To hell with being the better person, don’t let it go. If they can’t have you, no one else can. Taking such pettiness to heart, or ripping it out I guess, and inspired by Tarantino and Thurman’s iconic vengeful yellow-tracksuited bride, SZA just released the official music video for ‘Kill Bill’ from her latest album, ‘SOS’.
A track all about killing your ex and their new lover, and disregarding every possible healthy way of getting over it, its music video takes direct inspiration from the 2003 film of the same name and places Solána Imani Rowe, better known as SZA in a red-suited variant of the ‘Bride’ who is hell-bent on taking the life of a once lover who wronged her. It’s bloody, filled with katanas, and ends with her hands gripping her ex’s actual heart. Maybe that’s how we should all move on; a satisfying, albeit definitely unhealthy, and dangerous release of pent-up emotions—no more holding it back for the sake of decency.
The music video. Sharing a plot very similar to the film it draws inspiration from, the four-and-a-half-minute-long music video starts with SZA and her partner inside their trailer home. She is handed a note saying “I wish it didn’t have to be this way, I really do, but sometimes in life we have to protect our own heart, even if it means ripping it out of our chest.” Soon after he departs, gunfire is directed to the trailer with SZA inside—it is revealed that her partner was behind the attack, leaving after they presume her to be dead.
Having survived the betrayal, she resolves to kill her once lover, prompting a brief period of preparation. Soon we cut to SZA in the middle of battle alone against numerous katana-wielding underlings. After dispatching them, she meets her partner turned enemy in a setting fitting that of a video game boss fight. When they cut the distance, face to face, almost teasing a kiss, as if in the forgiveness of past transgressions, SZA is revealed to have fiercely ripped out his heart, clutching it with her own hands, calling back to his farewell note to her. The music video ends with her at her base of operations, naked and tied up, singing ‘Seek & Destroy’ the next song after ‘Kill Bill’ on the album. Will we be getting another music video for it set in the same universe?
The song. Musically, ‘Kill Bill’ is very simple in structure and instrumentation. Atmospheric and groovy, the song mainly consists of an eerie synth, and a basic eighth note playing throughout the track. This is not to say it’s boring, because it’s the exact opposite of it. Such simplicity works well for the track because we’re talking about SZA. Her voice alone makes the song—she doesn’t need overtly complicated instrumentation to take the spotlight away from her. However, I would say that the supporting instruments of ‘Kill Bill’ set the perfect stage for her, not just in terms of not doing too much, but thematically also. Interestingly, a personal observation, the chorus reminds me of a lullaby. I’m not particularly sure if there is an existing one of the same rhythm, but it does sound like she is singing someone to sleep. A song about killing your ex, an eerie synth playing throughout the track, and a chorus that sounds like a lullaby, it’s absolutely perfect—almost like the bride preparing her mark for his eternal slumber.
I’m so mature, I’m so mature
I’m so mature, I got me a therapist to tell me there’s other men
I don’t want none, I just want you
If I can’t have you, no one should, I might
– SZA ‘Kill Bill’
Stills taken from ‘Kill Bill’ music video