NEW NOISE: “It’s About Soul” by The Lael Project (Lael Summer)

July 14, 2026

Knowing how someone’s story ends inevitably changes the way we hear their voice. It can add weight to their words that were never written to carry it. Yet reducing Lael Summer‘s “It’s About Soul” to the circumstances of her death would miss what makes the song worth hearing in the first place.

Originally released in 2013 and now reimagined by The Lael Project, “It’s About Soul” carries an easy confidence that Lael herself carried when she was empowering girls to be their strong bad ass selves. With Tomás Doncker and James Dellatacoma’s arrangement, they refuse to let Lael’s voice be overshadowed by the soul funk groove. They allow the warmth, wit, and playful self-assurance to speak about how appearance isn’t important and that what is underneath is.

Lael sings loudly about what most people experience, often quietly and sometimes through the harsh lens of what the media deems acceptable, and that perspective gives the song an importance that extends beyond its melody. Mental health conversations often begin only after tragedy, when they are really needed long before. By celebrating identity, self-worth, and the value of the person beneath the surface, “It’s About Soul” reinforces an idea worth repeating…even when struggles are invisible to everyone else, people are more than the struggles they carry.

Hearing the song now and knowing Lael died by suicide naturally changes the emotion of the song. There are moments where that knowledge catches in the throat. Yet the song isn’t a farewell. It deserves to be heard as evidence of Lael, the humour, the confidence, and the humanity that existed alongside the battles she fought.

“It’s About Soul” is more than a posthumous release because it continues the conversation Lael hoped her music would begin. Sometimes the most meaningful thing a song can do isn’t provide answers but simply reminds us to ask someone how they’re really doing, and to listen when they answer.