[1] The album features guest appearances from Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, James Fauntleroy, and Isaiah Rashad.

The album was supported by five singles: "Drew Barrymore", "Love Galore", "The Weekend", "Broken Clocks", and "Garden (Say It like Dat)", all of which are certified Double Platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

[2] After meeting members of Top Dawg Entertainment during the CMJ 2011, a friend attending the show with her foisted early SZA songs onto TDE president Terrence "Punch" Henderson, who liked the material and stayed in touch.

[6] Following the release of Z, SZA began working on her debut album and writing for other artists including Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj, and Anti's opening track "Consideration" for Rihanna, which she featured on.

[7] SZA revealed that her debut would be similar to S (2013) and would include trap influences with more aggressive lyrics, she also announced that she began working with James Fauntleroy, Hit-Boy, and long time collaborator Felix Snow.

The album's recording process was described as being analog and featured the unplugging and re-plugging of wires in order to create the desired sound.

SZA would search songs that were in the top forty charts during various years including the 1940s and 1980s, she would then listen to their style, beats and synths to gain some inspiration.

"I had this mentality that 'more is more' -- more reverb, more background [vocals]," stating "I played him a bunch of songs, and he would tell me, 'The more you take away from any piece, the more room you create for everything else to be beautiful and grow.'

After performing together at Lollapalooza that same year, SZA and Lang along with producer Tyron "Scum" Donaldson began to develop a rapport on the road to creating her debut album.

After some experimentation with the vocals from the sample, the drums, and some additions in the reverb, he placed the song's snares and hi-hats, and rounded it all out with a cymbal, as he told Genius.

Originally scheduled for release in late 2015, it was delayed by SZA's experience of "a kind of blinding paralysis brought on by anxiety."

These influences were compared to a mixture of different artists' work, including Sade, Lauryn Hill, Purity Ring, Yuki, Björk, Arca and Billie Holiday.

The album's lyrical content was seen as being "frank" and was noted as an insight into the complexities of modern love; of how desire, competition, jealousy, sexual politics, social media and low self-esteem can derail a relationship.

[22] SZA's vocals were noted for containing echoes that were achieved by turning down the reverb; this was done to give the album an "intimate, confessional tone".

[24] The album opens with "Supermodel", which is built over an electric guitar riff, and reads as an "exposed diary entry" that lyrically talks about relationship betrayal and fallout.

[21][22] Speaking about "Love Galore", which features Travis Scott, SZA touched on working with him: "I think he merges that super-fine line between melody and syncopation and pocket.

"Doves in the Wind" makes a reference to Forrest Gump, describing the character as the kind of man who sees women as more than sexual objects.

[26] "The Weekend" features writing from Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, and Danja, who were credited as the song samples "Set the Mood (Prelude)/Until the End of Time" from the 2006 album FutureSex/LoveSounds.

Although some publications call the song's narrator a "side chick", SZA sings from the perspective of a woman who only sees her partner on the weekend, while other girls have him during the week.

[29] "Broken Clocks" enfolds SZA amid blurry keyboard tones and a watery sample of men's voices as she ponders memories of an old romance that still haunts her.

[45] To celebrate the five-year anniversary of Ctrl, SZA released a deluxe edition of the album on June 9, 2022, containing seven bonus tracks.

[46] These include "2AM", previously uploaded on SoundCloud in 2016 as a standalone single;[47] a version of "Love Galore" without Scott's verse;[48] and a leaked Tyler, the Creator–produced demo from 2016 titled "Jodie".

On April 28, 2017, SZA released the album's second single "Love Galore", which features American rapper and singer Travis Scott.

[59] The Observer's Tara Joshi said the songs are "delicious slow jams with delicate yet powerful vocals and intimate insights into femininity, self-esteem and youth".

[68] Gerrick D. Kennedy of Los Angeles Times called the album "equal parts aching, brazen and gorgeously honest" and said of the songs, "The records are tender, vulnerable and often defiant.

referred to SZA as "the full package in terms of artistry: killer singing and songwriting abilities with a distinct perspective on life, love and destiny".

"[28] Paste's Nastia Voynovskaya called the album "strikingly relatable" and likened her vocals to that of Amy Winehouse and Billie Holiday.

[70] Jamie Milton of NME said it "effortlessly winds between narratives and genres like it's child's play" and went on to say that the artist "isn't a star in the making, it's a fully-fledged talent who's practically showing off."

[26] In July 2022, Rolling Stone ranked Ctrl at number 28 on its list of "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time", claiming that "she came out looking like a hero.

Ctrl debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 60,000 album-equivalent units (including 20,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week.