SZA “Snooze” released as sixth single from SOS

Snooze SZA

Writer(s): Solána Rowe, Kenny B. Edmonds, Khris Riddick-Tynes, Leon Thomas, Blair Ferguson (see lyrics here) Released: April 25, 2023 First Charted: December 24, 2022 Peak: 2 BB, 13 BA, 11 RR, 32 A40, 32 AA, 132a RB, 18 UK, 11 CN, 21 AU, 22 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.4 UK, 5.51 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 380.41 video, 1189.30 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: R&B singer/songwriter Solána Imani Rowe (known as SZA) released her second album, SOS, at the end of 2022. It had already been promoted by three singles, two of which reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. After the album’s release, three more top-ten singles followed, including the #1 hit “Kill Bill,” and “Snooze,” the sixth and final single from the album. It has spent a record-breaking 33 weeks atop the R&B/hip-hop airplay chart. “Snooze” was not originally intended for SOS, but for Babyface’s ninth studio album, 2022’s Girls Night Out. His concept for the album was all songs with female collaborators. As such, Babyface and SZA did work together on the song and are both credited as songwriters. He also produced the song and it became his first top-ten hit as a producer in 23 years. SF The song has been described as “a dreamy ballad” in which SZA reflects on a relationship where she wants to devote all her feelings to make it work. WK She “doesn’t want to fall asleep and waste theprecious moments she has with her love interest.” SF However, the song also takes on a violent tone with her fantasizing about being Elvira Hancock, the partner of Scarface, a movie character based on gangster Al Capone. She goes so far as to say she would kill and hide bodies for her lover, which conflicts with the tone of the song and emphasizes it as satire. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for SZA SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 3/24/2024; last updated 10/15/2024.

7/8/1972: “Lean on Me” hit #1 – for the first time

Lean on Me Bill Withers

Writer(s): Bill Withers (see lyrics here) Released: April 21, 1972 First Charted: April 15, 1972 Peak: 13 US, 12 CB, 13 GR, 11 HR, 11 DG, 4 AC, 11 RB, 18 UK, 20 CN, 24 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 84.3 video, 266.25 streaming

Lean on Me Club Nouveau

Released: March 20, 1987 First Charted: February 6, 1987 Peak: 12 US, 12 CB, 2 GR, 12 RR, 12 BA, 31 AC, 2 RB, 3 UK, 13 CN, 5 AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 6.7 video, 6.74 streaming

Awards (Bill Withers): Click on award for more details. Awards (Club Nouveau):

About the Song: “Lean on Me” is one of the rare songs which topped the Billboard Hot 100 more than once – first in 1972 by Bill Withers and then again fifteen years later by Club Nouveau. It was the fifth song to hit #1 twice in the Hot 100 era by different artists. The others were “Go Away Little Girl” (Steve Lawrence, Donny Osmond), “The Loco-Motion” (Little Eva, Grand Funk), “Please Mr. Postman” (The Marvelettes, the Carpenters), and “Venus” (Shocking Blue, Bananarama). SG2 The two acts had very different careers. Withers was an R&B legend while Club Nouveau was an R&B dance outfit who were practically a one-hit wonder. Withers was in the Navy for nine years before heading to Los Angeles to try and make it as a songwriter while working in an aircraft factory. He was 32 years old when “Ain’t No Sunshine” gave him his first chart hit – a top-ten on both the pop and R&B charts. He went on to chart with classics “Use Me,” “Lovely Day,” and “Just the Two of Us.” Withers wrote “Lean on Me” as “a pledge of friendship, of support, through bad times.” SG1 He says his co-workers from the aircraft factory were an inspiration. FB It is “a hymn of deep human connection and mutual support.” SG2 He explained that he wasn’t writing about romantic love which is when “you only wanna touch people because they’re pretty and they appeal to you physically. The more substantial love is when you want to touch people and care for them when they’re at their worst.” SG1 He sings in a “warm, graceful baritone, and his melody is campfire-singalong stuff, direct and uncluttered.” SG1 It is “a perfect song…a soul classic, that’s practically become a folk traditional.” SG2 Withers retired from music in 1985. A year later, Club Nouveau formed by producer/songwriters Jay King, Denzil Foster, and Thomas McElroy, formerly of Timex Social Club, who had a top-10 hit with “Rumors” in 1986. Club Nouveau had a “hard, synthesized, club-ready version of R&B.” SG2 They released six albums, but only Life, Love & Pain left any kind of mark with the chart-topping “Lean on Me” and “Why You Treat Me So Bad,” which barely scraped the top 40. Their version of “Lean on Me” “is an extremely smart record – cutting-edge trends in Black club-music production, applied to a beloved song that would immediately evoke baby-boomer nostalgia.” SG2 The Club Nouveau version merges electronic sounds with the original song’s piano line which can make for a certain coldness – a “bland, smiley dance track with a sticky hook” SG2 that “vacuum[s] all the nuance and feeling out of the song.” SG2 Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bill Withers DMDB encyclopedia entry for Club Nouveau FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Pages 315 and 662. SG1 Stereogum (3/4/2019). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan (Bill Withers) SG2 Stereogum (2/8/2021). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan (Club Nouveau) WK Wikipedia First posted 7/13/2023.