“Kill Bill” by SZA

This track is of course named after Kill Bill, a two-part movie series starring Uma Thurman that came out around the turn of the century. Said flicks are actually classified as martial-arts’ films. On top of that they were directed by Quentin Tarantino, meaning that the imagery therein gets quite bloody. 

So that’s likely what most viewers remember when you mention Kill Bill, such as its female protagonists, armed only with a sword, single-handedly and graphically taking out a large gang of killers in the first installment.

That said, the character who SZA was most intrigued by was “Bill” himself, i.e. the main antagonist. And the reason she found him fascinating is because, as evil as Bill was, ultimately his troubled relationship with the antagonist, as interpreted by SZA, revolved around his inability to picture her, his ex, with someone else. And that is exactly the type of sentiment we find the vocalist expressing towards the addressee in the first verse of this song.

So in the movie (spoiler alert) it is actually Uma Thurman’s character who succeeds in killing her ex, Bill. But it would seem that in the song’s lyrics, SZA is adopting the disposition of Bill himself. In other words, it was Bill who murdered his ex’s new lover and also tried to kill her in the process. And in the song, we find Sza likewise fantasizing about soberly ‘killing her ex’ as well as “his new girlfriend”.

I don’t care about the consequences

The vocalist understands that doing so would likely land her in jail or even, as expressed in the final chorus, “in hell”. But the way SZA sees it, the addressee is the only one for her. Or as the vocalist puts it, she cannot be with anyone but him, so if he moves on without her then she would be relegated to a life of singlehood or more specifically loneliness. She would rather face imprisonment or, as read, hell itself as opposed to being relegated to such a state.

Of course there are logical inconsistencies in taking that stance, as in if the vocalist were to murder her estranged beloved, then she would be permanently forced to live without him nonetheless. So perhaps more to the point, as inferred, would be her inability to accept him being with someone else.

This is the type of piece that is commonly referred to as a revenge fantasy. Or put otherwise, given the fact that her significant other has apparently already found a new love and subsequently left the vocalist an emotional wreck, the only thing she can really do in response is daydream about somehow paying him back.

Release Date of “Kill Bill”

“Kill Bill” is one of the tracks that RCA and Top Dawg put out on 9 December 2022 as part of SZA’s second LP, “SOS”. 

Early the following month, it was also made available online as a single. This was after the song proceeded to blow up, such as topping the Billboard Global 200, a chart that ranks the digital success of tracks. 

Even More Success

The positive-public reception of this song resulted in SZA likewise reaching the summit of Billboard’s US Streaming Songs list for the first time.

“Kill Bill” also enjoyed standard chart success. It made it to the apex of the UK Hip Hop/R&B Chart. Furthermore, it hit number one in New Zealand. It also managed to replicate this feat in, quite interestingly, a handful of Asian countries, including Malaysia and Singapore. 

The track was also a top-5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart proper.

Credits for “Kill Bill”

Christian Breslauer, an up-and-coming cinematographer, directed this track’s music video. This video itself relies heavily on the motif of the Kill Bill movie franchise. And SZA teased the forthcoming of the clip late in December of 2022.

SZA wrote this song with Carter Lang, a musician who worked on her first studio album, “CTRL”, as well as Rob Bisel. Both Lang and Bisel also produced “Kill Bill”.