"Snooze" is a song by American singer-songwriter SZA, and the sixth single from her second studio album, SOS (2022). It is an R&B song with a midtempo rhythm, featuring an instrumental that consists of bass, guitars, drums, and synthesizers. The main vocals are complemented by several layers of harmonies beneath, and a riff appears at the song's beginning. The lyrics are about SZA's obsessive devotion to a love interest who does not reciprocate her intense feelings of yearning, despite her willingness to prove her love with violence. "Snooze" was sent to radio on April25, 2023, and a four-track single was released on digital streaming platforms on August25. An acoustic version featuring Justin Bieber followed on September15.
"Snooze" was critically and commercially successful. Critics praised the song for its composition, calling it dreamy, relaxing, and timeless. It won accolades for R&B categories at the MTV Video Music Awards and the Grammy Awards. It was also ranked by Rolling Stone in 2025 as the 13th-best song of the 21st century. "Snooze" debuted at number29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in December 2022, and it was a sleeper hit, charting as a non-single for months before its release to radio. It peaked at numbertwo on the Hot 100, spent 70weeks there in total, and was the only song to chart for all of 2023. "Snooze" was the 17th best-selling single of 2023 worldwide. It has been certified 11× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
A music video for "Snooze", directed by SZA alongside Bradley J. Calder, premiered on YouTube on August25. It features cameos from four celebrities, one of them being Bieber, who play SZA's love interests. They can be seen with SZA in a multitude of romantic interactions, where their relationships eventually deteriorate and end. The video concludes with a snippet of the song "Diamond Boy (DTM)" from SOS reissue, Lana, a promotion strategy she had consistently been doing to tease new music. Outside the music video, SZA performed "Snooze" during the SOS Tour (2023–2024) and an assortment of music festivals like Glastonbury 2024. Multiple musicians, including Bieber, have done covers of the song.
Background
In 2017, SZA released her commercially successful and well-acclaimed debut studio album, Ctrl. Critics throughout the years have credited it for being innovative within the R&B genre and establishing her as a major figure in contemporary pop and R&B music. SZA spoke in Ctrl variously about romance, desire, and self-esteem, as well as the many ways in which emotions like jealousy and intense desire can destroy them.
The next album after Ctrl was SOS. Disappointed that she had become frequently categorized as an R&B musician, which she felt was due to her being a Black woman. SZA opted to incorporate several genres and musical styles on SOS, while still she still retaining her already established sound. Rowe declaring before the album's release that she "love[d] making Black music, period". SZA said that she was fine with making R&B songs yet wanted space to diversify her work. Certain tracks on SOS have an aura SZA described as "aggressive", while others, like "Snooze", were softer and slower.
Composition
"Snooze" is an R&B song set to a midtempo pace. Its instrumental consists of drums and twinkling synthesizers, combined with bass and guitars to build the chords and rhythm. SZA's main vocals are accompanied by layered harmonies and several ad libs, and a vocal riff at the start of the song.
Critics have frequently described the song's sound as "dreamy". Writing for Billboard, Andrew Unterberger said that the composition felt like "being in bed with someone you love and deciding you just have to have another 15minutes there". Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of Pitchfork wrote that "Snooze" is heavily influenced by "classic" R&B songs from the past, citing how the song ends via a fade-out as a demonstrative example.
Production The first "Snooze" demo came from producer Blair Ferguson (BLK) in late 2021, while he was staying the winter in Glasgow at his aunt's attic. Before it became a part of SOS tracklist, the song was a planned duet by SZA and Babyface for the latter's ninth studio album, Girls Night Out (2022). BLK, in his words, took a "traditional R&B route" for the demo, infusing it with "the dreamy and smooth aspects of [SZA's] sound". "Snooze" was one of two songs that SZA and Babyface finished during their 2021 recording sessions.
Upon finishing the demo, BLK sent his work to Leon Thomas III, member of the production duo the Rascals. Once he was informed about the duet alongside his co-producer Khris Riddick-Tynes, Thomas flew from Atlanta to Babyface's Los Angeles studio, working on the drums en route. He met the others at the studio the next day. With BLK's demo as their reference, the producers, as Thomas recalls, "[built] the whole thing from scratch". The turnaround time for their song was short.
During the session, SZA entered the recording room intending to finish another track. Noticing the producers were rehearsing one of their beats, she heard Thomas use his voice as a sample on a "Snooze" instrumental. He had done a vocal chop, which he made by slowly singing the melody in a different key, then increasing the tempo. Meanwhile, Babyface was playing various instruments like guitars to build the song's melody. Impressed, SZA began writing the lyrics, finished within 20–30 minutes, and recorded her vocals in the same day. They put Thomas' pitch-shifted vocals near the end of the song, specifically the bridge.
Lyrics According to SZA, the making of SOS involved several "palate cleanser" sessions, in which she would quickly write tracks like "Snooze" within an hour to refresh her mind in preparation for her more demanding projects. What resulted from her "Snooze" session was a love song about an obsessive, passionate romance. Romance is a frequent subject across SOS tracks, and SZA often discusses it with an idealized, melancholic, or vicious tone. Aside from love, other topics and themes that the album covers include hate, self-worth, and revenge. In 2022, SZA told Glamour that SOS would explore the feelings of heartbreak and "being pissed": "This is my villain era, and I'm very comfortable with that. It is in the way I say no[...] It's in the fucked up things that I don't apologize for."
In "Snooze", SZA sings that her dedication to the song's subject is so great that she will go to risky extremes to prove her love. Lyrics from the opening ("I'll touch that fire for you, I do that three, four times again, I testify for you/ I told that lie, I'd kill that bitch/ I do what all of them around you scared to do, I'm not.") speak about her loyalty, characterized by dependency and possessiveness. Giving her lover her undivided attention, she urges them to reciprocate and think about her even in their dreams. Lyrics from the chorus ("I can't lose when I'm with you/ How can I snooze and miss the moment?") indicate that SZA cannot fathom a life without their romantic relationship and will take every possible chance to be with them.
Dispersed throughout SOS are pop culture references to several films, with tracks named after Kill Bill (2003) and Gone Girl (2014) as well as mentions of characters from the Star Wars and Despicable Me franchises. "Snooze" in particular references the crime drama film Scarface (1983) and the character Elvira Hancock, who marries the criminal protagonist and is portrayed with a bob haircut. The relevant lyrics read: "In a drop-top ride with you, I feel like Scarface (Scarface)/ Like that white bitch with the bob, I'll be your main one", implying that SZA wants to be partners in crime, or extremely close, with her lover.
Then, her degree of yearning is revealed to be one-sided, much to her dismay. "Snooze" demonstrates, as Larisha Paul writes for Rolling Stone, that "in both lust and love", vulnerability in SZA's music "prevails with limitless devotion." Despite promising to kill, steal, or start a fire for her lover, SZA feels as though they are failing to return the same amount of attention and effort to make their romance work. The bridge shows how the argument between them takes place: ("How you frontin' on me and I'm the main one tryin'?/ How you blame it on me and you the main one lyin'? How you threatenin' to leave and I'm the main one cryin'?")
Release
In November 2022, SZA announced the release date of SOS, alongside its title, via an interview with Billboard. The album was released on December9, through Top Dawg Entertainment and RCA Records. Its tracklist consists of 23 songs, with "Snooze" placed at number eight.
Over time, "Snooze" received a steady surge of streams due to its going viral on the video-sharing application TikTok. In response, Top Dawg and RCA sent the song to rhythmic and R&B/hip-hop radio on April 25, 2023, as the album's sixth single. A four-track bundle of "Snooze", which includes sped-up and instrumental versions, was released on digital streaming platforms on August25, the same day as its music video's premiere.
Canadian singer Justin Bieber, who made a cameo in the music video, features on an acoustic remix of the song. The remix was released on September15, via digital streaming platforms. Although there is no new verse, Bieber provides background vocals and replaces SZA as the second verse's main vocalist.
Critical reception "Snooze" has received critical acclaim. The instrumental was a recurring subject of attention; Billboard Andrew Unterberger and Rolling Stone Larisha Paul said it was "intoxicating", and several others wrote positively about the "dreamy" sound. Shanté Collier-McDermott of Clash said that the drum rhythm, vocal melodies, and honest songwriting created a highly relaxing aural experience that she likened to a soft and warm blanket. Also invoking imagery of a comfortable rest, Regina Cho of Vibe wrote that "Snooze" could make one "want to gaze up to the sky and fall into the sweetest daydream." She added that "the punch of the potent lyrics bring [one] back to reality."
In the context of "Snooze" appearance on SOS, critics focused on both the lyrics and music. A few of them considered it an album standout. The catchiness and composition were points of praise for News24 Joel Ontong, who recommended listeners play the song on repeat and said that its instrumental was the album's best. Essence Okla Jones thought the lyrics exemplified SZA's distinctive approach on female sexuality which, according to Jones, elevated SZA from her peers. Other critics judged the song based on how it contributed to the album's cohesion. Slant Magazine Paul Attard wrote positively, saying that its R&B composition did not clash with the other tracks' sounds, although Gigwise Millie O'Brien thought that "Snooze" marked the beginning of SOS "forgettable" middle part.
Speaking about its long-term impact, critics believe that "Snooze" will become a timeless classic. In 2025, Rolling Stone ranked "Snooze" at number 13 in the 2025 edition of their "Greatest Songs of the 21st Century" list. In the entry description, Mankaprr Conteh wrote the following: "People like to compliment records as timeless, but this one shines precisely because it boasts such a contemporary take on the age-old drama of a relationship going wrong — matched with a feeling so right."
Commercial performance