Maplewood High School honored the singer Monday. Watch video
When you're a pimply-faced teen with braces and no date to the prom, what do you do?
If your Solana Rowe -- otherwise known as SZA -- you take those years of bullying and you don't let it define you. And then you come back to your alma mater as a five-time Grammy nominee and prove it to them.
The R&B sensation, who graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood in 2008, stepped into her old school's spotlights on Monday to be inducted into the school's Hall of Fame.
"All my warm childhood memories are in St. Louis and that's where I always think my heart is," SZA said in a 2013 interview with Billboard Magazine, referencing her hometown until she moved to New Jersey. "But when I think of what shaped me I would definitely say Maplewood over everything. It's such a bubble. It's a small town with tons of secrets but everybody knows you and your parents and your first and last name."
No one forgot her name Monday and she delivered an inspiring -- but honest -- speech, and gave shout-outs to her former dance teacher and others she knew.
"I was bullied in high school. I didn't go to the prom," she said. "I definitely had a whack experience."
Uuuuh I had braces acne n no friends in high school lol [?] [?] [?][?] https://t.co/zjM5mWUvwu
-- SZA (@sza) June 7, 2017
But she urged the exuberant crowd Monday to stay true to themselves and continue to pursue their dreams.
"In high school I thought that failing defined what was going to happen to me," she said. :I got nominated for five Grammys and I didn't win. But I want to tell you something. It's not about not winning..... You have to pay attention to how God is working in your life in tiny, tiny ways. You have to listen closely. It starts with your passion, it starts with trusting yourself."
What happened next could easily be considered magic.
She sang.
Normally a wildly popular singer giving the crowd what they want is not exactly headline news. But SZA shocked her fans this week by tweeting her vocal cords had been "permanently damaged" after a year of constant touring. She canceled a scheduled concert in Camden after the announcement.
N.J. breakout star SZA: 'My voice is permanently injured'
So, singing with students at her former high school -- a singalong of her hit The Weekend -- testing her damaged voice and imperfect memories, seemed to live up to the Hall of Fame billing.
"When I went to this school, things were very different," SZA told the crowd. "We did everything we could to discover who we were."
She was known as Solana Rowe then. Later she changed her name to SZA (pronounced Sizza) and the 'S' stands for savior or sovereign, the 'Z' for zig-zag, and the 'A' for Allah, according to her record label bio.
A school district spokesperson said SZA's mother is still active in the community and returning to Columbia High School had been on the star's bucket list.
"I think it was really inspirational to them hearing that someone had a challenging situation in high school and ended up being the mega superstar that SZA is," said Suzanne Turner, the district's strategic communications director, who also has a 10th-grader at Columbia who attended the event. "I think that it actually gave a lot of hope to a lot of kids."
I wanna do a free show at my old high school before schools out ...how do I get this done? #CHS #mapso
-- SZA (@sza) May 4, 2014
Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips