Every summer is defined by music. Be it an artist, a genre, or just an aesthetic, the sphere of popular music is dominated every year by one singular sound. Last year, we had Brat summer, and the dirty, grimy world of underground hyperpop infiltrated everything from clothing ads to radio stations. The year before, we experienced the summer of The Eras Tour, where it seemed like everyone was listening to Taylor Swift everywhere you went.
This year, however, as someone who is tuned very heavily into popular music and the community around
it, I truly couldn’t put my finger on a true “song” or “sound” of the summer.
Sure, you may have had a favorite release, just like I did. As far as I’m concerned, however, popular music wasn’t captured by a singular artist due to the sheer amount of music put out this summer, all of which were released by mainstay artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Tyler, The Creator, and many other hard-hitting performers.
There were “songs” of the summer, but nothing harnessed the vibe of the summer in one song.
Some would argue that Sabrina Carpenter held the summer in the palm of her hand with “Manchild”. With its catchy hooks and country influence, it reached a wide audience. Fresh off the first two legs of her Short n’ Sweet tour, Carpenter surprise released “Manchild” on June 5, followed soon after by the announcement of her newest album, “Man’s Best Friend”, released nearly a year after Short n’ Sweet. However, a lot of people didn’t care for the song, which really was a bummer. Of all the songs that came out this summer, I think “Manchild” was one of the few that trended long enough on social media that could contend to be the true song of the summer, but it truly just overstayed its welcome. The song became overplayed by the time the new album came out, and now almost no one talks about it at all. Unfortunately, I think “Manchild” falls just short of winning the title of song of the summer.
An artist who exploded in popularity this summer was Benson Boone, for better or worse. During the buildup of his debut album, his song “Mystical Magical” exploded on social media, but not all the hype was positive.
A lot of people, especially on TikTok, bullied Boone about the quality of his music. His songs have an extremely generic sound to them, and sound as close to an industry plant as you can get. The man even had a Crumbl cookie for a few weeks, which is something that only seasoned and established artists get.
Some people would argue that “Mystical Magical” was the song of the summer, but I would have to harshly disagree. The amount of backlash is simply too much to consider the song a true “song of the summer”.
A lot of people might also point to the surprise drop of Tyler, The Creator’s new EP, Don’t Tap The Glass as the release of the summer. While this was probably my personal favorite release from the past few months, the lack of marketing and surprise nature of the release did not make it stick in the cultural eye for long. Sure, Tyler was on tour at the time, which certainly helped the announcement go viral, but his US leg of his Chromakopia tour ended only a few short nights after the announcement and release of the EP. He only played songs from the EP one night of his tour, which made it hard for fans to resonate with the release from an experience standpoint.
Chappell Roan also had a short moment to step into the spotlight with her newest release this summer. Roan released “The Subway” this summer after nearly a year of playing it live, and I believe that the fact that she had been performing it for so long killed the song’s moment to shine. The hype for the song, at least for the general public, was once again gone in the span of a few weeks other than TikTok trends.
I truly think that everyone had their own song of the summer. Indie fans had songs like “Nettles” by Ethel Cain and “back to friends” by Sombr, metal fans had the new Deftones album, and pop fans had songs from Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Tyler, The Creator, but I don’t think anything truly captured the mainstream in a way that the Eras tour or Brat did. Maybe because of social media, maybe because of streaming, or maybe because of the rise of individuality through all aspects of our daily life, but I feel that moving forward, it is going to be impossible to have one song of the summer. I think those days are long gone, but we can still have our own song of the summer and find those who connect with it. The idea of that being possible reflects the world of music today, and ultimately, the world at large.
