Planet of the SZA Stans
The language that flows onto the SZA stans social media pages are used as a gateway for SZA stans far and wide to informally express their thoughts and emotions on all SZA related content. Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language explains that, “Your experience of the internet and the language therein is shaped by who you were and who else was around at the time you joined. How much tech-savvy was required to participate in conversations? Were you going online because your friends were already there, or to meet new people...Your answers to these and similar questions have a big effect on what your variety of internet language looks like”. How do SZA stans navigate their online language?
SZA Stan Lingo 101
To a much older audience, the language that we use would most likely confuse them. They would probably have to Google most of what the community discusses in order to gain a proper understanding as to what the heck is even going on. With SZA’s stanbase mainly residing on Twitter and Instagram as a playground for their community, they most definitely favor the use of internet slang as a way of communicating with one another.
Above, @sza_htownteam reposted a reel on Instagram from SZA’s newly released ‘Good Days’ music video. She captioned it “I love it here Good Days out nowwwww! @SZA”. The first pinned and most liked comment, responded to the post-announcement by saying “That thang was thanging miss Lana”. Just in case you’re a bit confused, the stan was hyping SZA up about her twerking skills that she displayed in the music video. By referring to SZA as ‘Miss. Lana’, exposes outsiders to the comfortability of this community. It shows that not only do these stans informally communicate with one another, but they also refer to her informally. Even creating slang towards her birth name, Solana. Their comfortability within their language proves that they not only see each other as a community, but they also see SZA as part of their community. Although they talk about SZA as if they know her personally, they still maintain their SZA stan obsession language.
Sharing is Caring
Their use of shared language is built and maintained through the foundation of unity. The community finds no problems in making their content accessible to all. @sza_htownteam on Instagram reposted a clip of the end of SZA’s ‘Good Days’ music video, where she showed a snippet of her new unreleased song ‘Shirt’. An outsider of the community commented on the post asking, “What song is this please?!!”, in which a stan of the community replies, “it’s not released yet. but you can find it at the end of her good days mv”. The community doesn’t play gatekeeper to SZA and seems more than happy to spread their insider knowledge on all things SZA related. They thrive on extending their community through memes, announcement posts, and fan-edited SZA videos. Sharing is caring in the eyes of these SZA Stans. But don’t mess with their queen!
