In recent years, there has not so much been a clear-cut song of the summer—in the traditional "Umbrella" or "Call Me Maybe" sense—as there has been a tier of songs that one could make strong arguments for. Perhaps, as streaming culture has taken over and it's become easier and easier for listeners to carve out their own personalized playlists week by week, it's more challenging for any given song to break out of the pack and establish itself as the one reigning, culturally dominant tune.
That said, last summer, the Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber remix of "Despacito" was certainly ubiquitous, seemingly playing on every sidewalk and beach and in every bar. There were other popular songs, though ("Wild Thoughts," "Bodak Yellow"); and if you asked someone this week what last year's song of the summer was, they'd probably have trouble immediately recalling it. But was "Despacito" the song of the summer? Probably, sure.
As we reach Memorial Day weekend, let's take a look at the contenders for this summer's crown (of course keeping in mind that Rihanna could release a song out of nowhere in two weeks that would immediately catapult to the top of the heap).
"I Like It" – Cardi B
The expectations were extremely high for Cardi B's first full-length album, off the immense success of first single "Bodak Yellow" in 2017. And the rapper delivered in spades with her album, Invasion of Privacy, released April 5. Cardi has already released a few singles from the album—"Bartier Cardi," "Be Careful"—but the undeniable summer smash from the collection is "I Like It" (featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin), which samples the 1967 classic "I Like It Like That." (Fun!) Cardi, currently pregnant and on a break from performing live, seems to have known that the song was destined for glory, as she filmed a music video for the track a few months ago, to be released soon.
"This Is America" – Childish Gambino
After Donald Glover hosted and performed on Saturday Night Live earlier this month, he immediately dropped the music video for new single "This Is America," a propulsive track that, in part due to its extremely impactful music video, immediately became the cultural focus. (At the Met Ball after-parties, a few days after the song had been released, "This Is America" was clearly the preferred jam of the A-list night.) The track became Glover's first No. 1 single, a spot it's still currently holding down. It remains to be seen if the song will have staying power throughout the summer, but Glover's high visibility (he stars in Solo, out this week) and the continued conversation around the song should only help.
"One Kiss" – Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa
Harris is quite skilled at the song-of-the-summer game, having released a number of strong candidates over the past few years (the Taylor Swift-penned "This Is What You Came For," as well as a song actually called "Summer"), and if he and Rihanna had released 2011's "We Found Love" in May (rather than September of that year), it would have redefined the song of the summer as a concept forever. This year, Harris is offering us "One Kiss" with up-and-coming pop supernova Dua Lipa (she of the hit "New Rules"). This one is great for running playlists and summer happy hours alike!
"The Middle" – Zedd, Grey, and Maren Morris
A major challenge when it comes to achieving song-of-the-summer supremacy is timing. If a song comes out too early in the year, it runs the risk of having peaked by the time Fourth of July comes around. But wait for a mid-to-late June release, and it can be tough to generate the momentum necessary for domination. The Zedd-Grey-Maren Morris hit, "The Middle," was released in January, though it has only become more popular with each passing month—its cultural peak perhaps coming with an excellent April New York Times video breaking down the creation of the song. Right now, it sits at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It may run out of gas, but expect to hear Morris's staggering chorus quite a bit this summer.
"No Tears Left to Cry" – Ariana Grande
Grande is poised for an "Umbrella"-style major summer smash after a number of very successful releases ("Into You," the second single off her most recent album, never got its due). "No Tears Left to Cry," the first song she has released from forthcoming album Sweetener, is rising on the charts (now at No. 7) and only seems to be gaining traction (Grande opened the Billboard Music Awards with the song on Sunday). While the song manages to lodge itself inside your head (an important song-of-summer quality!) and already has a number of celebrity fans (Katy Perry and Lena Dunham among them), it could be that Grande's best song-of-the-summer candidate is somewhere else on Sweetener.
"Back to You" – Selena Gomez
Gomez's most recent album was 2015's Revival, but the extremely popular artist (who still has more Instagram followers than anyone on the planet) has released a steady stream of upbeat singles over the past few years, almost all of which have managed to reach the top of the charts ("It Ain't Me," "Bad Liar," "Wolves"). Her latest, "Back to You," included on the soundtrack for the new season of 13 Reasons Why, is propulsive and bright and fun to sing along to in an Uber (another important song-of-summer quality!). Plus there is tabloid intrigue for this one, as the song—yes—may or may not be about her relationship with Justin Bieber.
"Solo" – Clean Bandit (ft. Demi Lovato)
Clean Bandit, the British electronic band, has scored a number of hits recently, particularly in the U.K. ("Symphony" with Zara Larsson and "Rockabye" with Sean Paul and Anne-Marie among them). This collaboration with Demi Lovato features an extremely liberal use of vocoder effects in the chorus, but somehow, as if casting a spell with the sequence of noises interpolated with Lovato's voice, it manages to have you immediately playing it again as soon as it finishes.
A song Kanye West or Drake releases
Two major wild cards in terms of the song-of-the-summer field this year: Kanye West and Drake. West, who has been making headlines for non-music-related reasons over the past few months, has a seven-song album coming out on June 1. Drake's "Nice for What" is a song-of-summer candidate, having reached No. 1 on the chart (it's now at No. 2), but it feels possible that another track we have not yet heard from his new album, Scorpion, also out in June, might ascend to the cultural forefront.
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