Summer Marjani Walker (born April 11, 1996)[1] is an American R&B singer-songwriter.[3] Born and raised in Atlanta, she signed with the local record label Love Renaissance, an imprint of Interscope Records in late 2017. The following year, she released her debut commercial mixtape Last Day of Summer (2018), supported by its lead single, "Girls Need Love." The song became her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and spawned a remix featuring Canadian rapper Drake.[4] Her debut studio album, Over It (2019) was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart—briefly breaking the record for the biggest debut streaming week for a female R&B artist—and receiving triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[5][6][7][8][9]
Her second album, Still Over It (2021) debuted atop the Billboard 200. The album broke the record for most streams in a single day by a female artist on Apple Music[10] and broke her previous record for largest streaming debut-week for a female R&B artist; she also matched Taylor Swift as the only female musical act to have 18 concurrent songs from one album enter the Billboard Hot 100.[11] It spawned the single "Ex for a Reason" (with JT of City Girls), which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, while its follow-up, "No Love" (with SZA and Cardi B), peaked within the top 15 and received platinum certification by the RIAA. Her 2023 single, "Good Good" (with Usher and 21 Savage) also entered the chart's top 40.
Walker was born and raised in Atlanta.[15] From 2016 to 2018, she had a small cleaning business. She taught herself how to play the guitar by watching tutorials on YouTube. Soon after, she began performing covers and posting various videos of herself to both YouTube and Vine.[16]
Career
2018–2019: Career beginnings and Last Day of Summer
Walker was discovered on Vine by a woman of the same name, who works as the studio manager of an Atlanta-based label called Love Renaissance.[16] In 2017, she signed with this label and Interscope Records. On October 19, 2018, Walker released her debut commercial mixtape, titled Last Day of Summer, supported by the lead single, "Girls Need Love".[17] Walker's album contained her thoughts on love, doubt, and womanhood.[18]
Towards the end of 2018, Walker toured with 6lack on the From East Atlanta With Love Tour.[19] Following the success of her mixtape, Apple Music named Walker as its newest Up Next artist in 2019, and she became the number 8 R&B artist worldwide across the platform.[20] On January 25, 2019, Walker released her first EP titled Clear, consisting of four tracks of acoustic recordings.[21] On February 27, she released the remix to her song, "Girls Need Love", with Drake.[22]
2019–2020: Breakthrough and Over It
On August 23, 2019, Walker released "Playing Games" as the first single for her debut album, titled Over It. The song, which contains an interpolation of Destiny's Child's number-one hit "Say My Name", was produced by London on da Track.[23]Over It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 134,000 units in its first week. Its debut week marked the largest streaming week for an R&B album by a female artist, in terms of on-demand audio streams.[24] The album topped the R&B Albums chart for 14 nonconsecutive weeks.[25] Walker supported Over It with her accompanying The First and Last Tour, which kicked off on October 20.[26] Walker canceled 20 out of 29 dates, citing social anxiety.[27] On November 17, Walker won her first Soul Train Music Award for Best New Artist, but later received backlash from fans for her short speech and was accused of faking her social anxiety.[28]
On June 29, Walker announced the release of an EP, titled Life on Earth to be released on July 10. The announcement came a day after she performed "Session 32" and "Come Thru" with Usher at the 2020's BET Awards, where Walker was nominated for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B/Pop Artist.[29]Life on Earth debuted atop the Billboard's Top R&B Albums chart, becoming Walker's second number one. It also debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200 becoming Walker's second top 10 project on the chart.[30]
On November 23, she released a repackaged version of the Over It album, titled Over It (Complete Edition). The repackaged version of the album features all 18 songs from the standard version of the album plus additional instrumentals, a capella versions, live renditions and more. On December 10, Walker's debut song, "Session 32" was certified gold and her collaboration featuring Jhené Aiko, titled "I'll Kill You" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), respectively. On the Billboard 200 year-end chart of 2020, Over It was the second best performing R&B album of the year behind The Weeknd's After Hours and was the seventeenth best performing album overall.[33]
2021-present: Still Over It
On November 5, 2021, Walker released her second album Still Over It which has since broken the record for biggest R&B debut on the US albums chart since Beyoncé's album Lemonade. The album surpassed 166,000 units within the first week of release. On November 29, Walker and Ari Lennox performed the song "Unloyal" together at the 2021 Soul Train Music Awards.
The "No Love" extended remix featuring Cardi B was announced on March 21, 2022. On March 25, it was released along with a music video.[34] In May, Walker was featured on Kendrick Lamar's track "Purple Hearts" from the 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, for which Walker earned her first Grammy Award nomination.[35]
On September 28, 2022, Ciara released the single "Better Thangs", featuring Walker.[36] The official music video, directed by Mia Barnes, premiered online on September 30.[37]
In 2023, Walker was featured on several songs including "Good Good" by Usher, "So Be It" by Alex Vaughn, "Hell n Back" by Bakar, "I Might" by Sexyy Red, and "Prove It" by 21 Savage. She also released her Clear 2: Soft Life EP, which served as a sequel to her 2019 EP, Clear,[38] and rereleased her debut commercial mixtape,
Last Day Of Summer (Sped Up),[39][40] along with four new versions of her song Girls Need Love, titled Girls Need Love (Girls Mix).[41] These updated versions, which included a solo acoustic performance from Walker, also featured artists like Victoria Monet, Tyla, and Tink.
Personal life
Walker has well over 24 tattoos as of 2019,[42] including face tattoos.[16]
In November 2020, Walker announced that she was expecting her first child, with then-boyfriend London on da Track.[43] Her daughter was born on March 22, 2021. Months later, the pair ended their relationship.[44][45] On June 25, 2022, Walker announced on Instagram Live that she was expecting her second child with then-boyfriend rapper Larry A.K.A. Lvrd Pharaoh.[46] She gave birth to twin boys on December 29, 2022.[47][48] She dated BMF co-star and rapper Demetrius Flenory Jr from April to July 2023.[49]
Artistry
Walker has said that she draws inspiration from Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Donell Jones and Erykah Badu.[50] She noted Mary J. Blige as an inspiration for the vulnerability and authenticity she displays in her own music, saying "back when Mary J. Blige and Faith Evans were making R&B, they had real pain and real stories. That's why it was so good." Walker has also cited Lauryn Hill and D'Angelo as inspirations for her to experiment and explore new sounds within the R&B and neo soul genres.[51]
