Female R&B/Neo-Soul Artist SZA Co-Directs Her "Teen Spirit" Video

SZA says she co-directed her "Teen Spirit" video in order to "live and die by my own decisions."

SZA says she has a specific reason she wanted to co-direct the video for her “Teen Spirit” song.

“I wanted to live and die by my own decisions,” SZA says of video, according to vogue.com. “From color correction to set choice to dressing myself in dirty T-shirts and random Marni pieces and refusing a stylist and makeup artist…I figured if I was going to fail, I’d do it on my own terms.”

SZA, who co-directed the “Teen Spirit” video with APLUSFILMZ, is signed to Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), whose roster also includes Black Hippy's Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q and Jay Rock.

SZA said that joining the TDE collective was significant.

"To be the first female on TDE is more...it's really just more important to me to be a part of TDE, rather than the first female," the singer said. "They've worked with girls in the past, incredible [artists] like Alori [Joh] and Jhene [Aiko]. So for me, it's just honestly being a part of a collective, such as TDE. That's what's more insane to me. They don't treat me like the girl, in the best ways though. No one tries to baby me or walk over me 'cause I'm a girl. They just let me fight for what I believe in and let me be as creative as I want to be and just give me free reign. So I love that." 

Prior to signing with TDE, SZA released a handful of projects, incluing last year’s See.SZA.Run and an EP titled S. The singer is also gearing up for the release of her Z EP, which is slated to feature the songs “Julia” and “Teen Spirit.”