My favorite commercial album was Summer Walker’s Over It, and the independent album I played the most was my friend Leonce’s Penetration Testing EP.
I was definitely into Summer Walker before — her Clear EP was really good, but I wasn’t a Summer Walker fan until the album came out. It talks about more subjects that I feel like modern women go through in a really interesting way. She talks more about social media, and dealing with craziness and mania. I also really love that she’s a person who has social anxiety, and instead of just biting the bullet and maybe having bad performances and freaking out about it, she seems to prefer not doing in-person performances. It’s nice to see a female musician take control of that, because I feel like we don’t respect people if they get super famous and they’re not good at performing live. I feel like being a good recording artist is important; some people are just recording artists. My favorite song is “I’ll Kill You” — it’s pretty much just about when your boo’s just, like, not acting right, and you’re just like, “Oh my god, you’re literally pushing me to the edge.” “Potential” is a really good song, because the beat and the melodies are so good, it’s out of control.
Penetration Testing is so good. You can mix it with anything. Say if you’re a DJ in the ‘90s, think of iconic tracks that you can blend with anything — that’s what Leonce’s music is like. He released a bunch of music this year, so I feel like anyone who hasn’t checked out his music should go to his Bandcamp. He’s an independent artist and produces these really crazy beats and does a lot of remixes. He’s DJ music. Like, I’m a producer and DJ as well as a performing artist, and there’s some music that I’m like, I can incorporate this into my set, I can mix something or do transitions with it. I feel like Leonce’s music is great for transitioning in a long-format DJ setting.
Leonce’s music is timeless, but I think Over It is indicative of 2020. Summer Walker’s over it, I’m over it. I’m definitely over 2020 and I’m ready for the next year to come, whatever it may be. I’m honestly tired of hearing the word “2020.”
Summer Walker’s Over It and Leonce’s Penetration Testing are available now, as is Edge Slayer’s Dark Thoughts.
As told to Annie Fell.
