SZA is the queen of the heartbreak hit, with songs like “Kill Bill” and “SOS” storming up the charts thanks to their relatable lyrics on love and loss.
The crooner is notoriously private about her love life and prefers to pour all of her feelings into her Grammy-winning music.
Despite remaining tight-lipped about her past relationships, she has shared some insight into her past loves, like her dalliance with Drake, or her 11-year romance with her fashion designer beau.
SZA got candid about the difficulties of love in an interview with Chicken Shop Date in 2024, revealing that she found it hard to sustain a long-term relationship.
“I don’t even know if we’re like meant to fall in love ’cause like, who’s actually doing it and sustaining it? I think we’re just supposed to be in like, fleeting states of loving,” she shared.
“I feel like I can catch ’em, but I cannot keep ’em,” she continued. “They get with me and they realize I’m [expletive] weird.” Join HELLO! as we delve into the Missouri native’s complicated love life.
Drake
Drake and SZA shocked their fans in 2020 when the rapper dropped his song, “Mr. Right Now”, which included the revealing lyric, “Wait, ’cause I used to date SZA back in ’08.” The “Saturn” singer took to Twitter to clarify that they were together in 2009 and that their relationship was peaceful.
“It was actually 2009 lol…in this case a year of poetic rap license mattered lol,” she wrote. “I think he jus [sic] innocently rhymed 08 [with] wait. Anybody who really knows me and was around during this time can confirm…it’s all love all peace.”
“I just didn’t want anybody thinking anything underage or creepy was happening. Completely innocent. Lifetimes ago,” she added. SZA was around 20 years old at the time of the fling, while Drake was 23.
She further clarified that their relationship was nothing serious in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2023. “We were really young,” she said. “It wasn’t hot and heavy or anything. It was like youth vibes. It was so childish.” They reunited in the same year for their single, “Slime You Out”.
Unnamed ex-fiancé
© Christopher PolkIn line with her desire to keep her romantic life as private as possible, SZA has revealed only a little about her longest relationship, which she shared with her unnamed ex-fiancé. She explained to Rolling Stone in 2023 that the mystery man was a fashion designer whom she dated for 11 years and was engaged to for five before they called it quits.
Fans have speculated that SZA’s ex-love is Scott Sasso, an entertainment executive and fashion designer, although neither has ever confirmed these rumors. The “Drew Barrymore” songstress got candid about the impact that her ex had on her life, as they started dating when she was fresh out of high school. “[I] really only did music to prove a point,” she told the publication.
“When I started making music, it was to my ex-fiancé, because he was paying for everything. My food, my clothes, where I lived—and he was eight years my senior, so I was so co-dependent.” She also shared that he was the inspiration behind several songs on her hit album SOS.
© Harry Durrant/Getty ImagesIn the same interview, she shared that they had become “unengaged” five or six years prior. Her song, “Nobody Gets Me” is confirmed to be about her past relationship with the fashion designer, with SZA explaining the meaning behind it to Hot 97. “This particular song in entirety is a story about my ex-fiancé and how we went through all these arguments, and we broke up,” she said.
“And when we first broke up, it was like terrible, and I just felt like I was gonna be doomed to be in hell for the rest of my life, because nobody understood me the way he did, and nobody motivated me the way he did.”
She opened up to her fans during a London show in 2023 about a cheating ex, which many fans speculated was her former fiancé. “I never told anybody, but like, my boyfriend cheated on me in this city before,” she said. “It was terrible. That’s why I was really sad to come here, but you guys made it so much better. Thank you! This song is about my other trash ex-boyfriend.”
Travis Scott
© NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal viaAnother rapper linked to SZA was Travis Scott, the father of Kylie Jenner’s two children. Rumors abounded when Travis joined the 35-year-old at one of her Europe shows in June 2023, and the pair oozed chemistry during their performance.
SZA then appeared in the music video for Travis’ song “K-POP”, which featured megastars Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. She has also joined him in the past on the tracks “Love Galore”, “Open Arms”, and “Telekinesis”.
Neither party has commented on their relationship, although diehard fans are still holding out hope that the music powerhouses will start dating.
