Two SZA Songs and Optimal Distinctiveness Theory

SZA has been my top artist on Spotify Wrapped for about four years in a row now. I like to joke and say that she got me through the pandemic.

“Normal Girl” and “Special” are two of my favorite songs by her since I like how they’re connected; “Special” serves as the aftermath of “Normal Girl.” As the titles suggest, SZA longs to be a normal girl in the one song, while desiring to be special in the other.

These two songs helped me understand this concept I was learning in a marketing class, optimal distinctiveness theory.

What is Optimal Disctinctiveness Theory?

Optimal distinctiveness theory is the idea that our need for belonging conflicts with our need to be unique. These contradictory needs must be balanced for individuals to maintain a satisfactory sense of self in group settings. There needs to be an equilibrium where individuals are “optimally distinctive.”

A person’s level of optimal distinctiveness is dependent on personal preference, culture, and context. For example, someone’s identity as a business major in a general education class is optimally distinctive. However, among other business majors, they may want to say their specific concentration (i.e. Accounting or Marketing) to be optimally distinctive.

(Brewer, 1991)

In my marketing class, optimal disctinctiveness theory was used to describe the success of luxury brands. Their exclusivity fulfilled consumers’ need to be unique, while also signaling their wealth to fellow luxury brand consumers.

While I’m not a marketing major myself, I thought this was a helpful theory to learn. I’ve always had this feeling of wanting to be unique but not too unique, so it was cathartic to learn there was a whole psychological theory that explained it.

Normal Girl

The part of optimal distinctiveness theory that mentions a need for belonging reminded me of SZA’s song, “Normal Girl” on her Ctrl album (Full lyrics on Genius).

Here, SZA sings about wanting to be someone who can impress her partner’s parents, her own parents, and her partner’s friends, longing for all of their approval. Typically when someone says they want to be normal, it means they want to be accepted by the majority. This coincides with feelings of isolation and being “too unique.”

Towards the end of the song in the bridge, it starts to take on a more hopeful tune. SZA predicts that she’ll have moved on from her partner who she feels pressured to be normal around.

The last line in the bridge suggests that she’s starting to see herself as a “normal girl.” With how subjective the word normal is, the term is almost meaningless. At worst, it’s an incredibly restrictive term that places unrealistic expectations on people. Normal means different things to different people.

Race and Gender Subtext

Love the way I pump my fist or how I bust my hip

This line in the first verse has been analyzed by a user on Genius to be viewed more from a lens of code switching:

“This song is speculated to be about women of color’s struggles with dating outside of their race… I took the lyric… as a reference to code switching but through dance. Meaning having to chose between acceptable ‘white girl dancing’ to be seen as normal” (janaemiathomas on Genius).

While I personally cannot speak on these issues, I thought this person’s perspective was interesting and worth mentioning. A big theme in the song is unfair expectations on women to be “normal”, so I can see how it could be interpreted this way.

For me, this song personally resonated because I often find myself striving to be the most socially acceptable “normal” version of myself, rather than my authentic self. The lyrics about SZA wanting others to be proud of her were especially moving.

Special

While “Normal Girl” represents people’s need to fit in, “Special” explores their need to be an individual (Full lyrics on Genius).

The lyrics from the first verse seem to be about SZA struggling with unrealistic beauty standards on women, the pressure to have perfect skin, and her partner’s lack of appreciation for her.

This verse builds up to the chorus where she sings about her loss of individuality and self-loathing that resulted from being in a relationship with her partner. She misses the person she used to be before they met and desires to once again be ‘special’, which is the opposite of what she wanted in “Normal Girl.”

This song resonates with me as well because of how common it is to want a partner that loves and respects you, while also wanting to be an individual with a life outside of that partner.

Connection to ODT

The relationship between these two songs embodies the conflicting needs in optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT). “Normal Girl” represents the need for acceptance and belonging, while “Special” symbolizes the need for individuality and uniqueness.

In the middle of the spectrum of emotions between these two songs lies optimal distinctiveness where both of these needs are met. A person needs to have a sense of commonality with others, while also feeling unique from them.

This theory and SZA’s songs really struck a chord with me. Everyone deserves someone who accepts them and makes them feel “special.”

Closing Thoughts

Just wanted to put a disclaimer that I am not a professional music critic or psychologist. I just enjoy these songs and thought it was cool to be able to connect them with what I was learning in marketing class. 💡

I know this was different from the usual video game blogs I post, but I love going down different rabbit holes and wanted to start blogging about my other interests. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!