In early 2022, Summer Walker’s 2018 song “Karma” experienced a resurgence—albeit with a twist. The popularity of videos featuring pitch-shifted versions of songs had been steadily growing in the early 2020s, with dancers and influencers setting their clips to slowed-down and sped-up takes on old and new tracks. This digital take on playing a 33-RPM disc with a record player set at 45 (or even 78) shows how certain facets of enjoying recorded music—here, figuring out that a song’s appeal isn’t necessarily wedded to its tempo or a vocalist’s range—are constant no matter what format people are enjoying. The creator @whereisreese devised a dance to a speedier rendition of Walker’s tit-for-tat track, and its popularity exploded online throughout 2022, with old fans and new listeners engaging in widespread appreciation for the R&B singer-songwriter. Some intrepid listeners had the idea of soundtracking videos to other sped-up songs from her 2018 mixtape, Last Day of Summer, such as “Shame”, “Deep” and the Drake-assisted remix of “Girls Need Love”. That autumn, Walker took the sped-up trend into her own hands, re-releasing Last Day in fully sped-up form and becoming the first artist to give an entire release that kind of makeover. The vengeful lyrics and divine-retribution idea behind “Karma” get a particular jolt from its new version, with Walker’s pitch-shifted vocals sounding as if they’re emanating from a heaven-appointed agent of chaos. Last Day contained a smattering of tracks that were interlude-length, like the sun-dappled “Baby” and the exacting “BP”; while the sped-up versions are altered just enough to lose a little bit of length, their potency is more concentrated in these briefer forms. The sped-up version of Last Day of Summer is consistent with the rest of Walker’s catalogue, because no matter the pace at which her songs are delivered, her strong compositional skills and unblinking honesty shine brightly.