[13] and it debuted within the top 15 of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[14] Elsewhere, it reached peaks of number 90 in Canada[15] and number 7 on New Zealand's Hot Singles chart.[16] The song's mixing was updated on an extended version of Lana,[17] released on February 9, 2025.[18]
Critics who reviewed Lana and praised "Kitchen" tended to focus its composition. Cummings-Grady, who ranked it as the seventh-best track on Lana out of fifteen, lauded both the music and the lyrics. His praise was focused on its luminescent sound, saying that the song's impact comes from how the instrumental highlights the narrator's naivety and credulity.[7] Jenkins wrote that the "dynamic tension" between the overproduced music of "Kitchen" and SZA's airy vocals were an effective juxtaposition that elevated the listening experience.[9]
Others praised SZA's vocals and the song's chorus. They include D'Souza, alongside HotNewHipHop critic Gabriel Bras Nevares.[8][19] D'Souza lauded it for its "freeform" sound akin to a pollen carried by the wind, and he praised SZA's vocals for matching the song's earthy sound.[8] In his review of Lana, Nevares wrote: "[the song] has one of her most unique chorus performances with the most gorgeously sweet instrumental on here".[19]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
