How did SZA make "Kill Bill?"
“Kill Bill” was written by SZA, Carter Lang, and Rob Bisel—with the latter two producing the song.
In Variety’s Hitmakers series, Lang, a longtime collaborator of SZA and Bisel recounted how they made the song in a short period of time. “One day, Rob came over and played me a chord progression he recorded on his synth at home — it was blissfully hypnotic and I was instantly inspired,” Lang told the publication. “He left me with it, and I initially went with a 16th note hi-hat feel, bouncey kicks and tight 808 snares, but it needed a fresher approach. I started importing some of my favorite sounds from vintage drum machines — the new pattern had a slightly more swing feel, and I started shifting the entire rhythm. I cued up the drum kit and put down a complimenting rhythm, then came an electric bass, then guitar tones. Then I found a section to pitch the music down an octave, and made the drums twice as slow. The original beat was comprised of those two sections and called ‘Igloo.’”
The duo presented SZA many demos to work out of, but Bisel found the one when she sang the famous chorus. “And then she sang, ‘I just killed my ex’ and the whole hook from that point on. Her lyric and melody was written from top to bottom in no more than an hour, right there on the spot. And the finished record is pretty much the vocals from the one or two takes we did that night. It just kind of fell out of the sky, and I remember driving home that night thinking, ‘Wow, this is without a doubt the best song I’ve ever been a part of,’ and I was listening to it on repeat the whole next day.”
Ironically, SZA didn’t like the verses when she first came up with them. “I hated it,” she clarified, “Well, I didn’t hate it. But I was like, ‘Can I say this? Is it silly?’ Rob was like, ‘You have to say it!’ So I sent it to my homegirl, and she was like, ‘I don’t know. I think you should maybe say something to clarify.’ I was really scared that people would harm each other, ’cause some people are fucking strange. But it was a joke.”
ncG1vNJzZmirpK65pq%2FArKueql6YvK57y6KqratfqMeiecqio6Vlkp65rXs%3D