Kill Bill (song)

performing in Ctrl the Tour (2017–2018) In 2017, SZA released her commercially successful and well-acclaimed debut studio album, Ctrl. Critics throughout the years have credited it as being innovative within the R&B genre, and for establishing her as a major figure in contemporary pop and R&B music. SZA spoke in Ctrl variously about romance, desire, and self-esteem, often in a vulnerable tone, as well as the many ways in which emotions like jealousy and intense desire can destroy them. One of the tracks from her subsequent studio album, SOS, is "Kill Bill". It is titled after the Kill Bill films (2003–2004), While watching the films, Bill caught SZA's attention and she was inspired to create the song based on his behavior. She described him as a character who "doesn't understand why he did what he did", adding that he was "void of emotion, but he loved the Bride so much that he couldn't stand her to be with anyone else." American Songwriter Alex Hopper, writing about how the song's lyrics reflected the films' plot, noted that jealousy was Bill's motive for the assassination attempt. In the film's Volume 2, he told the Bride that "[t]here are consequences to breaking the heart of a murdering bastard", which Hopper said was the same justification SZA uses in the song for committing murder. == Music and recording ==

"Kill Bill" incorporates prominent, basic eighth notes and is built around a midtempo, groovy rhythm and a detuned melody. The song has a retro, late 1990s–early 2000s sound, influenced by a subgenre of hip hop music called boom bap. Music journalists have described the song as a blend of pop, R&B, and hip hop; some observed elements of associated genres like psychedelic pop, pop-soul, and doo-wop. "Kill Bill" was produced by Rob Bisel and Carter Lang, who wrote the song with SZA. Production began around May 2022 when Bisel, in his Los Angeles home's Ponzu Studios, played some chords on his Prophet-6 synthesizer. With it, he used Ableton to sample the synthesizer's flute-like sound. After adding a bassline from an electric guitar tuned down an octave, Bisel was unsure where he wanted the song to go, so he sent the Ableton clip to Lang for assistance. Settling on a polyrhythmic production with a swing style, he took more beats from a separate, vintage drum machine and made them twice as slow as the first approach, and he added more guitars and bass on top. The two also incorporated a choir and backing vocals into the song. Most of the final version's instruments were recorded at Lang's home studio in Chicago. she immediately gravitated towards the boom bap beat, which Bisel and Lang happened to like the most. SZA was alone with Bisel in the studio for recording sessions, asking him to loop the beat in the background. He left her alone in a corner to give her space to ideate. It took five to ten minutes for SZA to come up with the hook's melody and lyrics, which she wrote on her phone. Humming the melodies, she turned to Bisel to say about the lyrics, "I have an idea. This might be a little too crazy, but let me know what you think." Within one day, the entire song was finished—SZA needed only one or two takes to record the vocals. == Lyrics ==

SZA told Glamour in 2022 that many tracks in SOS centered around themes of revenge, heartbreak, and "being pissed": "I've never raged the way that I should have. 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." The premise of "Kill Bill" is heavily based on the Kill Bill films, a reimagining of Thurman's tale of revenge. Shaad D'Souza of The Guardian wrote that unlike the films, however, the song "provides no real emotional payoff; its narrative is a cry of pure fatalism, with no return for its narrator other than a split-second of bloodlust". With "Kill Bill", she wrote all of the lyrics on-the-spot in under an hour. Due to the violence, some radio stations played a censored version of "Kill Bill" with the word "kill" replaced by the sound of a slashing blade. In the first verse, the protagonist acts analogously to Bill, resentful about the new girlfriend that her ex-boyfriend has met: "Hate to see you with some other broad, know you happy/Hate to see you happy if I'm not the one drivin'." She tries to navigate her issues through consultations with a therapist, making her dryly say she is mature and mockingly congratulate herself for it. Her therapist has advised her to seek other men, but she loves her ex-boyfriend to such a degree that she would rather still be with him than with anyone else. According to her, if she cannot have him back, then "no one should". What follows is the hook, in which she openly fantasizes about killing him and his new girlfriend. She acknowledges, self-aware, that her intrusive thoughts are unhealthy and wonders "how'd I get here?" Some critics argued that SZA amplifies the hook's unsettling nature and criminal themes using melodies evocative of lullabies. For Philippine Daily Inquirer journalist Carl Martin Agustin, the hook conjures the imagery of "the bride preparing her mark for his eternal slumber". Reasoning with herself, she claims what she did to her ex-boyfriend was an act of love and Pitchfork found this humorous; Pitchfork Julianne Escobedo Shepherd wrote: "It's so funny to imagine killing someone and his new girl and then have a fleeting second thought about it. Like, 'Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Oh well! Some critics wrote that the last line unveiled the song's underlying tones of loneliness and turned "Kill Bill" into a tragedy. In Nylon, Steffanee Wang thought it "will make you wonder how SZA can generate such devastation from such simplicity". == Release ==

Original From April to May 2022, SZA told media outlets that she had recently finished the album in Hawaii and said it was coming soon. During a Billboard cover story published in November, SZA revealed the album title and release date, which was scheduled sometime next month. On December 5, 2022, she posted the album's track list on Twitter, and SOS was released four days later. Out of 23 songs, "Kill Bill" appears as the second track; following its success on streaming platforms, RCA Records chose it as the next radio single from the album. rhythmic, and urban radio on January 10, 2023, as the fifth single from SOS. Originally, only "Nobody Gets Me" (2023) was scheduled to impact pop radio on January 10. However, RCA and various radio programmers eventually decided to promote the two songs simultaneously despite the intricacies of planning dual singles, citing the large streaming numbers that "Kill Bill" gained in December and the radio-friendly appeal of the lyrics and production. with 2,257 plays from 129 pop radio stations. Apart from the original version of "Kill Bill", the release contains a sped-up version, an instrumental version, and an a cappella version. An acoustic version of the song, with a different cover art, was released on January 24. The sped-up version capitalizes and is based on a viral trend on TikTok where users would increase the pitch and tempo of certain songs and post them on the application. One user shared a sped-up audio of "Kill Bill" upon the release of SOS, and it was viewed over 21.7million times, liked over 1.9million times, and reposted in over 1.1million videos, Remix featured on the official remix for "Kill Bill", their second collaboration after "Kiss Me More". In 2021, SZA collaborated with American rapper Doja Cat for the song "Kiss Me More", serving as the lead single from the latter's third studio album, Planet Her (2021). Their next collaboration was set to be "Shirt", SOS third single. Three months after SZA teased "Shirt" was a collaboration, Punch told Complex that Doja Cat was to feature not on the song's original version, but on a remix instead. Because of an emergency vocal surgery that Doja Cat underwent, the remix's release did not happen. SZA reacted in disappointment, and she hoped that she can work with her again on other projects. On April 14, 2023, Doja Cat hinted at another collaboration with SZA on Instagram, tagging her on a post that read "9 pm." On Twitter, the two had a public, back-and-forth interaction. Doja Cat told SZA "sis... I did something bad", to which SZA responded "Jesus.. What is it." A remix of "Kill Bill", featuring Doja Cat, was surprise-released at the indicated time, with a rap verse that opens the song and continues the storyline of the original version. An animated video accompanying the remix was posted to YouTube, showing a pixelated Doja Cat as she uses a ball and chain to fight enemies. == Commercial performance ==

"Kill Bill" saw massive commercial success, buoyed strongly by its streaming numbers. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, it was the third best-selling single of 2023, earning 1.84 billion units based on streams and digital sales, and it was Spotify's second most-streamed song of 2023. It spent two weeks atop the Billboard Global 200 chart, which tracks songs' performance on streaming and download platforms, and four weeks atop US Streaming Songs. It was SZA's first song to top the Billboard Global 200, and it did so in early January 2023, bolstered by around 64million international streams. The week prior, it debuted atop Streaming Songs with 36.9million US streams for the December 24, 2022, issue. It was her first number-one there and the first non-holiday song since 2018 to be the top entry on the chart for the week of Christmas. With "Kill Bill" and "Nobody Gets Me", SZA acquired her sixth and seventh top 10 songs in the United States. Meanwhile, in Canada, "Kill Bill" debuted at number 5 and later peaked at number 3. Once it was sent to radio, "Kill Bill" became SZA's first top 10 entry on the Radio Songs chart, where it reached number two. and her first in a lead credit to top Pop Airplay. The song spent 17 of its first 18 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in the top 10. Of those 18 weeks, 8 were spent at number two. Three songs kept "Kill Bill" from the top spot: "Anti-Hero" (2022) by Taylor Swift, "Flowers" (2023) by Miley Cyrus, and "Last Night" (2023) by Morgan Wallen. After 8 weeks at number two, "Kill Bill" topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming SZA's first number-one in the United States, boosted by the remix. It tied with three other songs for the second-most weeks at number two before reaching the top, behind "Bad Guy" (2019) by Billie Eilish (9 weeks). On US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, "Kill Bill" was SZA's second number-one debut, after "I Hate U" in 2021, and was at number one for 21 weeks. It broke the record for the longest time a song spent atop the chart, surpassing Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" (2019). "Kill Bill" ended 2023 as the third best-performing song in the US, and it has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling 10,000,000 equivalent units. and Singapore, and it was the highest-charting international song in Malaysia for over a week. It also went number one in Indonesia and the Philippines, and it reached number 4 and number 3 in Vietnam and the MENA's regional chart, respectively. "Kill Bill" was SZA's first chart-topping song in Australia, where it was certified 7× platinum for selling over 490,000 equivalent units, It received a 6× platinum certification in New Zealand for selling over 180,000 units. It rose to the top 10, SZA's first solo song to do so, in early 2023, once Christmas songs had left the chart. Peaking at number 3, "Kill Bill" tied "Kiss Me More" as her highest-charting song in the UK; ended the year with over 100 million streams and 1,069,727 total sales; and was the country's seventh best-performing song. Elsewhere in Europe, it reached the top 20 in Ireland, the Nordic countries, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria and top forty in the Netherlands, France and Belgium. ==Critical reception==

Reviews "Kill Bill" was highly lauded by music critics. Many of them called "Kill Bill" a highlight of SOS, and Sophie Williams of NME attributed the choice to its vivid, detail-heavy storytelling. Compliments toward the lyrics revolved around its cinematic narrative, poetic quality, and raw honesty. Meanwhile, Vulture Zoe Guy, Pitchfork Jill Mapes, and Rolling Stone Mankaprr Conteh lauded "Kill Bill" as an exemplar of how to blend pop-culture references with internal struggles and candid self-reflection to create a lyrically memorable song. Other critics pointed towards the lyrics' melodrama and relatability despite the extreme violence, and Billboard writers cited these qualities as the reason for the song's critical and commercial success: "people just love violence, and seem to have a weird fascination with 'crazy in love' relationship dynamics." Referencing the break-up songs that blocked the song from number one, "Flowers" and "Last Night", D'Souza argued that "Kill Bill" was a standout among its commercially successful contemporaries that, in his view, had more boilerplate and "easily digestible" lyrics about heartbreak. He continued that "SZA's success feels like a win for a kind of pop music that's in short supply right now." Lyndsey Havens for Billboard said that "Kill Bill" was good for singalongs, Other critics praised her vocals, writing that its softness elevated the song's vulnerability and intimacy, Rankings The original version appeared in best-of-2023 song listicles published on USA Today (unranked) and it was placed at number one by Heran Mamo on Billboard. Year-end rankings that featured the remix included ones published by Rolling Stone (16) "Kill Bill" placed at number 267 at the February 2024 iteration of Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, which wrote that it was "the epitome of what makes [SZA] one of this generation's greatest songwriters". Billboard ranked the song as the 222nd best pop song of all time in October 2023, as well as the 4th best breakup song of all time in February 2024. On their 2023 listicle, the magazine wrote that "Kill Bill" marked SZA's "official crossover from subversive R&B tastemaker to bona fide pop star". == Accolades ==

Background , one of the starring actresses in the Kill Bill films, makes a cameo in the music video. SZA expressed her gratitude for fans' warm reception of "Kill Bill" by posting a 20-second teaser of the music video to Twitter on December 29, 2022, having alluded to its creation around a week prior during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The video was directed by Christian Breslauer and produced by Luga Podesta through his production company London Alley Entertainment. It premiered on YouTube the same day as the song's release, briefly going private after its first 10 minutes of availability before being made public again. With the video, SZA aimed to create something more narrative-centric compared to her past music videos which, while containing a few story beats, did not have full, coherent plotlines. In Breslauer's words, she wanted "less performance and [more] acting"; the result was a short action film heavily inspired by the Kill Bill duology. Vivica A. Fox, the actress who starred in Kill Bill as a Deadly Viper and the Bride's enemy Vernita Green, makes a cameo in the video. Her scenes were the last ones filmed during production; Pre-production began in the middle of December 2022, when Top Dawg approached London Alley to produce the video, and principal photography took place six days later. The scheduled period for filming was one day before the company's Christmas break, so all scenes had to be completed within 19 or 20 hours, in contrast to the usual two or three days allocated for similar music videos. For example, it contains an anime-style interlude that was added in post-production, and it incorporates many split-screen shots, a choice inspired by the cinematography of several 1970s films. She survives the assault and gets in a car driven by Fox's character, who takes her to a warehouse where she prepares to enact vengeance on the hitmen. The confrontation scene, the anime-style interlude, alludes to the animated sequence that introduced Ishii's backstory in Volume 1. == Live performances ==

SZA first performed "Kill Bill" live on the SOS Tour, during a concert in Columbus, Ohio. It took place at the Schottenstein Center on February 21, 2023. A live performance at one of the New York City shows was released as part of a video series on Apple TV+ covering the tour. When the tour's concerts neared their end, she would change her outfit to wear red biker pants and a motor suit, similar to her look for the music video. Recreating the Crazy 88 sequence, SZA had a spiked ball and chain in one of her hands that she swung across the stage. Her prop was a callback to the fight scene in Volume 1 between Thurman and one of Ishii's fighters—the fighter in question was Gogo Yubari, who armed herself with a meteor hammer, a weapon consisting of a chain and a weight attached to both ends. At the 2023 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball, held in early December, SZA included "Kill Bill" as part of her headlining set. She, along with a group of backup dancers, brandished machetes on stage to complement the lyrics. Before she performed the song at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2024, the broadcast showed a woman in the audience who was standing on a table and swinging a sword. The woman joined SZA and other dancers with swords for the performance. It centered around a fighting sequence, which featured one man whom SZA threw across the stage and another man whom she pushed to the floor as red fabric fell towards her. The song's performance during the Grand National Tour (2025) was accompanied by footage of praying mantises mating, which ends with the female killing the male and eating his head. == Credits ==

Adapted from Sound on Sound Recording and management • Instruments recorded at Ponzu Studios (Los Angeles) and Carter Lang's home studio • Engineered at Westlake Barn and Studios A and D (Los Angeles, California) • Mixed at Ponzu • Mastered at Becker Mastering (Pasadena, California) Personnel • Solána Rowe (SZA) vocals, songwriting • Rob Bisel songwriting, production, guitars, bass, Mellotron, choir, engineering, mixing • Carter Lang songwriting, production, guitars, bass, drums, choir • Syd Tagle assistant engineering • Robert N. Johnson assistant engineering • Trey Pearce assistant engineering • Dale Becker mastering • Katie Harvey assistant mastering • Noah McCorkle assistant mastering Note ==Charts==

Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==