hey uh ive been wanting to do something like this for a while im gonna be analyzing songs (lyrics moslty) uh yeah im gonna start with sza's 'anything' off of her 2017 debut album ctrl

[Intro]
Maybe I should kill my inhibition
Maybe I'll be perfect in a new dimension

imo a paradoxical statement, sza starts off the song that she should rid herself of any insecurity that she might have, while then following up by saying that she will only be perfect in another dimension. the second line still sounds a little hopeful, since a dimension other than our own usually constitutes of the same things found in your current dimension. sza finds in herself what she needs to be "perfect", but not in this dimension. still, she thinks she should kill all her inhibitions, maybe what is stopping her from being perfect in this dimension.

[Pre-Chorus]
Maybe I should pray a little harder
Or work a little smarter

sza carries through the theme of not being perfect and whats stopping her. in the intro her inhibitions were standing in the way of her perfection, now she thinks if she prayed harder god would grant her perfection, or if she worked smarter she would get there. in those 3 lines sza is mostly blaming her actions+sentiments for her lack of perfection (once again, inhibitions shining through) thinking that if she only got better at working/praying she would've gotten there by now.

This time baby promise I have learned my lesson ooh

this isnt the first time sza has wished and voiced her desires for perfection. she refers to the speaker as baby, meaning she is talking to a boyfriend/girlfriend (ik most of the album is about her relationships with men but she has mentioned past relationships with women). imo, sza has tried over and over again to be perfect for her significant other, and she believes that finally she has learnt her lesson, that it is in fact her fault that she isn't perfect. sza is in a one-way relationship, in which she is trying to be "perfect" for the other person, and the other person shoots her down (a recurring theme also found in 'supermodel' and 'drew barrymore'). moreover, through this line we understand that sza isn't trying to accommodate to society's definition of perfection, but her s/o's.

[Chorus]
Down for the ride, down for the ride
You could take me anywhere
Do do do down for the ride, down for the ride
You could take me anywhere
I hope you will, I hope you will, I hope you will

sza is literally ride or die. in this chorus she expresses how she would literally do anything for/with her s/o. "i hope you will" a literal plea. she repeats those lines as a sort of passive aggressive reminder. "you know im down for anything?" she's trying to convince herself that her s/o maybe just can't hear her, doesn't understand that she would be down for anything. for sat essays you learn that repetition is a tell-tale sign of a plea or something that the author/speaker believes to have great importance and that needs to be emphasised. in this chorus, it's both. sza emphasises her devotion, and pleas to be accepted by her s/o.

[Verse]
Keepin' up is hard to do
Even harder feeling heavy, steady chasin' you

keeping up with the s/o and their wants and needs is hard, but what's harder is having to chase that s/o because of your feelings for them, while having to chase the person you're supposedly in a relationship with makes you feel 'heavy feelings' of inadequacy.

Beep beep, why are you lookin' around, you lonely?

the cliche of waiting for your crush to get out of a relationship to finally make your move is one option but uhh i think this is more about them already being together and the s/o is checking out other people. "beep beep" usually a warning sound. are you lonely? feelings inadequacy again, where sza knows her s/o is interested in other people, and believes she isn't good enough, so much so that he's lonely even when he's with her.

I feel you comin' down like honey
Do do you even know I'm alive?
Do do you even know I, I

the first line obviously sounds very sexual, then followed by her asking if they even know she's alive. how could you not know someone is alive yet you're still having sex with them? sza raises the point of her lover literally coming (sweet as honey because of how in love she is) yet still not knowing she's alive, that she's down for the ride. sza feels like she is only a sex object to them, but when she used the term sweet as honey it was obvious that despite knowing she is being used for her body she remains in love and attached, she still wants to see the best in them. the last 2 lines another repetition, this time more desperate than before, "do you even know i'm alive?" a schoolgirl sentiment usually said about older boys you crush on when you're 14, or geek boys who crush on hot cheerleaders. feelings on inadequacy AND juvenile sentiments, sza feels smaller than ever before. moreover, the repetition symbolises importance and a plea, but more importantly when she cuts off her sentence it's very reminiscent imo of someone crying. "d-do you even know i-i?" she stutters as she sobs, the first time sza in this song expresses sadness with her desperation.

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

[Outro]
Do do you even know I'm alive?
Do do you even know I, I
Do do you even know I'm alive?
Do do you even know I, I
Do do you even know I'm alive?
Do do you even know I, I
Do do you even know I'm alive?
Do do you even know I, I
Do do you even know I'm alive?
Do do you even know I, I
Do do you even know I'm alive?
Do do you even know I, I
Do you know I'm alive?
Do you even know?

she asks if the even know she's alive seven times. it's as desperate and as vulnerable as it gets, the song winds down with sza literally opening herself up. it's one sentence but it's heavier than it sounds. sza doesn't feel she's enough to catch the s/o's attention, doesn't believe her efforts to please them are being appreciated and/or validated. with this repetition comes pleas for attention. she closes it off by actually finishing her sentence rather than cutting herself off, "do you even know?", an 'enough is enough' from her part, sza starts finally demanding something for once (even if it is just an answer). the song ends on a good note imo, the beats cuts off immediately right after that line. like music was a soundtrack to her inhibitions, but now she finally managed to kill them.

the beat is very interesting to me, almost like a machine that's broken down and is trying to work again. not to mention its funky and up-beat, just like sza throughout this whole album is trying to brush off her deep insecurities with just groovy beats, just as another fun r&b album, a move that i find deeply vulnerable. in sza's opinion, even your deep insecurities can make a hit pop song.

sza is honestly a genius and i want to analyze her work till i die a soundtrack to insecure women ok thanks for reading!