SZA is always going to make her voice heard. During her last of three shows at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, as a part of her long-running SOS Tour, the Grammy-winning “Kill Bill” singer threw vocal support behind the Palestinian people.
In fan-captured footage from the Tuesday (April 16) concert, she proclaims, “Free Palestine!” while holding what appears to be the Palestinian flag. As soon as SZA completed the phrase, the crowd cheered uproariously as the superstar continued her onstage banter.
SZA joins a growing list of musicians expressing their support for a free Palestine, including fellow Grammy nominees Kehlani, Macklemore and Kid Cudi. During the first weekend of the 2024 edition of Coachella, several artists shared similar sentiments. Headliner Tyler, the Creator donned a pin of the Palestinian flag during his performance, “On My Mama” singer Victoria Monét called to “stop the genocide” during her performance and Jerusalem-born, Gaza-raised Palestinian rapper Saint Levant paused his set to remind the crowd of the “brutal occupation” his people are currently facing.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, a devastating war has been raging across Gaza and the West Bank, killing and injuring untold thousands of civilians.
The “Saturn” singer’s support of Palestine comes a few years after she opened up about her Muslim roots to Muslim Girl’s TikTok live series in commemoration of Muslim Women’s Day.
“For me, Islamophobia really kicked in fresh after 9/11. I am from a small suburban town where people have good intentions, but they’re inherently maybe closed-minded and it’s not their fault,” shared SZA, who grew up Muslim. “I think that it’s a privilege to exemplify modesty in its forms and in a closeness to God and to explore different avenues of connection with the human form, with yourself and others. And I feel like it’s very bizarre, sometimes, the general misconceptions that come and go about Islam. Violence has no connection whatsoever.”
Tuesday’s show marked the first of four mini-residencies that comprise the Australian leg of SZA’s SOS Tour. The “Snooze” singer is set for two nights at Brisbane’s Entertainment Center (April 19-20), three nights at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena (April 23-26) and three final nights at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena (April 29-May 2). SZA launched the tour back in Feb. 2023 in support of SOS — her sophomore studio album which won three Grammys, spent ten weeks atop the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits “Kill Bill” (No. 1), “Snooze” (No. 2), “Good Days” (No. 9), “I Hate U” (No. 7) and “Nobody Gets Me” (No. 10).
Watch the fan-captured footage of SZA shouting “Free Palestine” below.
