“If there’s another universe, then make some noise”
“AAAAHHHHHHHHH”
I think that’s how I’ll sing along. For the rest of the set, I’ll proceed to make everyone around me regret getting floor seats. That is to say, I am a huge fan of SZA, and this song had rocked my world the moment I first heard it. Saturn’s xylophone heard throughout the song resembles twinkling stars, and the various instruments swirl together in harmony. Lost in a vast space, SZA leads the listener through, her lucid voice ascending and descending in smooth waves; however, its dreamy instrumentals do not hide the nihilistic themes loaded in the lyrics. SZA’s 2023 single release Saturn captured our hearts with her dreamlike lyrics. Even with the abstract imagery present in the song, she projects human emotions on Saturn’s physical traits and paints a picture of the human experience with chaos and loneliness.Â
The chorus, the most iconic part of the entire song, reads:
I’ll be better on Saturn
None of this matters
Dreaming of Saturn, oh
Lyrics strung upon SZA’s sedative, fawning voice, Saturn is an escapist’s paradise, where its rings hug the lone planet in the cold galaxy. The planet is approximately 826.57 million miles, or 71 light years, away from Earth. Whatever unit of measure one decides to use, it is an unfathomable distance to comprehend, just like its environment. It is enshrouded in hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane, with no physical ground to stand on. Additionally, it experiences temperatures at  -288° F (-178° C). In a literal sense, no one would be better on Saturn, but our fantasy of running away to an alien, inhabitable planet is a testament to the suffocating expectations and tumultuous issues we suffer on Earth.Â
The traumas our physical body experiences can manifest in our mental health. Unconsciously, we enact revenge onto ourselves, engaging in maladaptive habits, like banging your head against the wall or draining your wallet with a shopping spree. The song is laden with astral imagery, but it resonates with the very realistic, not-so proud, human things that we do to ourselves. When we acknowledge that we do bad things that we think feel good to us, the idea of bringing our bodies into unsurvivable habitats doesn’t seem so unorthodox — it is our mind responding to trauma. Moreover, the idea of fixing our issues in a productive, constructive way itself becomes exhausting to think about. Making up with your friend after a bad argument won’t fix your grades, and doing well on a test won’t help you pay rent on time. Our problems become tangled like earphone cords. Pinching and tugging at the cords, you realize it is taking too long, and now, you don’t want to use it anymore. In a similar fashion, our problems entangled in knots makes us not want to deal with the problems at all; it would be easier to admit that it doesn’t and shouldn’t matter. In the end, the knot continues to expand, and it becomes more and more daunting to face the problems.
Survival and rationality becomes secondary, and our desperate attempts to quiet our mind leads us to places that further isolate us. In the end, we dream about a beautiful prison, and this yearning reflects our mind’s desire to self-soothe.The rings surround us, assuring us we are the center of the universe.
Another verse that gives us better insight into the universe SZA sings about is:
There’s got to be more, been here before / Got to break this patternÂ
These two lyrics are separated but are relevant when put together. These lines present an opportunity to explore SZA’s decision to choose the planet Saturn for the song. Although, I will establish our fascination with the planet itself first to understand the lines’ implication on cycles and introduce alternative interpretations of the lyrics.
Saturn’s unique silhouette has made it stand out among its siblings in the solar system. The rings are made of ice, dust, and rock, and are a byproduct of Saturn’s gravitational pull ripping two moons apart. With this, Saturn’s rings have multiple meanings. Perhaps the rings could be seen as companions to the planet, or it could be interpreted as the planet being perpetually tormented by its own devastation. Even in this latter interpretation, the beauty of Saturn still stands, but with a darker twist to our own reflection of the song; there is beauty to our own destruction.Â
Secondly, we can take “there’s got to be more, been here before” as SZA acknowledging that there could be something better beyond this ongoing sequence of chaos; however,, it could also be interpreted as a compulsive need to stay in the cycle in hopes of finding something that makes the cycle of trauma worth it, reminiscent of the saying, “99% of gamblers quit right before they win big.” These two parts elicit the sentiment that these cycles possess strong gravitation that pulls us out of rational thinking, where we should break ourselves out of this dysfunctional pattern. That leads into the next part, where SZA sings:
If there’s a point to being good
Then where’s my reward?
There is nothing good about becoming mindlessly obsessed with these cycles – but, punishing ourselves can be a form of discipline, and similar to how we may put ourselves in cycles for some sort of result, we want to feel validation. Loneliness is a form of validating our own pain, such as how the beauty of Saturn is proof of destruction. What reward we truly want is liberation- which is vague in itself, unfortunately. Although, perhaps its nebulous definition makes us hesitant to embrace release.
This is by far one of my favorite SZA songs, and I find its lyrics profound. There are many ways to interpret the piece, whether people resonate with SZA’s validation of a destructive yet attractive cycle of pain, or the realization that all we want is a brief escape from reality. And maybe its when we get this breath of fresh air that we muster the courage to face life’s challenges! Anyone can enjoy the lyrics’ meaning, showing the spectrum of meanings compacted in this lovely, yet barely three-minute-long, song.Â