SZA’s “I Hate U” Gets an Official Release After Going Viral on TikTok

The song was originally released as an "experiment" back in August alongside two other songs on SoundCloud. Now, the track gets the official treatment.

December 3, 2021

The cover for the new SZA song is shown. — Image via Publicist
Publicist

SZA’s “I Hate U,” previously released as part of a SoundCloud-shared trio of tracks earlier this year, has now been officially released to all streaming services.

“Honestly this started out as an exercise . I just wanted somewhere to dump my thoughts w out pressure..y’all made it a thing and I’m not mad lmao. ask and u shall receive,” SZA said of the song’s formal streaming release in an Instagram note on Thursday night. In a separate note to fans on Twitter, the CTRL artist said the track’s initial release on SoundCloud marked an “experiment.”

Credited as producers on the track are Rob Bisel, ThankGod4Cody, Carter Lang, and Dylan Patrice. When first making the track available via SoundCloud back in August, SZA told fans she was simply “dumping random thoughts.” The song later became a hit on TikTok, even without a traditional release.

Listen to “I Hate U” below via Spotify and/or grab it via the streamer of your choice.

Back in June of this year, SZA spoke with Complex about the creative process behind her virtual American Express UNSTAGED project, which served as a celebration of both her 2017 debut album’s four-year anniversary and her current era.

During the interview, the charts success of “Good Days” was discussed, with SZA revealing she was “surprised” by the fan favorite’s ubiquity.

“I’m grateful that people were just really sad and going through the same range of emotions that I was going through,” SZA said at the time. “We all kind of experienced them together, and that’s what created a moment that took me to top 10. It wasn’t radio.”

Below, revisit the official “Good Days” video.