Four albums, two Wammie Awards, and a debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. behind her, R&B singer Summer Dennis is just warming up. Her newest mixtape, “The Warmup,” opens a new chapter—one that treats everything so far as prologue, a running start toward what she’s determined to deliver next. Dennis spoke to NYOTA about the highs, the lows, and the in-between: the work behind the work, the lessons that don’t make the headlines, and what listeners can get excited about as she steps into her next era.

For readers discovering you for the first time. Who is Summer Dennis, and what’s the story of how music became your path? You were opening for artists like the Black Eyed Peas while still at WVU, so it seems like you committed early.

I am Summer because my birthday is the first day of summer. There was a solar eclipse on my birthday that occurred on the summer solstice, and that hasn’t happened since. It’s apparently a very rare thing, so I am literally the embodiment of the summer. I am fun, warm, bright like the sun, and I bring a lot of excitement to the stage. Also, I am pro-woman and pro-freedom, and I stand for all women all day, every day. I am a proud Black woman. I am a child of Caribbean immigrants, and my matriarchs are the wildest, fiercest, strongest women you will ever meet, with the biggest laughs and the best jokes. I am them, and I’m excited to introduce you to all of us in all of my Gemini multi-personality glory. I love plants. I adore fine dining. I love traveling to any beach I can find, but I also love to be inside. I also like to dance and party, and I don’t even know how that goes together, but my favorite party is always on stage.

Your new mixtape, The Warmup, just dropped, and you’re about to take it on tour. What does this project represent for you at this stage of your career? Why a “warmup,” and what’s it warming up for?

I called this one The Warmup because I’m just getting started. This is not my first project, but it’s my first mixtape where I decided to do something that was really about me. I have had a lot of people try to tell me how to be myself, and I feel like, as I head into my next birthday, when I plan to be on stage, killing it and living my dream. This time right now is just the warm-up, it might look like I am really about to come into my own and take over right now, but I’m telling you it’s just where I’m at and it doesn’t matter if I’ve been doing this for 20 years professionally I’m still just getting started and I’m happy to have the chance to get started again.

Your sound has been described as soulful and evocative. Who or what is shaping your music right now? Are there artists, experiences, or ideas you keep returning to? 

I have always loved Whitney Houston. My mom played her [music] a lot in the room. A lot of my vocal stylings come from Lauryn Hill. That album came out when I was a child, and it really taught me about the richness and diversity of R&B and hip-hop. I learned so much from Lauryn on that record about life and about myself and Black women and love. My father is a huge funk fan and he was playing Earth, Wind & Fire and George Clinton and all the funk bros in the car for me when I was with him while my mom was playing Natalie Cole, Prince, and Luther and because of those two generations and those two styles along with my classical training, I really am able to sing anything. I also really love Megan Thee Stallion. I love how she came into her own, owned her story, and used it as part of her branding and really rose above her trauma. She and I have similar trauma, and I love the way she’s taking control of her story, and she is telling it no matter what, and that’s what The Warmup is all about. I’ve never really told my story, and I am learning how to do that now.

How does a song typically come together for you? Does it start with a melody, a feeling, a phrase? And when do you know it’s done?

It’s so crazy, songs come together for me when I am sad, in a rage, scared, usually in moments of extreme emotion. I have made a lot of songs about my trauma, and those have helped me get through it, so now it’s hard for me to write in general because the biggest problem I have is that a lot of my trauma has led to a very long writer’s block. When I was younger, songs used to just come to me. I have been struggling with a silence in my music in my mind for years, and it is torture. What has helped me is actually learning to love myself, learning to love who I am, and having confidence in sharing that with everybody. It’s impossible to be an artist today without sharing who you are. People are demanding and craving authenticity, and that has really encouraged me to stop hiding. I am getting better at collaborating in public with people and being spontaneous and flexible, and that is really helping me continue to grow as an artist, just getting warmed up. 

You’ve been building this for years: four albums, two Wammies, a Billboard single, now the Kennedy Center. When you look back, what’s been harder than you expected? Especially the behind-the-scenes stuff, like the bookings, the money, and the business decisions that don’t usually make it to interview talking points.

I think the hardest part of this is that I have done so much to prove to everybody that, as a craftsman, I deserve respect and an audience. Yet, unfortunately, in this age, people aren’t really excited by the idea of professionalism and expertise. People like who they like; there’s no meritocracy. Everything is biased. Humans are biased, so really finding out how to hook an audience and finding out who my audience is, that’s been the hardest because I can sing anything.

What’s been even harder, though, is having to work with men. Their misogyny has made the music industry unbearable and one of the most violent and treacherous industries to be in. And don’t get me started on how AI music is predominantly mimicking Black women vocalists and it’s our Black male leaders in this industry that are creating those AI projects that mimic Black women. I just hold all the Black women in this industry that I look up to in love and light because it really is a disgusting, difficult industry to be in. 

What does success look like to you now, compared to when you were starting out?

Success now, I’m not sure, as that’s still forming. I think for me, I really want to be able to make money off what I do. I have earned investors for my projects, but I’m still in the red, and it would be great to do this and to be able to put food on my table, travel, and have a great life and tour the world. My goal is to be a successful touring artist. I love the stage. I love that live moment. I love the love from the fans. I love the synergy with the band, the dancers, and the backup singers. I just want to live on the road and do that all the time, or have some really dope residencies in really dope cities till the day I die.

What kind of world do you want your music to live in? What do you hope listeners carry with them after a Summer Dennis show or album?

I really want women to listen to my songs and hear stories about themselves that don’t center on the heteroromantic love of a man. I want them to hear my music and hear stories about overcoming in a world that oppresses them. Stories about finding your way and everything being ok or not ok, stories about being enough, stories about self-love, and I want men to hear my music and turn from their misogyny. In a world where men can make songs about abusing women, and it can be a number one hit, I want to make a song about triumphing after an abusive relationship and ruling the world afterwards. I want people to hear my music and ultimately think, ‘Wow, women are amazing.’