SZA continues to be one of the biggest artists in the world as she’s had a very hot start to start the year. Recently, she also spoke with MuslimGirl.com in a new interview and detailed her experiences growing up Muslim and the challenges she faced for herself personally following the tragic events that took place against the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. At the time, SZA was about 10-years-old. After the attacks on the towers, she began having a fear of wearing her hijab.

SZA detailed how she was nervous to wear her hijab around elementary school and the start of middle school. She was concerned at that point about how much she should cover up following 9/11.

“I stopped covering after Nine-Eleven because I was so scared,” SZA explained. “This was like elementary school, middle school. I regret so much—like, being afraid or caring what people said about me, or in high school feeling like if I didn’t cover all the time that I can’t start covering some of the time.”

Thankfully, SZA was able to overcome this fear and began wearing her hijab again in high school. She did sadly face criticism from others though at the time for how she lived her live as a Muslim woman but she did stand up for herself. 

“And then they were like, ‘What is this? You don’t live your life properly. You’re not really Muslim. Shut up.’ I always let somebody dictate how I was.”

SZA also opened up about how fortunately, she hasn’t faced islamophobia in a long time. She revealed how this is because she doesn’t cover up with her hijab as much as she used to.

“I haven’t been a direct victim of Islamophobia in so long, only because I don’t cover. I’m not being hyper-observant and I think that I want to be able to use whatever privilege to educate them so that they don’t do it to other people because it’s disgusting and really ignorant. I’m not grateful that I’m not receiving so much hate. If anything, I just want to really meet the vacuum to help other people who are experiencing it on an everyday level.”

SZA has a lot of momentum now as well as she released her new “Good Days” single back on Christmas. It has won big since then as it debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and is certified platinum in the United States. It is now close to a 2x platinum certification as well. Almost two weeks ago, she also appeared on Doja Cat’s new “Kiss Me More” single. On Monday, it debuted at No. 7 on the Hot 100.