TDE's Punch Says He Knows 'Exactly When' SZA's Album Is Dropping

The journey to SZA’s much-delayed sophomore album finally looks to have found a light at the end of the tunnel. After an ugly public back-and-forth, Solána and Top Dawg Entertainment president Terrence “Punch” Henderson seem to have come to an agreement on when the anticipated LP will arrive.

Punch sat down with Vulture on Monday (August 8) and provided a vague timeline regarding the project, but noted he and SZA are on the same page as they both know “exactly when” the 2022 album’s slated to drop.

“It’s not really a secret. SZA’s coming very, very soon. We pretty much have the album done…We know exactly when it’s coming out,” he said. “But on the internet, you only get a certain amount of characters. You don’t have time to really go into a full explanation of what’s going on like that when you’re in the moment and tweeting something.”

There seemed to be a clash between SZA and her label last month when she blamed RCA Records and TDE for the album’s delay after promising fans a “SZA summer” in May. 

“it’s 100% punch and rca on this one,” she wrote in an Instagram comment responding to a fan in July. “I wanted the summer. They wanted more time. Atp I’m just tryna have a good time stress free lol.”

SZA says her album delay is Punch (from TDE) and RCA’s doing.

Punch responds with some words of his own.

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/wOaz06pYY2

— FLAVOR WAVES ? (R&B Playlist) (@flavwaves) July 21, 2022

Punch was asked by Vulture about the relationship with the Grammy-winning superstar and he didn’t deny there’s been contention at times.

“Is [SZA] happy? I’d say so. Last album, triple platinum,” Punch replied. “What happens is people put a story into their own narrative and create a situation that’s not really there. I’m not going to say there’s never been contention.

“There’s always contention, especially when you’re dealing with creative. Difference in opinions, it happens, but that doesn’t mean somebody is unhappy or anything. It could’ve been a conversation in the moment.”

On the music side, the Ctrl singer teamed up with fellow TDE artist Doechii for their soothing “Persuasive” collaboration in July.