SZA Says Katt Williams Told Her She Was “A Lil Off” On the Set of Her Debut Movie: “He Told Me I Was Mentally Ill…Like As A Compliment”

Singer-songwriter SZA gets real in one of the more surprising-and hilariously-funny moments from the set of her first film, in the new issue of Harper’s Bazaar. The R&B performer-who’s made her name, and reputation, on being tender and emotive in her songwriting-spoke to the magazine about her anxieties over her first foray into acting-and one unforgettable exchange she had with comedian Katt Williams.

“I was super nervous about the film, and, honestly, I had already prepared myself in my head that I wasn’t going to go to the premiere,” SZA confessed. The same anxiety, as the singer, famous for her number one album SOS, described, got the better of her while shooting. Then she met Katt Williams, whose quirky take on her jitters stuck.

“He told me I was mentally ill, like, as a compliment,” SZA laughed. “He was like, ‘Sa, I believe you might have some mental-‘ And I just finished for him, like, ‘Illness?’ And he goes, ‘You’re welcome.'”

The phrasing was unusual, but SZA took the exchange with aplomb-the words were, she knew, Williams’ way of acknowledging her creativity and emotional depth. “I think it was his way of saying, ‘You’re special,'” she reflected.

SZA’s nervousness and, more specifically, her experience with Williams might have caught her off guard at first, but they also appear to be emblematic of her artistically distinctive point of view. Indeed, the more SZA expands her artistic cache from music to acting, the more embracing one’s individuality-even if it’s a little “off”-could be what makes SZA’s debut performance pop.

But while the movie premiere was a source of angst, SZA’s self-deprecating humor and Katt Williams’ weird yet somehow reassuring assurance proved she was happy to laugh with the fickle nature of the creative process. Album or on screen, SZA does continue to enthrall with an obvious air of authenticity.