Still Over It

Summer Walker's debut full-length, <i>Over It</i>, was a critical and commercial success after its release in 2019, with the Atlanta singer-songwriter's jolting, honest lyrics and love of ’90s R&B combining for a potent opening salvo. Its spiritual successor, released two years later, tells the story of what happened in the time since Walker's rise to fame; its chronicles of love, loss and new motherhood draw on her relationship with <i>Over It</i> executive producer London On Da Track and its attendant highs and lows. “Do it your own way and do it beautifully, do it special,” Cardi B instructs Walker on the postscript of the exacting opener, “Bitter”. Throughout <i>Still Over It</i>’s ensuing tracks, Walker—with help from guests like the Miami hip-hop duo City Girls, fellow real-talking singer-songwriters SZA and Ari Lennox, and production gurus The Neptunes—runs with Cardi’s advice, revealing exactly why her music struck a chord with listeners almost instantly. Walker’s feathery voice gives her lyrics added world-weariness, with songs like the spare “You Don’t Know Me”, an acoustic ballad where she takes stock of her long-term relationship’s inherent superficiality, and “Closure”, a trap-snare-framed lament over her inability to shut down a bad-news lover, made even more striking by her blend of conversational delivery and naked vulnerability. <i>Still Over It</i> doesn’t merely wallow, though; “Ex For A Reason” is a cheerfully delivered warning to a former flame who has dared to come back into the picture, its sunny, upbeat music making Walker’s threats sound deadly serious, while “Dat Right There” is a self-assured boast aided by The Neptunes’ 23rd-century roller-rink production. <i>Still Over It</i> finds Summer Walker demonstrating her idea of the best revenge; she might be thinking of her past entanglements now and then, but she’s processing her emotions in her own way—and making art that shows how she refuses to bend to even the most heartrending circumstances.