You Need to Hear These Lael Summer Songs — Trust Us

Last month, as part of Suicide Awareness Month, The Lael Project released a posthumous remix of the late Lael Summer’s dazzling 2013 cover of Hall & Oates’ Do What You Want, Be What You Are, alongside a deeply personal original track titled Make You Whole. It’s hard to overstate how special this release is, not only musically, but emotionally, historically, and spiritually.

Lael Summer, a rising New York soul/pop artist with smoky vocals and an uncanny ability to distill complex, personal feelings into universal lyrics, passed away in 2017 at the age of 24. Her life, marked by incredible talent and painful struggles with depression and an eating disorder, left behind not just two albums (Burden To Bear and Life In Color), but a legacy of empathy and authenticity that continues to ripple outward. One of her core beliefs was simple: “If I can help just one person through my music, then I’ve done my job.” That quiet mission is now being carried forward by The Lael Project, a mental health advocacy and arts initiative founded by her mother, writer and artist Marla Mase.

The remix of Do What You Want, Be What You Are, produced by longtime collaborators Tomás Doncker and James Dellatacoma, feels more than just revived, it feels re-lit. The original track had already made waves when it dropped in 2013, with early buzz from outlets like EarMilk, Big Takeover, and SoulTracks. Lael’s voice wrapped around those lyrics like they were written just for her — full of honesty, strength, and vulnerability. Doncker recalls the moment she chose to cover it, sitting around the kitchen table in her family’s loft in Tribeca, shaping her debut album Burden To Bear and knowing instinctively that this particular song said something she needed to say.

“She could definitely hear herself in the lyrics,” he said. “In many ways, she still is ‘The One To Watch.’” And honestly, we feel that. You don’t listen to Lael — you connect with her.

But if Do What You Want, Be What You Are is Lael’s mission statement, Make You Whole is her heart on a plate. Written for her friend W — a girl she met at age 13 in a residential treatment center in Arizona, the song captures the kind of empathy that doesn’t just acknowledge pain, but tries to shoulder it. W had uncovered memories of sexual abuse while in treatment, which triggered psychosis. Lael, already grappling with her own challenges, witnessed this unraveling up close, and responded the only way she knew how: through music. What started as a letter to W has evolved over the years into something so much bigger. Marla says the song now takes on new meanings every time she hears it, sometimes as an apology, sometimes as a reflection of Lael’s own suffering, but mostly as proof of her deep compassion for anyone carrying shame, trauma, or secret sadness. It’s a song that feels both impossibly specific and deeply universal — a hug in musical form for anyone who’s ever felt broken or unheard.

The release of these songs during Suicide Awareness Month wasn’t just a way to honour Lael’s memory, it was a clear message: we need to keep talking about this. Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death for young people in the U.S. and U.K., and the numbers are more than just stats — they’re lives and stories, they’re Lael. And W. And so many others. The Lael Project doesn’t just want to share Lael’s music, it wants to start conversations, build community, and make sure no one feels like they’re suffering alone. It’s art as activism, music as memory, and healing through honesty.

It’s also heartbreakingly timely. Marla reflected on how, in this current climate — where the voices of survivors, particularly women and girls, are still being questioned, dismissed, or silenced — a song like Make You Whole feels like an anthem. Not just for W, but for every person who’s lived with secrets, with shame, with the weight of not being believed. “We remember, we know, we believe you, we stand with you,” she says. “Together all of our broken pieces make up a very powerful whole.” And that’s the kind of messaging the world needs more of right now.

Because somewhere, maybe even in the quiet comfort of these songs, someone might feel just a little more seen. And maybe that’s enough to keep going.

Do What You Want, Be What You Are / Make You Whole are streaming now.
Learn more at thelaelproject.com

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Written by Angel Joanne Okonkwo