SZA Radiates as a Bug-Eyed Beauty on the Deluxe Album Cover for *Lana*

"Lana will be released on Friday through Top Dawg Entertainment and RCA Records."

On Wednesday, December 18, SZA revealed the album artwork for Lana, the highly anticipated deluxe edition of her smash-hit album SOS. The cover features the star in a striking transformation, depicted as a shimmering, bug-eyed figure donning a golden camouflage jacket and cargo pants, set against an outdoor backdrop.

SZA had officially announced on Monday that Lana would be released Friday via Top Dawg Entertainment and RCA Records. She also shared a teaser video on Instagram, starring Ben Stiller, which included a preview of an unreleased track titled “Drive.” The title Lana was first revealed during a concert at New York's Brooklyn Navy Yard in September 2023, where SZA described the deluxe edition as a "whole ‘nother album" with 7-10 new songs, set to drop in the fall. In a recent interview with British Vogue, she elaborated on the contrasting nature of Lana compared to SOS, calling it a project created from a "more beautiful place" and emphasizing that it represents a shift in her mindset. “It’s not my identity. It’s stuff that happened to me,” she explained, noting that her music is evolving as she sheds her past pain.

The Lana deluxe edition arrives more than two years after the release of SOS. The original 23-song album, which includes five top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100—Kill Bill, Snooze, I Hate U, Good Days, and Nobody Gets You—spent a record 10 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking the longest run for any R&B/hip-hop album by a woman since Mariah Carey’s debut in 1991. Rather than fading into the background of 2022, SOS continued to make waves through 2023 and beyond, solidifying its place as one of the most significant releases of the past two years. The album also earned multiple Grammy nominations for the 2024 ceremony, including Album of the Year and Best Progressive R&B Album, with SZA receiving a total of nine nominations, the most of any artist this year.