SZA Awarded Hal David Starlight Award For Songwriting

SZA, 34, has been recognized for her excellent songwriting. On Thursday, June 13, she was inducted into the prestigious 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards Gala held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Music legend Nile Rodgers presented her with the Hal David Starlight Award.

The “Snooze” singer shared some sincere words during her acceptance speech. SZA began, “As an artist, I’ve been a lot of different people. I’ve been 200 pounds. I’ve been 130 pounds.”

She continued to open up about some of the challenges and changes she went through during her music career.

“I’ve been someone who doesn’t dance at all onstage, someone that can only close their eyes and look down, someone that is dancing and trying their best,” SZA recalled.

“I’ve just been all these things, and I feel like, ‘Oh man, I struggle at the artist thing.’ Like writing was where I felt like a person and that I had value and that I could show that I was smart, and it was beyond, ‘Am I pretty? Am I liked?’ And that basically meant everything to me.”

She finished, “It made me feel like a person, that I was doing something worth something . So basically, receiving this award validates my entire career.”

Rodgers also acknowledged that Spotify didn’t give enough recognition to all the talented songwriters on its platform before SZA performed an acoustic version of “Snooze” with her long-time collaborator Carter Lang.

SZA has now become one of many distinguished Hal David Starlight Award Honorees, those of which include Alicia Keys, John Mayer, John Legend, Lil Nas X, Ed Sheeran, Drake, and others.

Thursday’s celebrations also featured other artists in attendance. Walter Becker of Steely Dan, Timbaland, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Diane Warren and Hillary Lindsey were celebrated.