On a brand new episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, SZA emotionally thanked Drew for being THAT girl, sharing the reasons Barrymore inspired the Ctrl song named after her, and how she’s encouraged her to be okay with being her authentic self.
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“It was inspired by you. It wasn’t just titled after you,” SZA expressed to Drew. “The energy that you carry, even my outfit, is inspired by the way you’ve made me feel my entire life, like the carefree, the understanding,”
“You don’t understand… I wrote you this letter that I never sent you,” SZA added. “It talked about how… when you’re a younger black woman, there’s not a lot of examples all the time, and one of the few lovely white women that I looked up to so much on television was you because you were so yourself.”
On “Drew Barrymore,” SZA confronts her feelings of loneliness and battles with her insecurities after seeing a man she was dating another woman. “I’m sorry I’m not more attractive / I’m sorry I’m not more ladylike / I’m sorry I don’t shave my legs at night,” SZA sings on the track.
When speaking to Barrymore, who’s name is never actually uttered in the song’s lyrics, SZA shared how much she admired the actress for embracing what others might perceive as flaws.
“You were quirky. Your smile wasn’t perfect. I have a slight speech impediment, and people laugh all the time,” SZA said. “They’re like, ‘What is SZA saying?’ And it’s like a running joke.”
“I love the way you talk and like, just all the you-ness of you,” SZA went on, “your laugh, even in the movies and in real life. It just reminds me of all the things about myself that make me nervous, but on you, it shines so brightly,” the singer added leading the two to hug. “You gave me permission to be myself… And be like, this is so cool…. All your old photo shoots, I look them up… I love you.”
SZA’s Drew dedicated track dropped as part of her debut album Ctrl in 2017. During their chat, Barrymore, who made a very brief cameo in the song’s Dave Meyers directed music video, recalled, “We did the music video and I was just so excited to show up for you,” she said to SZA, who remarked, “I couldn’t believe you did that.”
Sharing the story behind her cameo last year, Barrymore said she was inspired by a deleted scene in Charlie’s Angels. “What can we do creatively that’s cool and under the radar?… What if I just pass you and we both know we’re both here for this? And that’s what we did!” Barrymore said at the time. “I was in awe and fangirling out.”
SZA also had her own fangirl moment for Drew, reacting in all caps to a video of Barrymore watching her TV performance of the song back in January 2017. “OKAY BUT THIS IS REALLY DREW BARRYMORE WATCHING ME SING DREW BARRYMORE ON Jimmy Kimmel Live TF?!?” she wrote. “I'm SHOOK!!! I love you SO much THANK YOU for endless inspiration.”
SZA also gushed about her muse in a 2017 Billboard interview, ahead of Ctrl’s release. “She’s so casual. There’s nothing more beautiful than people who are comfortable and casual in their selves but also filled with energy and good vibes and bubbliness, and that’s her vibe,” SZA said at the time. “She’s chill, but she’s confident, but she’s shy. So when I wrote this song, I imagined different moments of seeing her.”
Drew and SZA’s latest joint fangirl moment comes a few weeks after the singer extended her reign at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with the release of SOS Deluxe: LANA, which dropped December 20. The album, which first debuted at the chart’s summit upon its initial release in December 2022, has now spent a collective 12 weeks in the top spot.
Check out SZA talk about “Drew Barrymore” with Drew Barrymore on The Drew Barrymore Show above.