SZA’s “Kill Bill” Lyrics Were Written In Under An Hour

“Kill Bill” By SZA lyrics meaning

“Kill Bill” by SZA recounts a fantasy of killing your ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend after a messy breakup and him moving on. The simple lyrics heavily relate to Bill of Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill and were all written under an hour.

SZA told Glamour about what she felt instinctually when she first wrote the lyrics. “When I first heard that my ex had a new girlfriend, I was like, ‘I can’t believe I wasted all that time with this person. I could kill him for it, and fuck her too.’ That’s just how I felt naturally. I stopped smoking weed and wanted people to know that I’m very clearheaded and not distorted by alcohol, drugs, or anything else—and yet I still feel rage.”

She described how the movie impacted the way she wrote. “In the movie Kill Bill, if you think about the relationship with Bill and how The Bride loved him,” she said. “They were getting married, and he turned on her and became a stranger and a villain. She had to do what she needed to do to free herself for her completion.”

SZA also gushed about her love for the movie and characters. “I love Vivica A. Fox’s character. I love Lucy Liu’s character. I even love Bill because he’s super complex,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “I feel like he doesn’t understand why he did what he did. He’s void of emotion, but he loved The Bride so much that he couldn’t stand her to be with anyone else. That was really complex and cool to me. It’s a love story.”

Lyrically, the song encompasses the time of thinking about killing an ex, what a therapist might suggest, and then actually seeking that revenge where it comes to fruition. The choruses revolve around “I might kill my ex” to “I just killed my ex” and “Rather be in jail, than alone” to “Rather be in hell, than alone”—which completes the cycle entirely of a murderous story arch.

“Kill Bill” by SZA Lyrics

Here are the lyrics to “Kill Bill” by SZA.

I’m still a fan even though I was salty
Hate to see you with some other broad, know you happy
Hate to see you happy if I’m not the one driving
I’m so mature, I’m so mature, I’m so mature
Got me a therapist to tell me there’s other men
I don’t want none, I just want you
If I can’t have you, no one should

I might
I might kill my ex
Not the best idea
His new girlfriend’s next
How’d I get here?
I might kill my ex
I still love him though
Rather be in jail than alone

I get the sense that it’s a lost cause
I get the sense that you might really love her
The text gon’ be evidence, this text is evidence
I tried to ration with you, no murders or crime of passion
But damn, you was out of reach
You was at the farmers market with your perfect peach
Now I’m in amazement, planning home invasion
Now you laying facedown
Got me singing over a beat

I’m so mature, I’m so mature, I’m so mature
Got me a therapist to tell me there’s other men
I don’t want none, I just want you
If I can’t have you, no one will (I might)

I might kill my ex
Not the best idea
His new girlfriend’s next
How’d I get here?
I might kill my ex
I still love him though
Rather be in jail than alone

I did it all for love (love)
I did it all on no drugs (drugs)
I did all of this sober
I did it all for us, oh

I did it all for love (love)
I did all of this on no drugs (drugs)
I did all of this sober
Don’t you know I did it all for us? (I’ll kill your ex tonight)

Oh
I just killed my ex
Not the best idea (idea)
Killed his girlfriend next
How’d I get here?
I just killed my ex
I still love him though (I do)
Rather be in hell than alone

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.”

When did SZA last perform at The Grammys?

SZA last performed at The Grammys in 2018 where she was a best new artist nominee. She sang “Broken Clocks” from her debut album CTRL.

She declined to perform in 2021 despite being the frontrunner for categories.