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Home • Celebrity

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer

We're gearing up for what will undoubtedly be a hot and steamy summer. Besides hitting the road to New Orleans for the 20th anniversary of the ESSENCE Fest, headlined by Prince, Jill Scott and more, we're ready for a season filled with the best tours, albums and movies. From Mr. and Mrs. Carter to Mr. Kevin Hart, here are 15 reasons this season will not disappoint.
By Yolanda Sangweni · Updated October 27, 2020
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01
Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, and Mary J. Blige…

A little bit of 90s R&B nostalgia will go a long way when all three singers take the stage during the 2014 Essence Festival.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
02
Beyonce and Jay Z’s ‘On the Run’ Tour

Mr. and Mrs. Carter take to the road for their historic (if you love pop culture you know this is epic) “On the Run” tour kicking off June 25 in Miami.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Kevin Mazur/ Getty
03
Prince Headlines the ESSENCE Festival

What better way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ESSENCE Festival than with a performance by Prince in New Orleans? His Purple Highness takes the stage on Friday, July 4.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Kevin Mazur/WireImage for NPG Records 2013
04
‘Think Like a Man Too’

The men and women of Think Like a Man return with a pre-wedding romp in Las Vegas in Think Like a Man Too, in theaters June 20. 

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
05
Halle Berry in ‘Extant’

The Oscar winner will play an astronaut who returns to earth after a year-long solo mission in space in the Steven Spielberg-produced sci-fi thriller, Extant, coming to CBS July 9.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
CBS
06
Naturi Naughton and Omari Hardwick in ‘Power’

Naughton and Hardwick play James “Ghost” St. Patrick and Tasha St. Patrick in the the Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson-produced crime drama Power, set to premiere on Starz on June 7. The drama centers around a club owner (Hardwick) who is trying to leave his life as a drug kingpin behind him. His wife Tasha won’t let it.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Starz
07
Jazmine Sullivan Returns

There’s so much to look forward to now that Jazmine Sullivan has returned to music after a three-year hiatus. Now that we’ve overdosed on her latest single, “Dumb,” it’s only right that we’re planning to scream our lungs out when she takes the stage at Essence Festival on July 3.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
08
Maxwell Goes on Tour

Maxwell is set to hit 37 cities on his “Summer Solstice” tour, which kicks off June 14 in Milwaukee. Will he surprise fans with new music to follow up 2009′s BLACKsummer night?

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Earl Gibson III/WireImage
09
Season Two of “Orange Is the New Black”

Do we really need to explain why, starting June 6, the only plans we’ll be having on weekends are with our laptops for binge sessions of season two of Orange Is the New Black?

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Jill Greenberg/ Netflix
10
The James Brown Biopic

The Godfather of Soul gets the big screen treatment this summer with Get On Up (August 1), starring Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, Jil Scott, and Octavia Spencer. The star-studded biopic follows Brown’s rise from from humble beginnings to the big stage, and everywhere in between.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Universal Pictures
11
‘Holler If Ya Hear Me’ Comes to Broadway

The Broadway-bound musical inspired by and set to the music of late rapper, Tupac Shakur opens June 19. It stars poet Saul Williams (center) and a cast of seasoned Broadway actors and newcomers, including Tonya Pinkins, John Jelks, and Motown: The Musical star Saycon Sengbloh.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Slaven Vlasic/ Getty
12
Mariah Carey’s 14th Album

That’s right, fourteenth. Mimi’s new album Me. I Am Mariah … The Elusive Chanteuse (out May 27) delivers all the delicious pop we love.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Getty Images
13
Tessanne Chin’s Debut Album
Tessanne Chin
15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Getty
14
Taraji P. Henson and Idris Elba in ‘No Good Deed’

This summer thriller is about a stay-at-home mom (Henson) who lets a handsome stranger (Elba) into her house when his car runs off the road. Big mistake, because the stranger ends up kidnapping her and her two small children. No Good Deed opens in theaters September 14.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
15
‘Atlanta Exes’

And our summer moment in guilty pleasure comes in the form of VH1’s newest reality show, Atlanta Exes, starring Kevin Hart, Usher and Cee-Lo’s ex wives, Torrei Hart, Tameka Raymond and Christina Johnson. Grab the popcorn, girl.

15 Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Summer
Paras Griffin/ Getty