Summer Walker’s ability to create relatable music and sing about a toxic relationship was on full display throughout all 20 tracks of this album. Focusing on her past relationship with producer London on da Track, she was truly able to write from the heart. What makes this album a bit more confusing though is that a few of the tracks were written or produced by London himself.
Many of the best songs on this album were the ones with no features, where Summer was really able to take control. However, many people can agree that all of the featured artists do make this album even more enjoyable. There were many surprisingly great features. For instance, the Ari Lennox track “Unloyal” was one of my personal favorites. Then, the track “Screwin” was a happy surprise, with such an enjoyable beat switch that transitioning to Omarion. The feature that takes the cake is Lil Durk collaboration “Toxic." When I first saw the track list, I saw this as a confusing pair, yet Durk’s flow matched perfectly with Summer, making it was one of my favorite songs on the album.
The weak spots of this album are a little too painfully obvious. Like I previously mentioned, there were some great featured songs that truly added to this tape. Yet the two tracks “Ex For A Reason” and “Dat Right There” did not need to be on the album, much less released. Pharrel Williams and JT are both talented artists along with Summer herself. Yet, both of these songs felt desperate and like they were made for commercial reasons only. “Ex For A Reason” was the first single to roll out for the LP, and it was met with plenty of bad reviews and upset more than a few fans. When people listen to Summer, they are expecting to be throwing themselves at the wall, crying or contemplating calling an ex. They most likely did not want to feel like going to a 16 and up club, which is unfortunately the vibe that this track gave.
The songs you must check out are “Constant B******t”, “Circus”, “Switch A N***** Out”, and “Toxic”. Apart from the two songs I mentioned above, there are no bad tracks. These are not the only great songs, for instance “4th Baby Mama” will definitely catch your attention too.
Excluding those two monstrosities, the album is filled with songs that are going to be played over and over again till her next album or until SZA steals the spotlight. This album will definitely grow on me and others as time goes on. The largest issues are the uncertainty of pop songs and the fact this album did not need to be 20 songs long. The choice of this was most likely to capture streams, but to some it may make the album feel way longer than it should be. Overall, this has been the premier RnB album of the year already which is saying something. I give this album a 7.5 out of 10.
