SZA Opens Up About Autism Diagnosis: ‘I Will Get to the Bottom of It’

SZA has opened up about being formally diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and high-functioning autism. The Grammy-winning singer made the revelation about the medical diagnosis in a post to her burner Instagram account (@notmusicatalliswear) on July 5. 

“Finally took the time n got formally diagnosed .. Asperger’s / high functioning autism / smarter than u n—as so stop playing in my face cause pattern recognition told me and I WILL get to the bottom if it thanks,” she wrote.

SZA attached a medical review of her self-test, which said her behaviors and scores were “quite consistent” with autism spectrum disorder.

“Solana Rowe is a [redacted] woman, who presents with a history, patterning of scores, and behaviors on examination that are quite consistent with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” the review began. “Solana has a qualitative impairment in reciprocal social interaction, as both self-reported and observed by this examiner. Her mother also noted these traits when Solana was a child, although they were not as evident.”

The review added: “Solana also has marked sensory defensiveness. She is sensitive to feel of clothing, sound, taste, and touch. She has developed numerous admirable coping strategies for ‘passing’ when in social situations. This takes an enormous amount of energy for her and leaves her feeling quite anxious.”

The review pointed out SZA was “gifted” in linguistics and claimed she was “experiencing a severe degree of anxiety,” while being “extremely creative.”

“Cognitively, Solana is functioning in the superior range in fluid reasoning. She is also in the gifted range linguistically. She is a quite articulate woman,” the note continued. “She has more inconsistency in her ability to engage in social perception both on standardized tests and based on her self-report.”

“Solana is experiencing a severe degree of anxiety, overall. She is quite aware of this and endorsed this on standardized scales. At the same time, Solana has made remarkable advances in her career and is an extremely creative woman. She has many personal gifts.”

SZA followed up with another comment on the post, connecting her being critical of AI in music with the diagnosis, along with her constant presence in Instagram comments sections.

“Pretty sure this is why I’m taking Ai so personally btw lol,” she wrote. “And also why I’m in every comment section.”

SZA has continued to be vehemently against the use of AI in music. “We make up 13% of the American population yet influence the world w our sound and perspective,” she wrote to her burner IG account in June while slamming AI companies like Suno. “I AINT HEARD A WHITE AI SONG YET…We have no protection in legislature medical or creative. The easiest to steal from. DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR VIBRANIUM !!! DO NOT TRAIN AI W YOUR GENIUS.”

Back in March, she claimed to be “at war” with artificial intelligence in an interview with i-D.

“I feel like I’m at war because of AI. Why am I hearing AI covers of Olivia Dean, when Olivia Dean just came the f–k out? She can’t even collect the streams. I’m also really offended by the type of Black music that’s coming out of AI. Weird, stereotypical struggle music.”

The 36-year-old previously targeted the rise of AI on 2022’s “Ghost in the Machine,” which landed on her 2022 SOS album. The Grammy-winning project topped the Billboard 200 for 13 nonconsecutive weeks.

She sings on the track: “Let’s talk about AI, robot got more heart than I/ Robot got future, I don’t/ Robot got sleep but I don’t power down.”

Billboard has reached out to SZA’s reps for comment.