A Healing Girl Summer: Clear 2 EP: Soft Life
Summer Walker kept us wanting more after her hit album “Still Over It” and is making sure we start this summer introspectively with her “Clear 2 EP: Soft Life”. This EP review will go over some of the songs that stuck out, as well as my concluding thoughts.
Starting off strong with “To Summer from, Jcole (Audio Hug),” we get a dialogue that walks us through a friendship between Jcole and Summer. Jcole shares his good wishes for Summer and her newborn baby and gives her his flowers and how he wrote this verse as an audio hug, as the title implies.
Summer has never been afraid to talk about her personal struggles in her music, and “Hardlife” isn’t any different. The second song on the EP is a soulful heavy track that describes the journey of a single Black mother. This EP is one that speaks directly to Black women who experience this type of hard life that she describes in this song.
Summer is the friend that STAYS going back to the guy that does her wrong. You want to be mad at her, but you can’t because we all know what it's like to entertain someone you shouldn’t. “Pull Up” is a funky Erykah Badu-inspired tune that describes the battle between cutting someone off and continuing to participate in the antics. In the outro, she says she's fed up with his actions, but as he continues to sweet talk she tells him how much she loves him. Summer isn’t perfect, nor does she claim to be.
“New Type” features the one and only Childish Gambino and gives us a male perspective. Summer takes us back to 2017 with “Set Up(2017)”, and we get that same guitar vibe we fell in love with in some of her earlier songs.
“Agayu’s Revelation” is a vulnerable track where Summer talks to us about how she comes out of every relationship smarter, healthier, happier, and thicker. Her spirit guide tells her, “Stop working with people who are made of glass if you are made of steel,” and this is honestly the message I will take from this album. Summer is growing, and in a way, we, as listeners, are growing with her. It’s a great way to end her EP while keeping us wanting more.
“Soft Life” isn't the EP to tune into if you are looking for a summer anthem; however, we get a healed (kinda) version of Summer that has raw emotions and takes us through the ups and downs of heartbreak. She has a way of inviting us into her healing journey. We all know what it's like to go through heartbreak, and Summer lets us know that we aren’t crazy for wanting karma or revenge or even for wanting to keep entertaining them. This album is for all the beautiful Black women who know what it's like to deal with men who aren't worth their time. This album serves as a reminder that healing isn’t linear, and Summer has given us all that we need to enjoy this summer. 7.9/10