‘I just need some dick” is certainly a direct way to manifest your intentions for the week ahead. That line from Summer Walker’s Girls Need Love, featuring Drake, is heard up to the rafters, almost drowning out the voice of the rising R&B star, who adds trap flair to neo-soul sounds – along with sex-positive one-liners.
Despite their bold themes, Walker’s songs can often bleed together, lacking distinctive hooks that would distinguish her from other R&B stars such as Ella Mai and HER. That hasn’t stopped her debut album, Over It, from breaking records. Just released, it quickly broke a record Beyoncé set with Lemonade, earning the highest ever streams in a week for a female R&B artist.
Tonight Walker, with her hair up to show off face tattoos, is backed by a fantastic bassist and drummer. Ten minutes into the set, gleaming poles appear on the stage on which two women in silver bustiers do jaw-dropping upside-down splits. Walker confesses to being nervous, and her slight stiffness is more pronounced by the spectacle around her. She used to be a stripper herself, and apprehensively approaches the pole to do a few twirls. “Well, I didn’t die!” she says with a laugh afterwards.
Walker has a refreshing gift for comic timing, from the glass of white wine she uses to toast the crowd during the jazzy Wasted to a campily mimed phone call on Drunk Dialing. On the latter, her belting vocals add heart-tugging poignancy to the song, which is more muted live than it is on the album.
Some of the night’s most impassioned singalongs are for Walker’s raw, no-nonsense ballads, like the longing Riot, and Session 32, on which she accompanies herself on guitar. Here she doesn’t waver, affirming her talent and theatrical instincts.
