After meeting members of Top Dawg Entertainment during the CMJ 2011, a friend attending the show with her foisted early SZA songs onto TDE president Terrence "Punch" Henderson, who liked the material and stayed in touch. Two years later, in June 2013, Top Dawg Entertainment announced they were planning to sign two more artists. On July 14, it was revealed Top Dawg had signed an upcoming female singer named SZA to the label; through this deal, SZA released Z (2014). Following the release of Z, SZA began working on her debut album and writing for other artists including Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj, and Anti's opening track "Consideration" for Rihanna, which she featured on. The debut album faced various setbacks, initially promised at the end of 2015, then at the start of 2016. In October 2016, she criticized her label for the delays and stated she would be quitting.

SZA revealed that her debut would be similar to S (2013) and would include trap influences with more aggressive lyrics, she also announced that she began working with James Fauntleroy, Hit-Boy, and long time collaborator Felix Snow. Speaking on the conception of the album, SZA stated that she had spent four years just doing music: "I've been burying friends, burying family members, burying weight, the way I feel about myself, the way I feel about God, the way I process information." The album was also inspired by SZA's view of control in her life. Speaking on this she stated "Ctrl is a concept. I've lacked control my whole life and I think I've craved it my whole life."

The album's sessions began in 2014 and took place at the TDE Red Room in Carson, California. The album's recording process was described as being analog and featured the unplugging and re-plugging of wires in order to create the desired sound. During the album's studio sessions, SZA and the album's producers would go into the studio, and filter through the recorded songs and beats to decide if the songs were good or worth experimenting with in order to make better. SZA would search songs that were in the top forty charts during various years including the 1940s and 1980s, she would then listen to their style, beats and synths to gain some inspiration. Throughout the album's recording process, record producer Rick Rubin helped SZA's creative process. "I had this mentality that 'more is more' -- more reverb, more background [vocals]," stating "I played him a bunch of songs, and he would tell me, 'The more you take away from any piece, the more room you create for everything else to be beautiful and grow.' I never felt that before, the editing urge. Once you strip everything down, you're forced to say something."

In 2015, SZA was introduced to Carter Lang by Peter Cottontale in Chicago. After performing together at Lollapalooza that same year, SZA and Lang along with producer Tyron "Scum" Donaldson began to develop a rapport on the road to creating her debut album. The three held studio sessions across the country from Los Angeles to Chicago and even setting up shop in Carter's Michigan home in 2016, where they constructed the Travis Scott-assisted "Love Galore" in Lang's mom's office using studio equipment he brought there. Lang, Tyran Donaldson, ThankGod4Cody and other producers would challenge each other and send each other different music to work on. SZA would then listen the music and want to create from that. During the producers' competition of who could create the better song, they collectively created "Broken Clocks". "Drew Barrymore" was conceived at Lang's studio in Chicago in 2016. Lang ended up notching production credits on eight tracks from the album.

SZA contributed heavily to the album's lyrics, co-writing all fourteen tracks. SZA would freestyle the songs in a hope to "let the moments happen in the studio." Initially she tried to record phone notes and write down ideas in journals in order to help her write. SZA's record label TDE confiscated her hard drive during the album's recording, because SZA could not decide on the songs she wanted on the finished album, from the 150 – 200 she recorded. She also detailed how her anxiety issues affected her songwriting process: "I freestyle everything, all the way down. And I listen back and think, what’s shitty? And if something’s too shitty and I can’t put my finger on it, and I think, wow this sucks to me, then I get way frustrated, and usually s…

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Ctrl is primarily an alternative R&B and neo soul album, with elements of hip hop, pop, soul, electronic, and indie. Originally scheduled for release in late 2015, it was delayed by SZA's experience of "a kind of blinding paralysis brought on by anxiety." She reworked the album until her record company took away her hard drive in the spring of 2017. The album tests the borders of traditional R&B, drawing influences from trap and indie rock. The album contains a precise sonic methodology, with a fluent production, containing influences from pop, hip-hop and electronic genres. These influences were compared to a mixture of different artists' work, including Sade, Lauryn Hill, Purity Ring, Yuki, Björk, Arca and Billie Holiday. The production was characterised as predominantly hip-hop-influenced with hints of soul and pop. The album has a confessional theme, which touch upon SZA's personal experiences of love. The album's lyrical content was seen as being "frank" and was noted as an insight into the complexities of modern love; of how desire, competition, jealousy, sexual politics, social media and low self-esteem can derail a relationship. Claire Lobenfeld of Pitchfork described the album's lyrics as being "honest" and "often comically blunt". SZA's vocals were noted for containing echoes that were achieved by turning down the reverb; this was done to give the album an "intimate, confessional tone".

The album opens with "Supermodel", which is built over an electric guitar riff, and reads as an "exposed diary entry" that lyrically talks about relationship betrayal and fallout. The song talks about SZA's ex-partner who left her on Valentine's Day. Speaking about "Love Galore", which features Travis Scott, SZA touched on working with him: "I think he merges that super-fine line between melody and syncopation and pocket. And I love his pockets, and I love his note choice. He's just gnarly. He's perfect." "Doves in the Wind" features rapper Kendrick Lamar and is built over a "woozy" production. The song's themes revolves around sexual freedom, yet still having a hunger for intimacy. "Doves in the Wind" makes a reference to Forrest Gump, describing the character as the kind of man who sees women as more than sexual objects. "Drew Barrymore" is a "sluggish" R&B song with introspective lyrics, whilst "Prom" is a pop song, that was noted for being built over muted guitars which were compared to those of the Police, whilst the lyrics discuss teen angst. "The Weekend" features writing from Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, and Danja, who were credited as the song samples "Set the Mood (Prelude)/Until the End of Time" from the 2006 album FutureSex/LoveSounds. "The Weekend" is an R&B and neo soul track. Although some publications call the song's narrator a "side chick", SZA sings from the perspective of a woman who only sees her partner on the weekend, while other girls have him during the week. "Go Gina" is a reference to Tisha Campbell's role of Gina on the '90s sitcom Martin. Lyrically, the song reflects on an environment that dislikes determined women, the song goes on to discuss how people try to simplify her problems in a self-serving way. "Broken Clocks" enfolds SZA amid blurry keyboard tones and a watery sample of men's voices as she ponders memories of an old romance that still haunts her." Joshua Espinoza of Complex regarded the song as "a mid-tempo cut about optimism and perseverance".