[4] Reportedly composing the tracklist were ten songs intended for the standard edition, per the information SZA told Most Requested Live in January 2023 and Billboard in February.

Despite persistent calls from SZA and her fans to include certain highly awaited outtakes on the album, her record label's president, Punch, disagreed.

[10][11] She and her collaborator, album producer Carter Lang, continued to make music after its release specifically for Lana, motivated by sporadic bursts of creativity.

Finding solace in spiritual activities like meditation and yoga, she said that her growing sense of inner peace reflected in her music and songwriting.

[17] When SZA appeared on Hot Ones, a YouTube series where guests eat several spicy chicken wings, she wore an insect prosthetic on her face.

[18] The official cover art for Lana shows SZA as an insect-like creature in streetwear, wearing a yellow camouflage jacket and cargo pants.

[8] Lana was released on December 20, 2024,[24] although it was pushed from midnight EST to 3 pm due to final changes to the album's mixing.

[27] On December 10, in celebration of SOS's second anniversary, SZA posted a trailer on social media accompanied by a track that samples the Isley Brothers' "Voyage to Atlantis".

[30][31] The official announcement of Lana took place in Brooklyn Navy Yard, during a invite-only surprise party to celebrate the success of SOS.

[33] Elaborating on her decision to release another full album worth of material, she said that it had become more than expected and referred to the creative process as fun and did not spend too much time living in her "own head".

[37] Addressing the delay, Punch explained that the label had to postpone the release date due to the leaking of several outtakes from SOS, including ones intended for the deluxe edition.

[39] The leaks prompted SZA's decision to separate them and other outtakes into a different project, a plan she reversed when the official release date neared.

Also excluded was "Joni" and the song "Take You Down",[16] which SZA previously teased on Instagram via a video showing her in a camping tent and with a red bikini.

[9][50] The actual lead single from Lana, "Saturn", was surprise-released on February 22, 2024, days after SZA performed it during a Mastercard advertisement on the 2024 Grammy Awards.

[56] A music video for the song premiered at the same time; it stars filmmaker Ben Stiller, whose character drives an SUV on an empty road at night.

[57][58] Pitchfork's Shaad D'Souza, in a review that awarded the album Best New Music, wrote that, "unlike the rambunctious, mixtape-y genre hopping of its predecessor, Lana is aesthetically coherent, filled with warm analog synths and soul-ballad tempos," and said that throughout the album, "SZA sounds totally sure in her ability to command a stadium-sized audience with music that's ambling and sometimes insular.

"[59] Rolling Stone's wrote that "Lana is SZA in moody late-night R&B electro-ballad mode, her sonic imagination and emotional ferocity as vivid as ever.