SZA. Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty
SZA opened up about her childhood bullying experience and how it helped her become the star she is today.
The TDE songstress was raised by a Muslim father and Christian mother in Maplewood, New Jersey. She wore her hijab religiously until after 9/11 when the bullying took a turn for the worse.
“Sometimes it’s just praying straight up by myself and just telling God, ‘Wow, I feel so trash right now and I desperately need your help,'” she told People.
The “Blind” singer said she was mostly bullied because she wasn’t shy and let her awkwardness shine bright.
“I was bullied because I wasn’t quiet and I was awkward at the same time,” she said. “I wasn’t this tiny sad victim, but I was more so attacked just because it was giving ‘What is wrong with you?’ energy.”
Being bullied led to SZA feeling like she would never have the approval of anyone in life.
Bullying Pushed SZA To Do More To Get More Out Of Life
As she grew older, she began to embrace all the things about herself that she was teased over. Since her childhood wasn’t fulfilling, she didn’t stop looking and pushing to get more out of life.
“I realized that all the things that made me feel so lame were actually what made me into who I am,” she says. “It’s like, I didn’t go to prom because I didn’t have any friends and I had no one to go to prom with. […] It’s so weird that my life turned into [having] a bodyguard while traveling to parties. All these things, if I had such a fulfilling existence and experience in high school, I would’ve felt validated to the point where I didn’t need to do anymore. I just had to do more, I had to be more, because I was like, ‘This s***** experience can’t be the end of it because if it is, I am cooked.’”
SZA recently celebrated her sophomore effort, SOS, being at the number one spot on the Billboard 200 for the third consecutive week.
