SZA has shared a new cover of Goo Goo Dolls’ classic song “Iris” on her Instagram.
“Iris” has often made the rounds of virality, and SZA’s cover arrives as part of a recent social media trend soundtracked by the song; creators will assemble a collage of photos of themselves in the ’90s with a caption like, “What were you like in the ’90s?” (Courtney Cox recently did one with multiple Friends-era photos, for example). SZA has now participated in the trend, but she’s done so with her own cover of “Iris”; she originally posted her rendition of the track and trend onto her private Instagram, but eventually opted to post a separate 1-minute cover to her main account.
“Trend had me so cooked I couldn’t stop singing it so I made my own deep fried goo goo doll tease 😭,” SZA wrote, with Goo Goo Dolls’ official account commenting three red heart emojis on the post in support. Her version certainly takes a different sonic route than the original but retains the same air of sweetness and vulnerability; trap drums bounce and blast against the speakers with a lo-fi twist, dreamy synths echo in the background, and SZA aches across the track, fully making it her own. Watch her trend video along with a longer version of her “Iris” cover below.
Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” has only grown more beloved since its 1998 release. In 2022, “Iris” surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, and in 2025, the song was confirmed to be the most streamed song from the entire decade of the 1990s. Goo Goo Dolls also performed the song during their recent Tiny Desk Concert debut. The band will be bringing “Iris” and their other classic ’90s tunes on tour this summer. Get tickets to see Goo Goo Dolls here.
As for SZA, she rang in 2026 with a new song, “Save the Day,” recorded for the recent Pixar film Hoppers. She also won Record of the Year with Kendrick Lamar for their collaborative track “Luther” at the 2026 Grammys.
