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SZA (real name Solana Imani Rowe) is one of the most popular and most accomplished R&B artists on the planet today. The 35-year-old is a four-time Grammy Award winner and her 2022 hit album SOS spent 10 weeks atop the Billboard 200.
But in recent days, the St. Louis has come under fire from fans for what some are calling mistreatment of one of her sound engineers. The controversy stems from a post on her Instagram story where the artist claimed that sound engineer Hector Castro hadn’t slept more than 30 minutes in multiple days while working on her new music.
📱 | @SZA has revealed that her engineer hasn’t slept longer than 30 minutes in days, via her Instagram Story (12/19) pic.twitter.com/jtCuBJXeCr
— SZA Source (@sourcesza) December 19, 2024
Some fans commended Castro’s dedication to his craft. But while long hours are nothing new in the music industry, others felt that the post showed a lack of care from SZA about Castro.
“In every sector of the entertainment industry, people are suffering from extreme sleep deprivation and lack of necessary downtime because their much richer boss didn’t plan things well or set a realistic timeline,” one fan tweeted.
“She(‘s) making her team work overtime for a deluxe album she announce a year ago,” wrote another.
And that was on the mild end of things. Twitter user @ciscoforshort said “Honestly @sza this is whack as f—. You’re working your team to the bone and still couldn’t meet your own deadline? For an album you announced forever ago? So just push it. Let these people sleep. It can wait.”
The album, titled Lana, released on Friday and is a reissue of the SOS album. And despite the fan complaints, Castro’s Instagram post about the release seems to indicate he didn’t mind the long days.
“Thank you to @sza for trusting me throughout this whole process love you! Blessed to have been able to Engineer and Mix on this project,” he captioned a post announcing the release.
So, what do we think? Does SZA deserve criticism for the brutal work conditions? Or is this just business as usual in the music industry?