SZA – Ctrl

This is one of the more recent records that really instituted a shift in my thinking and enjoyment of music. We all reach a certain point in our lives where we leave university and maybe you have less time to consume new music and perhaps become less enthusiastic about discovering new things, but this album for me was a really falling in love moment.

I think again, there’s a thread that joins all the women who I’ve spoken about in my Baker’s Dozen in that I am a huge fan of women who have confronted the presentation of their sexuality in a wholly unfiltered way and I think SZA is really great at doing that in the lyrics on this album in particular. There’s so many absolutely fantastic tunes – I can’t really pick a favourite song even, there’s so many.

This album soundtracks a very transitional stage in my life where a lot of things were ending and new things were beginning and I found a lot of hope and optimism in her very honest approach to writing about her life. When I put that record on now, it just conjures really happy memories for me. I’ve loved watching her phenomenal rise and seeing so many people discovering her brilliance. She is incredible and a genius as far as I’m concerned.