SZA on Bringing Her Granny to the GRAMMYs: 'She's Never Flown Before' (Exclusive)

Tonight's GRAMMY Awards are full of firsts for SZA -- her first nominations, her first performance on the GRAMMYs stage -- and the songstress brought along some special dates to mark the occasion: Her mom and her grandmother.

Tonight's GRAMMY Awards are full of firsts for SZA -- her first nominations, her first performance on the GRAMMYs stage -- and the songstress brought along some special dates to mark the occasion: Her mom and her grandmother.

"I had to," SZA told ET's Nischelle Turner. "My granny came all the way from St. Louis and she's never flown before."

After a breakout year, SZA was nominated for five GRAMMYs, including Best New Artist, Best R&B Song and Best Urban Contemporary Artist for Ctrl, which she says is "quite bizarre." She is also guaranteed to make every Best Dressed list in a shimmering Versace ensemble.

"Donatella-- Thank you for seeing something in me," she explained on the red carpet. "She custom fit this dress, and I don't even know how I got the honor of wearing Versace couture, but I am grateful." Her favorite thing about the dress? "That it makes me look snatched!"

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for NARAS

Unfortunately, SZA lost Urban Contemporary Album to The Weekend, while Bruno Mars won the R&B categories. But she had another recent win that no one can take from her: Barack Obama included her song, "Broken Clocks," in his best of 2017 playlist as one of the "works that resonated" with him. SZA says her inclusion was "wild."

"I was in Hawaii and I heard that he was also there, and I was like, Is this a sign that I need to stalk him, like, more vehemently? I don't know what this means!" SZA laughed. "I just basically was super-- I was just shook. That's like the only word I can think of, because I wanted so bad to meet him while he was still in the White House and I was like, damn, I haven't done enough! Like, I'm not cool enough to meet him yet, and somehow God still brought him to me. So, I'm grateful."

The GRAMMY Awards air on CBS on Sunday, Jan. 28.

RELATED CONTENT:

Latest News