Dear listeners,
I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but the end of the summer is approaching. Every year around this time, music fans’ favorite unwinnable debate reaches an apex: What was the song of the summer?
At the risk of breaking even more bad news, I’ll say that for the most part, the Song of the Summer is a fictitious and even pointless construction, generally immeasurable and usually difficult to agree on unanimously. Sure, every so often a single tune becomes so ubiquitous during those sweltering, school’s out months that it rightfully earns the title. Think of Lil Nas X’s chart-dominant “Old Town Road” in 2019; the viral glee of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” in 2012; or, if you can remember that far back, the Bayside Boys remix of Los Del Rio’s “Macarena” in 1996 (Ay!).
But more often than not, the Song of the Summer is up for debate. And given that I believe a true S.o.t.S. must be monocultural and undeniable, most contenders do not truly reach that status.
Around Memorial Day, it did seem like we had a prime candidate: the rising pop star Sabrina Carpenter’s fun, flirty “Espresso.” It had all the makings of a summer smash, including a well-timed release date, a beach-themed music video and several goofy, endlessly quotable lyrics that just begged to be printed on novelty boardwalk T-shirts. Case closed, right?
But as the summer continued, “Espresso” faced some formidable challengers. The Drake-vs.-Kendrick Lamar beef produced a bona fide anthem in “Not Like Us,” by most measures the biggest hit of Lamar’s career. The rise of the Midwest princess Chappell Roan became one of the year’s most captivating narratives, and her wrenching synth-pop single “Good Luck, Babe!” climbed the Hot 100 accordingly. Even Carpenter herself gave “Espresso” a run for its money with its irresistible follow-up single, “Please Please Please,” which achieved a feat that her previous hit did not: It went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
So, which was the Song of the Summer? Today’s playlist contains 8 different and entirely acceptable answers to the question. If I had to pick just one, I’d still go with “Espresso,” but I’d argue this summer contained too many unexpected plot twists for there to be a unanimous winner. Maybe it’s just one of those years where you need a collection of different tunes to tell the full story of the season. So let this playlist be a time capsule that you can return to in subsequent years when you want to conjure up the sound of summer ’24 — or in a couple of months, when the autumn chill makes you long for these endless sunny days.
I know there’s lots of different nuances to you and to me,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Sabrina Carpenter: “Espresso”
Carpenter’s breakout hit is a perfect pop confection with some serious staying power. Approximately 10,000 listens later, against all odds, I am still charmed by the line “that’s that me espresso.”
2. Chappell Roan: “Good Luck, Babe!”
Having just hit its chart peak of No. 2 this week, almost a year after its initial release, Roan’s exuberantly hook-filled album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” is the definition of a sleeper hit, bolstered by word-of-mouth raves and widely shared videos of Roan’s triumphant summer festival performances. The organic build was all the more impressive considering the fact that her biggest single, the spicy kiss-off “Good Luck, Babe!,” is a 2024 stand-alone single that isn’t even on the album. If this song is a harbinger for Roan’s next LP, the future is certainly bright.
3. Shaboozey: “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
If you want to go purely by data, you could argue that the Song of the Summer is whatever hit spends the most weeks of the season at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. By that measure, it would either be this bittersweet foot-stomper from the country-pop upstart Shaboozey …
4. Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen: “I Had Some Help”
… or this ode to friends in low places by a pair of established stars. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and “I Had Some Help” have each spent six weeks atop the Hot 100, though next week’s charts could declare a tiebreaker. Either way, lightly reckless pop-country drinking songs clearly have a hold on the culture.
5. Kendrick Lamar: “Not Like Us”
Though Lamar took quite a few swipes at his rival Drake this year, including his fiery verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” and the scathing diss track “Euphoria,” this DJ Mustard-produced banger was the one that really … ahem … struck a chord.
6. Tommy Richman: “Million Dollar Baby”
Take it from Chappell Roan and Shaboozey: Sometimes the strongest case for a Song of the Summer contender is seemingly-out-of-nowhere success. After listeners were teased with snippets of the intoxicating electro-R&B tune “Million Dollar Baby” on TikTok in April, the single debuted at No. 2 on the Hot 100 — only the sixth time in history that an artist without any prior chart history debuted in the Top 2. “Million Dollar Baby” has hung around the Top 10 all summer, and it holds the record for most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s new TikTok Top 50 chart.
7. Charli XCX: “Apple”
We cannot discuss the music and culture of this year without admitting that, yes, summer 2024 IS brat. Charli XCX’s buzzy, slime-green-hued sixth studio album produced a handful of S.o.t.S. contenders, like the catchphrase generator “360,” the surprising, descriptively named remix “The Girl, So Confusing Version With Lorde,” or the song that soundtracked a million fan edits, “365.” My choice, though, is the deliriously catchy “Apple,” which spawned a TikTok dance craze so omnipresent and so invitingly easy that, I confess, even I know how to do it. That’s saying something.
8. Billie Eilish: “Birds of a Feather”
Finally, here is a song whose success exemplifies how powerful listeners have become in the streaming era: Though the lusty “Lunch” was the official first single from Eilish’s 2024 album “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” this fan favorite has become its defining and most lasting hit, garnering nearly double the Spotify streams of any other track on the album. Plus, its breezy but thoroughly melancholy vibe makes it a fitting soundtrack as we transition from the balmy heat of late summer to the rustling chill of early fall.
The Amplifier Playlist
“8 Correct Answers to the Question, ‘What Was the Song of the Summer?’” track list
Track 1: Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso”
Track 2: Chappell Roan, “Good Luck, Babe!”
Track 3: Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
Track 4: Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help”
Track 5: Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”
Track 6: Tommy Richman, “Million Dollar Baby”
Track 7: Charli XCX, “Apple”
Track 8: Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather”
Bonus Tracks
Speaking of Sabrina Carpenter, her new album “Short n’ Sweet” is finally out today. The latest single “Taste” kicks off our Friday Playlist, which also features fresh tracks from Yaeji, Geordie Greep, Duendita and more. Listen here.
The post 8 Correct Answers to ‘What Was the Song of the Summer?’ appeared first on New York Times.