SZA treated us to an early Christmas gift on Dec. 20 as the season of giving continues with the release of LANA, the deluxe studio version of her globally acclaimed 2022 album SOS. Ahead of the deluxe album’s release, SZA dropped the music video for her track “Drive,” featuring none other than the Zoolander actor himself Ben Stiller. The video was first teased on Dec. 16 through SZA’s social media accounts, where she also revealed the release date for LANA. In the MV, Stiller goes for a late-night drive, channeling his inner superfan while lip-syncing along to the song’s lyrics. But there’s more than meets the eye, and we definitely need to talk about it. Here’s a breakdown of the meaning behind the “Drive” lyrics and music video.
In the video for the song’s intro, Stiller grows emotional as he belts his lip sync rendition of “Drive.” At first glance, it seems like Stiller is just intensely listening to the song, but he is actually presenting a physical interpretation of the lyrics. In the song’s pre-chorus, SZA sings, “I been up ’til up midnight, drivin’ to nowhere/ Bumpin’ a slow song, can’t get my head clear/ I been up ’til sunrise, headed to nowhere/ Hopin’ that someone’s missin’ me somewhere.” The lyrics emphasize a sense of loss and isolation as SZA. In the case of the music video, Stiller drives aimlessly while battling with his emotions. The idea of driving to nowhere is conveyed in the MV, as we never learn Stiller’s destination while he drives and makes stops on the desolate highway.
The sense of loneliness persists in the song’s chorus, which emphasizes a desire to clear one’s thoughts and work out such overwhelming emotions. SZA sings, “Drivin’, just drivin’/ Just tryin’, just tryna get my head right/ Then I’ll be better when, when I/ When I, just gotta get my head right.”
In the first verse of “Drive,” SZA sings about how nothing can beat the feeling of loneliness once you’ve experienced it. Along with that, she sings about how money can’t buy happiness in the lines, “And it don’t hit the same when you’re all alone/ And the money’s insane, I know/ But it don’t fill the void at all/ And I promised my mom I’d do better/ But they keep trying me so hard/ With all the bullsh*t and f*ck it all.” SZA struggles to meet the expectations she sets for herself, which inevitably leads to a downward spiral. She continues, “I keep prеtendin’ everyonе’s as good as me/ Sh*t’s so weird I cannot speak/ Balled so hard, I think I peaked.” SZA reflects on her self-comparison tendencies, measuring her worth to others around her, and worries that her success has already peaked.
SZA emphasizes how she continues to influence with the following lines. “All my exes still love me/ Call me up, he wanna freak/ All my opps lookin’ distressed/ How you copy then compete?,” she sings. Towards the end of the first verse, SZA talks about those who may be envious or resentful of her accomplishments. She sings, “Oh, you just mad that your n*gga want me/ Oh, you just mad that we went ten weeks/ Oh, you just mad that your ass ain’t free/ Scared to say sh*t so you fake, ki-ki/ Scared to cut a n*gga so I left, ski-ski/ I ain’t scared of sh*t so I swing my meat/ I ain’t scared of sh*t so I let mine go/ All my shit, ’cause I can, I know.” She reflects on how her album SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts and stayed there for ten consecutive weeks.
As the first verse unfolds in the music video, Stiller veers into the opposite lane of the highway, closing his eyes as he becomes overwhelmed by the emotions conveyed in the song’s lyrics.
The second verse of “Drive” has a sudden change in tone. SZA sings, “And I can’t lose my focus, I know if hope is the goal/ Then I can’t succumb to this conquest and lose it all (Nope).” The line expresses SZA’s desire to move past her emotions so that she can focus on her main dreams and ambitions. SZA reflects on not wasting her time on haters and never lowering herself as a result as she continues singing, “And I know that if love is my purpose/ I can’t waste energy lookin’ for enemies, I just dub it all/ I’m anti-beef, half your b*tches be too cheap/ Half a milli when I bling, f*ck I look like, on my knees?”
The next verse emphasizes SZA’s undeniable presence. “You really just mad ’cause I make it look easy/ I’m really this bad, you should see it 3D/ Boy, yeah, this bag you should spend it on me/ All of my time precious, so be,” she sings. Toward the end of the music video, during this verse, viewers witness Stiller shift gears as he exits the highway and instead does donuts on the side of the road, eventually exiting the vehicle and beginning to dance. I believe this reflects Stiller feeling liberated and engaging in his own type of self-expression as he determines his worth independent of what others think, which is reflected throughout the second part of the song.
All I can say is that I will definitely be bumping this track in my car in the same way Stiller did in the unforeseeable future.