Music Video Breakdown: 'Hit Different'

SZA’s back.

After transforming the R&B world with her 2017 debut studio album, “Ctrl,” SZA more or less went off the radar. “Ctrl” debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, then was certified platinum as of 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America. It also received nominations for four Grammy awards, and SZA herself contended for Best New Artist. The album was uncensored and honest, and it garnered critical acclaim. Then... nothing. Fans mourned, tweeting, “Honey, i want some new music pls not facts about dinosaurs’ farts.” And yes, I do too, but mostly because I thought dinosaurs were extinct, so maybe this piece should be called “Dinosaurs’ Farts — Fake News?”

Fast forward to Sept. 3, 2020: SZA dropped “Hit Different,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign. Let’s ignore Ty for now — the “ft.” stands for footnote here. In the accompanying music video, the first three beats feature SZA in three outfits: SZA in an orange bikini in the back of a truck, SZA standing with cars lined up behind her in a Renaissance-painting-inspired bra and blouse set with blue baggy trousers, and SZA and dancers paying tribute to Aaliyah with an all-peach-orange ‘fit (baggy trousers, crop top, and all). This quick, flash-like editing is a common theme throughout the first three minutes of the video, with repetition of lyrics and strong beat drops emphasized by alternating orientations or teleportation to different settings and SZA in even more outfits.

The choreography for SZA and her backup dancers is unabashedly sexual. The video features three minutes of incredible dancing and SZA posing like the queen she is, moving fluidly to the music. It’s an understatement to say the video is a work of an art, hailing the female body and people of color.

Yes, Ty comes in somewhere in there, but is he even relevant? He’s the only male appearance, wearing an all-white outfit, while SZA and the girls shine in different shades of blue. Face it, he’s just unemphasized.

Then there’s the settings: a junkyard, hay bales, an empty straw-grass field, a half-destroyed farmhouse, and a pool. She’s hitting different spots all over town. There’s an almost biblical scene which shows SZA in the farmhouse surrounded by white animals, flashing between shots of her on the ground wearing white and her standing naked and covered with blood. Maybe she’s covered in blood as a testament to our common humanity, or maybe it’s a reference to the Lamb of God, the one who takes away all sin. SZA sings about being in a casual relationship, with both reluctant to acknowledge real feelings for the other. She sings that when they’re apart or she imagines him with someone else, though, it “hits different;” it’s less about the fights or miscommunications they have and more about her feelings.

The outro expands upon biblical references, where everything seems to stop except for SZA. No more flashing between scenes, no more heavy beats, no more cameos. She sings about “feeling like Jericho” and “feeling like Job when he lost his shit,” and having a “cross to bear alone.” She’s wearing wooden beads in her hair, like Cleopatra, further emphasizing her regality. She’s surrounded by pieces of furniture and wood, and the setting seems earthly, grounded and sacred. She’s leaning over a leather pommel horse. Apparently, it’s a teaser for another song featuring Jacob Collier titled “Good Days,” but it’s in the “Hit Different” music video, so what to make of it?

Perhaps it represents a more clear-minded SZA — less intoxicated with feelings for the other person who’s “wrong” for her, and more focused on self-reflection and trying to salvage what’s left of herself. She brings her hands to a clasp, as if finding internal balance. She sings, “You be heavy in my mind, can you get the heck out,” purging anything toxic from her “Hit Different” mind. Then she sings, “I try to keep from losing the rest of me / I worry that I wasted the best of me on you, baby,” then “tell me I’m not my fears / my limitations.” There it is. Poetry snaps, everybody. We’re left with the ending shot: SZA is sitting between the pommel horse rings, leaning back and reaching out, her eyes closed and her face pointed to the top of the frame.

Now to the question burning in everyone’s minds after this unexpected release — were dinosaur farts gusts of wind that could blow us out of this world? Is that a metaphor for SZA blowing our minds out of this world? Here’s what SZA says about that in a Rolling Stone interview with Emma Carmichael: It’s been “‘a wild-ass fucking year’” but “‘music is coming out this year for sure.’” An album, you say? SZA says, “‘strong words.’” For now, she’s learning about herself and growing, and that’s a good reason if you ask me. It hits different, right? I guess we’re back to dinosaur farts for the time being.