In the summer of 2022, the headline on this page said SZA would act in films instead of recording a new album. Hollywood had other plans, and so did she. The album arrived, broke records, and only then did she show up on a cinema screen, in a different film from the one everyone wrote about. Four years on, here is what actually happened to Solána Rowe’s acting career, and why the “instead of” turned out to be the wrong word.
Tuna Melt: the hitman romance that never left the menu
In August 2022, Deadline, NME and The Fader reported that SZA had signed on to make her feature debut in Tuna Melt, an offbeat dramedy written and directed by Eddie Huang, who also planned to star. Huang would play a hitman who meets the love of his life, played by SZA, shortly after a job. Euphoria‘s Chloe Cherry joined the cast, and her role was kept under wraps. The pitch compared the film to a mix of Pulp Fiction and High Fidelity.
That was the last solid news. Reports at the time said production had not started, and I could find no later announcement of a shoot, a trailer or a release date. So as of October 2026, Tuna Melt is officially unmade. My read: announcing a film is the easiest part of making one, and this one stayed at the announcement stage. (A sandwich is quicker to make than a movie. Apparently it is also quicker to forget.)
The album the fans were promised
In 2022, fans were indignant: SZA had not released an album since Ctrl in 2017, and that June she marked its fifth anniversary with a deluxe edition that added an alternate version of “Love Galore” with Travis Scott. Then, on December 9, 2022, SOS arrived. It spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and SZA became the first Black woman to do that, as i-D noted in its 2026 cover story.
At the 2024 Grammys, SOS won Best Progressive R&B Album and “Snooze” won Best R&B Song. In December 2024 she reissued the record as Lana. Then came the Kendrick Lamar era: the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February 2025, the Grand National stadium tour that spring, and “luther”, which spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100. On February 1, 2026, “luther” won Record of the Year at the 68th Grammys. Cher read “Luther Vandross” off the card first, which is the kind of mix-up you only get away with if you are Cher. Here is my view: the fans who were angry in 2022 got exactly what they asked for, just on SZA’s schedule.
The Grammy night she could barely stand through
Her best awards-night story is still from April 3, 2022. SZA fell out of bed the day before the Grammys, hurt her ankle, and arrived on crutches. She used a wheelchair inside the arena (Lil Nas X pushed it and called himself her “personal caretaker”), and she got onto the stage to accept Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Kiss Me More” with Doja Cat. On Instagram she wrote: “Eff my weak ass bony ankles lol.” I have seen many red-carpet entrances. Very few of them were done on one leg.
The acting debut that did happen
Her real film debut came from somewhere else. In One of Them Days, a buddy comedy produced by Issa Rae, SZA plays Alyssa opposite Keke Palmer’s Dreux, two roommates trying to save their rent money in a single bad day. It opened on January 17, 2025, made about $11.6 million in its first three days on a budget of roughly $14 million, and later went to Netflix. (She had already appeared in Rae’s Insecure in 2020, so the casting was hardly a stranger’s call.) Next she voices Princess Harmony, a ruler who has banned singing, in CoComelon: The Movie, due in theaters on February 19, 2027. I think it is a quietly perfect joke to cast one of the decade’s biggest voices as the woman who outlaws music.
What SZA sings about, and what comes next
People love her for the frankness. On “Drew Barrymore” she apologizes for not shaving her legs at night, and she has never pretended that confidence is a fixed setting. Her Instagram is just as candid.
The third album is in progress. In her March 2026 i-D cover story she said, “I don’t want to wing it no more. The truth is readiness,” and “I feel like I’m at war because of AI.” On September 1, 2026, when a fan asked her to come back this winter, she replied: “Indeed, I shall.” There is no title or date yet. In 2026 she has released “Save the Day” for Pixar’s Hoppers and “Boy in Red” with Isaiah Rashad.
Here is where I land. In 2022 everyone framed it as music or movies, as if she had to pick one. She picked both, in her own order, and the only project that never happened was the one with a sandwich in its name. If she says winter, I would not bet against her.
Sources
- SZA on Instagram: New Jersey Hall of Fame, September 2026
- SZA on Instagram (@sza)
- Recording Academy: Record of the Year
- i-D: SZA cover interview (March 2026)
- Complex: SZA teases new music this winter (Sept 2026)
- NME: SZA to make movie debut in Tuna Melt (Aug 2022)
- The Fader: SZA takes on role in hitman movie Tuna Melt
- Billboard: SZA on crutches at the 2022 Grammys
- AP via Fortune: One of Them Days opening weekend
- TheWrap: CoComelon: The Movie cast
