Primarily an R&B album that deals with themes like heartbreak, it received widespread acclaim for SZA's vocal performance, the musical style, and the songwriting.
The album brought SZA to mainstream fame, and critics credit it with establishing her as a major figure in contemporary pop and R&B music and pushing the boundaries of R&B.
"[17] During a Billboard cover story published in November, SZA revealed that the title of her second album was SOS, and it was scheduled for release sometime the following month.
[21] SZA and Punch, president of her record label Top Dawg Entertainment, spoke in length about SOS's sound during an interview with Rolling Stone.
[27] In the lyrics, SZA recalls memories she made with her ex-fiancé, narrates all the events that strained their relationship and led to their break-up, and explains how she has felt in the aftermath.
SZA spoke about the song's story in a radio interview prior to the album's release; she told the host that breaking up with him was like banishing herself to hell for the rest of her life because he was the only person who she thought could understand her feelings.
[31] Writing for The Quietus, CJ Thorpe-Tracey argued that the line was the lyric that best summarized SOS, because to him it aptly captured a recurring theme in the album in which SZA gets into several arguments with her ex-partners and tries to get over them quickly using coping mechanisms like sex.