Her follow-up, 2019’s ‘Over It’, was the body of work that took Summer Walker from budding prospect to breakout star, debuting at Number Two on the Billboard Charts. Walker’s mixtape also featured songs that, over sombre, ’00s-esque guitar melodies, highlighted the emotional spectrum of love: good, bad, happy and all the messy parts in the middle. Such honesty is Walker’s USP, and one of the key reasons for her success. Walker’s 2018 mixtape ‘Last Day of Summer’ housed her breakthrough track ‘Girls Need Love’, where she sang bluntly about her romantic emotions and candidly vents about love from the average girl’s point of view. When “someone hit me up and said, ‘Do you want to get signed?’”, she said, ‘Sure’ – not quite anticipating that, in a matter of months, she would become the leading lady in the modern-day R&B scene. But Walker wasn’t exactly dreaming of achieving fame through her music – she simply saw her talent as a quick way to make money. It was her medley of songs by Drake, Rae Sremmurd and more – the type of artists she’d one day topple in the charts – that eventually came to the attention of the alternative-favouring record label Love Renaissance, home to alt-R&B star 6lack. “I have to be extremely independent every day in my life” She was also uploading videos of herself singing on Instagram and YouTube, showing off her vocal chops both for her own satisfaction and to hopefully follow in the footsteps of stars like Justin Bieber, Madison Beer, Shawn Mendes and more who struck gold after uploading covers to the internet. Five years ago, Walker was operating her own cleaning company and working in one of Atlanta’s strip clubs. Her desire for organisation and time-planning no doubt comes from the mindset she developed when she was working several jobs before fame came along. On Tuesday, I got this’, and it’s always like that.”Įven the fact that NME wants to talk to her for a cover feature – Walker grants few interviews – perplexes her somewhat: “There is no routine, you know? Like, right now, somebody called to do this interview, and then I just hopped on the phone.” I wish that I could just wake up and be like, ‘Monday, I get this. “I can’t even have a schedule if I wanted to.
It does mean, however, that an average day in Summer Walker’s life is hard to determine, even for her. Walker now explains that while last year’s lockdown was “a lot”, it mostly provided a much-needed break, and, besides, she likes the fact that she “can work from home now”. She’s spoken before about her social anxiety, but also about her privacy, which is something she wants to defend fiercely. When we speak via Zoom from her Atlanta home, Walker opts to keep her camera off for the chat. “Walker has a song here for every feeling following a crushing break-up, from confusion to anger to outright pettiness – and it’s the kind of unwavering quality that we all love her for.” “A certain darkness has descended on the once-pink fluffiness that memorably featured on ‘Over It’ album cover, instead displaying a whirlwind of emotions,” NME said in a five-star review.
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‘Still Over It’ is darker than her last record, full of break-up anthems which detail Walker’s inner monologue and the pitfall of relationship breakdowns. This success shouldn’t be seen as an introduction to a new R&B powerhouse – that’s been known for some time – but it could be the start of something even bigger. Walker’s first-week album sales even outstripped those of Ed Sheeran’s recent album ‘=’. A week later, she’ll land at Number One on the Billboard 200 Chart, impressively holding off the strong challenge of ABBA’s comeback album ‘Voyage’ and registering the first chart-topping R&B LP by a woman in the US since Solange’s ‘A Seat At The Table’ in 2016. When NME speaks to Walker the day after the release of her second album ‘Still Over It’, it feels like a considerable sea change is approaching. They’re the qualities that her listeners most identify with and indicate a level of staying power for decades to come, should she desire it. Beyond the beats and the killer vocals, there’s something in the way that the Atlanta star carries herself through each day and every line she sings there’s love and tenderness, but also pain and honesty. There are few artists who embody the spirit of R&B as much as Summer Walker.