Watch: SZA – “Babylon”

Fresh from her spots all over fellow TDE signee Isaiah Rashad’s Cilvia Demo, SZA has come into her own with the video for new track “Babylon”, taken from her Z EP.

The APLUS.FILMZ-directed clip takes place by the side of a lake, where we voyeuristically watch the popstrel undress. She methodically places her possessions on her cardigan (money, a pencil, a cracked iPhone – in case you were wondering what she keeps in her pockets) before wading in and submerging herself in the dark water.

The cut itself is another example of the kind of stripped-back RnB that defines her sound, with the focus on vocals that languish somewhere in the grey area between haunting and sickly sweet, relishing the pseudo-spiritual abandon that defines the power of young love (“are you losing yourself?/will you lose it for me?”). Meanwhile a pared-down trap beat supports droning synths and brooding lyrics that repeatedly veer towards the theological (“crucify me”). The tone balances neatly with the image of SZA’s self-baptism, her descent into the black abyss, leaving only a note for her boyfriend as a lingering farewell.

Z is released on 8 April.