SZA Slams People Who Leak Her Music and Says She'll Take Legal Action Against Them: 'Leaking My Music Is Stealing'

SZA is opening up about one of her biggest frustrations as an artist. 

On Saturday, the R&B superstar, 34, posted to X (formerly Twitter) to request that listeners stop attempting to leak her unreleased music. She even went so far as to say that she plans to take legal action the next time her tracks are stolen. 

The “Kill Bill” singer’s post began, “LEAKING MY MUSIC IS STEALING.” 

“THIS IS MY LIFE AND MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY,” the star (whose real name is Solána Imani Rowe) wrote of her music.

She continued, “YOU ARE A F---ING THIEF AND I PROMISE TO PUT MAXIMUM ENERGY INTO HOLDING EVERYONE ACCOUNTABLE TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW .” 

“I AM TIRED,” her post concluded.  

Shortly after, her longtime manager Punch from her label Top Dawg Entertainment also made a post on X to show his support for the Grammy-winning artist and reiterate her statement. 

Quoting SZA’s post, he wrote, “When music leaks it often lead to delays and/or canceling whole projects.” 

It is currently unclear whether the “Shirt” singer was referring to a specific instance, but her tracks have certainly been unofficially released without her consent before. 

Back in June when a scrapped verse of hers from rapper Lil Tjay’s 2021 track “Calling My Phone” surfaced online, she revealed on X how frustrated she was that it had leaked. 

SZA posted at the time, “Lmao as for the calling my phone verse .. I’m mad y’all leaked it .. but glad y’all liked it ? 🥴.”

The superstar then explained her reasoning for never appearing on the song, which went on to feature R&B artist 6LACK. “I punked out of turning it in … happens a lot actually . I be feeling like I can’t add anything to songs that are already fire,” she continued. “Respect to @liltjay + @6LACK 🫶🏾.”

It’s not the first time the musician, who is gearing up to drop a project titled Lana, has opened up about the challenges of her unreleased music being stolen in recent weeks. 

In a Variety cover story published in November 2023, the “Snooze” singer said she feels like people “ruin” her songs once they’re leaked. 

“Then it’s not mine anymore; it’s actually yours. It’s something unfinished that you decided was ready to be shared,” she explained. 

“And it’s like, ‘F--- you. Now I’m not releasing it.’ Play your leak, but you’re not gonna bully me into dropping music,” the “Good Days” artist continued. “I’m now embarrassed by this less-than-correct version that you put out. You’ve sent me into a weird space creatively when you could have just waited for me, but you’re selfish.”

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Although it’s undated, SZA will soon release an album with upwards of seven to 10 new songs called Lana that she originally teased as a deluxe version of 2022’s SOS. 

In December, she teased the project by posting seven variations of the cover artwork on Instagram, including shots of her on a farm, out in the wilderness and more. 

She previously told Variety that Lana was originally only going to be SOS outtakes but had “become more than [she] expected.” 

The singer-songwriter added, “It’s definitely turning into its own album… and I guess I could drop a new album randomly, because no one’s actually expecting that from me right now.”