Songfacts®:

• After SZA released in 2017 her debut album, CTRL, to universal acclaim from music critics, there was a huge anticipation for its followup. By May 2019, the California songstress was talking about her plans for her sophomore set, but 12 months later we still heard no fresh solo songs from her.
  
  Replying to a fan on Twitter in August 2020, SZA accused her Top Dawg Entertainment label owner Punch of purposely delaying the release of her new music. Less than a month later, she surprise-released this introspective ode to lovers, her first solo single since the CTRL track "Garden (Say It Like Dat)."
  
  SZA's only songs between CTRL and this single had been collaborations with The Weeknd and Travis Scott ("Power is Power"), DJ Khaled ("Just Us") and Justin Timberlake ("The Other Side").
• The song features Ty Dolla Sign on the hook and was recorded at DJ Khaled's house. Lyrically, it finds SZA lamenting a relationship where the object of her affections has become a distressing force in her life, yet the tumultuous nature of their affair has only increased her feelings for the man.
  
  I was into you from the beginning even if you wasn't mine
  Scared to admit my shortcomings led to overdraft in this affair, declining
  Quicker than we started, evidence we misaligned
  Man, I get more in love with you each argument
  
  Speaking to Apple Music about "Hit Different," SZA said, "I was swimming in my brain about what I wanted to say first, what I wanted to bring energy wise first and I just really - I just stopped trying to like overthink and I just wanted to give people something just to vibe because I have so much stuff that I'm just done holding onto."
• SZA wrote the song with Ty Dolla Sign, Tyler, The Creator and Harry Styles engineer Rob Biesel. The Neptunes supplied the bass-heavy beat.
• SZA directed the song's music video, marking her directorial debut. The clip sees her dancing in a junkyard (where Ty also appears), a stable, an empty field, atop a stack of hay bales, and in the back of a pickup trick.