Editor’s Note: On November 5, R&B superstar Summer Walker released her second full-length studio album “Still Over It”, putting all her drama into brand new catchy tracks. This album serves as both an exceptional body of work from the 25-year-old and one of the better albums to have been released this year thus far.
Summer Walker emerged to the public eye when rap/pop star Drake – yes, pop – hopped on a verse for her track “Girls Need Love” back in 2019. Her spectacular debut album “Over It” was released shortly thereafter and took the nation by storm, remaining on the Billboard 200 since its release and becoming one of the most streamed albums from a female R&B artist on both Spotify and Apple Music.
Summer Walker is truly a self made artist that writes and produces all her music and has seriously garnered a significant amount of success since her emergence, which further laments the anticipation for her new album that was just released in November.
When it comes to juicy drama, we have seen that Summer Walker is one of the public figures today that shines bright in bringing us such drama. You don’t even need to be following The Shade Room to know what has been going on with this upcoming Princess of R&B to know that she has been going through it for the past few months.
First, she was on the verge of being canceled for saying a slew of problematic things, both on Twitter and Instagram, things that bordered being extremely xenophobic, anti-vax, and, apparently, hygenie-nophobic for her stance that showers are unhealthy.
Yet, the biggest drama that had erupted from the Atlanta born artist was becoming the “4th Baby Mama” for the esteemed producer London on da Track. A lot of drama came from this, which led to the conception of this exceptional album from Walker that deserves to be listened to. The fire of her personal life forced her to put pen to paper and put it all in her music, which was what New York rapper Cardi B encouraged her to do during her monologue on the intro track “Bitter” from “Still Over It.”
“Bitter” opened this album where she aired out her dirty laundry, specifically by calling out the women that have messed with her man. She seemingly stood next to her man and against the women in his life that are ‘just looking for attention’. Leaving the world with a simple warning, “You better stop playing with me.” And Walker means it.
This track was a perfect album opener; she not only introduced who/what this album is going to be about (London On da Track), but also let us know that her sound has matured. She is still that contemporary R&B artist she showed us with her debut, but now more hip-hop and even more fed up than before. She seriously lets us have it all through her music.
“Ex For A Reason” was a radio friendly playful hit that featured City Girl’s JT, still calling out problematic women that try to get in the way of a “stable” relationship, but a personal highlight had to be the track with SZA: “No Love”. Finally, a song with these two!
“No Love” was an exceptional collaboration between the two that placed unbridled desire and immediate gratification before logical thinking, but with an unforgettable production that forced the song to linger with you.
“Throw It Away” featured a more laid back sound, but featured Walker delivering smoothly flawless vocals and content-heavy lyrics. She is beyond disappointed that her man, after all they have done for one another, is choosing to simply let it all go to waste. One cannot help but to also be mad at him and mad at how she has been mistreated and obviously disregarded. This is honestly one of my personal favorites.
The album then led into an impeccable three track streak with “Circus”, “Insane”, and my favorite, “Constant Bullshit”. The songs are great standouts from the album that showed us how talented of a singer Walker is in regards to her vocal ability, especially in “Insane”. She is once more mad at her man and obviously ready to throw hands, repeating: “Why you wanna play so bad?”
“Constant Bullshit” is the song with the most potential of being regarded as her best. There is no definite flaw in this song and featured Walker at her most vulnerable, almost hating herself for what went wrong and simply asking him if he truly meant being with her.
“I would ride for you, I will (I will) / Even them times you ain’t do me right, I was right here / Showin’ you what the word bein’ loyal is / But we would always end up fightin’ (fightin’) / But the truth is I was only tryin’ to make it right (right) / Even though I might’ve been wrong / In the way that I (I) didn’t keep it private.”
A song that I anticipated was the Ari Lennox feature on “Unloyal”. This jazz-infused track featured the two accepting defeat in the relationship and letting their men go. The women would much rather be unloyal than have to deal with their shit another day. Now that is heavy. These two do it with so much conceited swagger and showed us what it means to be vocally versatile.
“You think I’m just gon’ stand on by / And watch you waste my time? / Boy, I am too damn fine, baby.”
Another soft radio friendly hit featured Pharrell Williams with “Dat Right There” that consists of another annoyingly good melody that will also linger, especially when she sang, “It’s the smoke they know I’m with (That I’m with) / When I hit that switch / Never know when it’s all gon’ click (Gon’ click) / When it’s all gon’ click (Click)”
The album finished with one of the most memorable diss tracks of all time with “4th Baby Mama” where she called out everyone, starting with London on da Track’s mother. She reprimanded his mother for raising a man like London and quickly goes into him, almost shouting, “How could you let me spend my whole fucking pregnancy alone?”
She came on this track with absolutely no holds barred. I mean why would she? It is one of the more mellow tracks on the album, but the heaviest one with the most juicy content. One cannot help but be strictly Team Summer Walker after listening to this song. In fact, this whole album may make you hate London on da Track; maybe even his mother too.
Now, the album does seem to get a bit repetitive, but the production of each track had their own individuality that showed Summer Walker as a talented singer, but also a very personal songwriter. Once more, she put everything in her music: her frustrations, her toxicity, but most of all her passion. She is never afraid to sing about every detail of her inner being, and that is something worth highlighting. It is no surprise that this album debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 and no surprise that she broke streaming records. This is an album worth listening to over and over again, because many of us can find ourselves in her music. Many of us may be frustrated over someone, or spiteful, or ready to fight, or simply just so fucking over it.
Summer Walker’s “Still Over It” is available on Spotify and Apple Music.
