NPR Music - S.O.S.: Songs of summer

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

These aren't the big bangers and Top 40 hits designed to capitalize on the typical summer vibes. We instead play the songs that feel like summer or say summer to us.Featured artists and songs:1. Kaytranada and Rochelle Jordan: "Lover/Friend," from 'Timeless'2. HUGEL: "Patadas de Ahogado / LATIN MAFIA (Rework)" (single)3. Keaton Henson: "Sandwalking," from 'Somnambulant Cycles'4. Tems: "Love Me Je Je," from 'Born in the Wild'5. Karol G: "Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido" (single)6. Mary Lattimore: "I Spent the Day Inside" (single)Enjoy the show? Tell a friend and leave us a review in Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Questions, comments, suggestions and any other feedback always welcome: [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

We are almost to the halfway point of summer. It goes by so fast. And I don't know about you, but, you know, summer for me, it's that time of year. I like to pack a nice picnic lunch, you know, put on a pair of hiking boots. A little bug spray and sunscreen, safety first. You know, and I like to go for a nice long walk to explore some of the lesser known off the beaten places in my house. Yeah, I was going to say, this is not cracking. I was like, keep going, but I'm not very unrobbing.

Keep going, but I'm not buying this. Yeah. I mean, how well do I really know that cedar closet in the basement? You know, there's always something new to discover. Adventure awaits. Anna Maria, if I had to guess, I'd say you love summer. What about me gives you that idea, Robin? You radiate summer.

Everything about you says summer. Summer is my season. I am year-round summer, lifelong summer. Hazel, you, I think what you, Hazel, kind of go either way with you. I'm not sure. Maybe not so much. I am definitely a reformed indoor kid. I think as a younger person, I absolutely hated summer camp, hated being outdoors,

just wanted to be inside my home watching movies in a cold, dark space. And now I feel like I really vibe with summer. Like I want to be outside in the heat of New York. I want to go to the beach. I want to go to the pool. I don't know what happened. I think it's, I realize that sunshine makes me feel good. Weird.

And so I'm like, oh, actually, it's kind of a great experience. Scientifically, it's good to be outside. Science is on hazel side. I learned this. That's why we have vitamin D supplements, which I am on. So we're going to do summer songs on this episode. But I thought, let's not do the obvious anthems or whatever big hit, you know, was released specifically to capitalize. on this time of year.

And instead, I thought, you know, let's just do the songs that feel like summer or say summer to us. And we don't need to start with my hibernation jams. So let's start off with one of yours. Yeah. So an artist that, to me, just screams summer is the DJ and producer K. Trinada, who actually put out a new album this year called Timeless. And there's a song on it called Lover slash Friend that to me is just absolutely perfect for the summer season. I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.

I mean, it seems like an homage to that in some ways. I don't know. If you want to be my lover, you've got to get with my friends. Yeah, but exceedingly more chill. Yeah, oh my gosh. With Riz. With style. Yeah, I just feel like, I don't know, K Trinada is a DJ at heart.

He's an incredible producer, but he is a master of vibe, a master of party. His music is such a continuous mix. It's like you can just put his songs on or put one of his albums on at a party and it completely sets the mood. And a song like this is just exactly what I want in the summer. Like I can just see myself. It's surprising to me that this hasn't happened yet. Like see myself on a rooftop in Brooklyn. The sun is setting.

I'm drinking a tequila soda out of a solo cup that I've made with questionable ratio of soda to tequila. And yeah, I just, Rauchelle Jordan is the vocalist on this song, and her vocals are so breathy and icy and cool. It's just a great combination on this track for me and really is what I want to listen to in the summertime. I literally wrote down Hazel rooftop bar wind whipping through your hair. Literally, it's like this one is sexy slinky summer vibes. There's nothing as ethereal and elusive and enchanting as the heat. in beauty of summer and that just pairs so perfectly with the ambiguity of the friend, lover, whatever, like that is so perfectly communicated.

Yeah, I mean, there's definitely a kind of gentle breeziness in the song that I'm totally down with. And I like how unbothered it manages to be, even though there, you know, I guess there's a little tension over the lingering, will they, won't they, sort of question in it. But, you know, one thing I thought while listening to this and some of the other stuff we have is that the stakes for summer songs tend to be kind of low. And I don't mean that as an insult. I mean, it's not about getting too serious or too heavy or too caught up in something. It's more about just chilling out and letting go and letting loose, you know.

And yet, the stakes are so low, but they maybe soundtrack our lives more than anything else. I think to feel a summer anthem is to play it all the time on repeat, have it be part of these really important memories in your life. like summer and to be with people and to be in community and to be out in the world is to create memories that you will revisit unless you will revisit this music in a way that like something you really connected with and loved and thought was amazing, you might not go back to it in the same way that like, oh, I have such an incredible association with this song. It'll take me back to this amazing moment in my life no matter where or when. Yeah, what I was going to say about

summer, the stakes of summer songs is like I feel like there are two kinds of summer anthems or summer songs. There's the big summer banger which like captures attention and like captures the sound or moment of a summer, which is not what we're doing on the show, as you said before Robin. And then there's another kind of summer anthem, which is more of what you're talking about, Anna, which is the music that you actually relax to and lean towards in the summer season. And it's something that you choose on your own and sort of matches your feeling and your interest and your vibe as opposed to having a huge radio hit being shoved on your throat, like every time you go to the public pool, which happens to me. So yeah, I feel like with a song like this, it's really about

just kind of like settling into this relaxing summer state. And like what is the music that I want to hear in the summer settings that I'm putting myself in? Parties, beach, pool, etc. I love to clarify backtrack, stakes are low for a summer song. I live for a summer song. I'm like, give me a song that I can vibe to walking, running at the pool, at night, whatever it is. I want my whole life to be a soundtrack in the summer. And this song, it wasn't readily apparent to me when you asked us to pick a summer song until I went literally to play this song and I was like sitting there. I was like, what do I do? And I was like, oh my God, I've been listening to this song constantly. It's called batadas

of Ahogado and it's originally by the Latin Mafia and Humei

but it's a remix by Google Party in this studio Oh U U

Ullasame a another rato let me to say to be sincere

Tien Tiena I try I I'm time to

get to to give when I sit on me down

I think our I think our friends because I'm trying I'm not going to I think I think we're at the same party You might be sitting in the corner But we're at the same party

You wear a like a badge of honor, yes. Yeah, yeah. I really do. Hearing these first couple of cuts you all brought and knowing what I have, there is this thread that runs through them that is, well, I don't know what the word is for it. Not melancholy, but sort of solitude or introspection or there's kind of almost a stillness in the music, even when there's a beat. Yeah.

Yeah. I think, you know, the beauty of this song is obviously it's a remix, so the original version of the song. It was released last year by this producer, crew, band that I've been loving and following Latin Mafia. And they did it as a collaboration with this artist Humei. But the point is, is a lot of his music, it's very emotional. It has these big builds and kind of like swells, but ultimately very romantic heartbreak, sometimes that type of thing. And so the beauty of this song for me was when this remix came out that's done by Hugo, who's, you know, doing all the big remixes right now. It really aided to me in getting to the original message of the song, which

the message of the song is a beautiful, slightly sad, but mostly beautiful love song where it starts, he opens with these lines. You smell like vanilla. I love you. But important distinction here between Tequero and Te Amo, Tequero being the more casual love, right? Like, I love you like a friend. He's like, you smell like vanilla. I love you like a friend. Do you want to hug me? Is basically what he says. And then as the song progresses, like, right as you get to that really beautiful swell where the big piano comes in and the beat comes in really intensely, he's like, actually, would you hold me and hug me forever? But there's so much more happening there in terms of what is being delivered. And it just like, ooh, it hits me in the heart when I want it to. And also I

just dance when I don't want it to. Yeah, I think, Robin, your point about it being melancholic or like the songs that we picked sort of having this threat of introspection. I think this song, Anna, you know, people throw around the term tropical house or Ibitha house music, this style of house music or EDM that's more carefree and soft and sort of associated with

seaside dance floors and vacation towns. And I think that is, it's like a remix that sort of tones down the more intense emotional qualities of the music in a way that's really beautiful. And I think fits really well with the KTrenata song that I just played.

All right, we've got to take a quick break here, but we will have more summer songs for you right after this. So, Hazel, and Anna, you know, after I listened to your picks, I ended up going down this rabbit hole of memories, well, or at least trying to access memories from when I was younger and single and dating. And honestly, even when I was like a teenager or in early 20-something in college, the stuff I listened to in the summer was just so languid. You know, lots of ambient stuff, lots of instrumental stuff. And that's exactly what I reach for even now.

You know, summer for me is a wake-me-when-it's over season. And the music I want to hear tends to reflect that. So I've got to go with this surprise, ambient and instrumental album from Keaton Henson, the singer Keaton Henson. It's called Somnambulant Cycles. And the song I want to play is called Sandwalking. I mean, I think this is a totally legit soundtrack to at least, one side of summer.

Yes, definitely. Yeah, it's not... Absolutely. To me, this is like, I'm taking a walk by the beach and the sun is just rising or I'm walking in a beautiful field of wildflowers listening to birds in the distance.

Like, it feels like a song that could soundtrack really beautiful moments in nature or being outside and sort of... You know, I think what unites a lot of the songs that we've been playing is this state of relax or calm that may come with, you know, the small, beautiful moments that you might experience in the summertime.

There's also a synergy to me, at least that I felt, I don't know, summer feels to me like limitless potential. Anything is possible. And there's the joy of knowing that and also kind of the anxiety or nervousness of knowing that. Like to me, summer is almost, it's almost New Year's for me. It's like, oh, anything could happen. And I think that so much of this song specifically really nicely embodies that you have those beautiful calming beats.

It's like a breeze. It's a meadow. And the strings, they're both really beautiful and also slightly ominous. I think, you know, to me, in addition to just being very beautiful and calming, as we say, there are also these little sort of rattling sounds in it and quirky little ear candy that's kind of pinging around at different times, which feels like what's happening in my brain, well, really, at any given moment. But particularly, you know, in those moments of retreat on hot days, you know. I'm actually going to the beach.

We'll be there for a whole week. And this song is called Sandwalking, which I think is the perfect soundtrack for, well, not walking on the sand, but sitting under an umbrella, you know, staring out at the sea. Your mind is a total blank. You even hear those little, they almost sound like seagulls at the end of the the song, I think it's actually his, the squeak of the guitar strings. I think it's his fingers squeaking on the guitar strings. If I had to guess, anyway, Keaton Hinson, for those who don't know,

he is best known as a singer. He has a gorgeous voice. We have a great tiny desk of his up. People should check out. He writes these very delicate, just wondrous little songs. So this instrumental album from him was a really nice surprise. So I am taking us maybe back to the party, away from the beach to the party maybe somewhere in between. Both. Yeah, both. With a song from the Nigerian artist Thames, who put out an album this year called Born in the Wild.

This is her song Love Me, JJ. Something I want to say Love Me, Jeter. So fresh, so clean. Love me in and out. I'll feel like lily. And I'll be down now. Anytime you call me. I'll be down, I'll be down

Because I love and I love and I love and I love you only Because I need and I need and I need and I need you Yeah, you know I run and I run and I run and I run Fly with you fly in the sky in the night With me your arms in your love You got me on your side now Yeah, I'm on your wave right now You then I don't want to know I don't want no story

Day and night is some conditional got me living softly Yeah, yeah Know me judge, you know you love to me up like never Anything you want to never do whatever Because I love and I love and I love and I love you only Because I need and I need and I need and need you more Yeah You know I run and I run and I run

Fly in the sky in the night Put me your arm I'm on your wave right now You got me on your side now Yeah, I'm on your wave right now Yeah, yeah, say love me judge Love me tender Oh me judge

Love me tender Love me jennie I'm sugar, my honey tender lover Yeah You want my sugar my honey My tender lover I mean, we can talk about how similar it is to some of the other stuff we've been playing thematically.

But let's talk about what's going on in the last 20 seconds or so of this song here. When you hear somebody say... Your face, Robin. You were like... Huh? You hear someone say, I'm terrified. And then there's this blood- curdling screen. And I thought, this is very on brand for Hazel. Well, I mean, I think it's funny.

So there's just this effortlessness to this song that I love and this warmth that Thames brings to the song. And it feels like she almost like sang it in one take in the booth and was like, that was it. It's so beautiful. And I think that little moment at the end where there's chatter in the studio, I'm terrified and there's a scream. I don't know what's happening there, but it's like this beautiful simple message, love me JJ, which means, you know, love me softly. She is really kind of making herself vulnerable. So when I hear that moment at the end, I'm like, I don't know if that's about her performance in the booth or like, you know, sort of like the bareness of what she's saying in this song. But I love this track. I was not super aware of Thames until some of our colleagues on the team brought her to my attention.

Our colleague, Sidney Madden, did a really incredible profile of her for Morning Edition. And, yeah, this song, I've just been playing it on repeat ever since I heard it. And to me, it's just a mini song of my summer right now. I mean, I don't know what the screams about, but when she says I'm terrified, I guess I thought she was saying she's terrified of love. Like she wants this thing, that she wants this thing, but it also scares her. I guess I was thinking more like she's scared of asking for what she wants, like knowing what she wants, but asking for it.

I mean, even I love that line in the song where she says, I'm on your wave right now. That's just a simple thing to say, but I'm feeling this. I am into you. There's this sort of ambient sense to the song of, if this is going to happen, this is what I want from you,

and this is what I need from you. And I don't know, that can be scary. To me, like, if we're following this wave of this story of will, they, won't they of the summer, this to me is the next step. that story where it's like, oh no, we're locked in. We're falling in love. It's happening. It's not like, we're both on this wave. We're both here. We're both ready. Let's do it. That's what I felt like to me. So maybe that would point me a little bit towards Robbins terrifying. We're on the wave. It's happening and I'm slightly terrified. I feel like I'm in

therapy right now. I know. I'm like, oh my God. What? We're crafting a romance. We're in group. Who in this group is going through something right? now. Everyone is going through something. Everyone's going through something. What are you talking about? This isn't a music podcast. I'm actually in the Cedar Clause. As we speak. Oh, beautiful. This is the Cedar Clause. I spoke up.

I actually know it intimately. I don't know why I used it as an example of something. I don't know. I spend a lot of time. Yes. Yes. We've got to take a quick break here, but we'll have more music for you right after this. And you're listening to All Songs Considered from NPR Music. It's all songs considered from NPR Music. I'm Robin Hilton. I'm here with Alt Latinos, Anna Maria Sayer, and InPierr music editor Hazel Sills. And we're talking summer songs, or at least the songs that say summer to us. I mean, we've been doing vibes. We've been doing good summer vibes. But this next song I have is a full out, blast it, bangor, dance around the kitchen in the club, etc. song. This is, thank you, Hazel, for dancing for me. This is, si antes de uvierreconosido. And it's, and it's, by Carol G. Hey, no,

to try to like I, no to be to be to be said like I, not so she's

timid and I don't connect the gonna that's gonna I'm gonna go to me both today,

I'mhanging with her but then then I would be if you'd be sure,

no, no come, no assent in, try to try to not be able to

beas, like you, not can't be able to she's too, she's timid and I know

I mean, it's got more drive than anything else we've played so far, but there's still like a softness in it, you know, that keeps it from being a full-on, hard-hitting banger to me. It's like, it's not like the Nanti-Paloosso cut that you played a few weeks ago in the show. Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, merengue is a very moving beat, period. Like, it is one of the fastest beats to dance. too. It's really exciting. It's really fun. And this is a really cool electronic merengue with a

a little bit of a backwards mumbo to it that I think makes it soft and fun and summer and great to dance too. There was controversy around the song. I talked about this on a Latino recently. Hazel, I've talked about it with you because it sounds pretty similar to Rosalia's despatcha. Some people say, more importantly, kind of open up a lot of conversations around who has a right to do merengue music, which is from the Dominican Republic. Carol G. is a Colombian artist. All that to say, it's brought a really interesting international conversation around, you know, electronic merengue, merengue del Caye from the street that is really, I think, reintroduced in some ways this sound to people and had a lot of people talking about it this summer. And it's a very classically summer,

danceable in the Caya with friends type of sound. So it's exciting to see that people are listening to it, I think, in masses in this way. Yeah. I mean, in masses is interesting because I thought it was such a baller move to include that moment in the song at the end where there's literally, you can hear a crowd of people singing this song. Yeah. Like it's everything about this song, you know, she put out this music video for this song that was shot in the DR and takes place at this seaside karaoke bar where everyone gets up and dances to the song.

She's really kind of serving you this summer hit on a silver platter. Yes. I mean, this was also just like a massive summer, I think, of energy. for the world for Latin America especially. I mean, it's Copa summer, which is a huge, huge deal. It's the Olympics. It's all these things where, like, people were set to be in crowds, in community, and she wants you to feel that in this song. Like, she wants you to feel like you're out dancing, fiesta, what have you, till six in the morning. And, like, that's great. Let me be a part of that. Like, she is known for, you know, dancing on cars in the streets of Medellin and

throwing these blowout concerts. And, like, that's all her music is about is bringing together. to dance in community. So it's so fitting for her. Yeah, but if you want to dance on the roof of a car in Medell-Ying, I can think of nothing better to do that than this next song from Mary Lattermore, the harpist. This is a song that Hazel tipped me off to because she knows me so well. It's called I spent the day inside. It totally rips. You know, I don't know, Hazel, if you picked this just because of the title, but I actually think just the whole sound of the song is perfect too. It's not just that it's a very beautiful song

and one that you can sort of meditate or hibernate to. It's because I think when you listen to this song, it romanticizes the idea of staying inside. It is so lovely. It sounds to me like Mary Latimore is having the best day of her life just staying inside.

Yeah, I love Mary Laudamore, huge fan of hers. I've played her music on the show before. And she posted about this song on her Instagram. She was like, it's called, you know, I spent the day inside. And then in parentheses, she wrote, I did. So, you know, it's like she is romantic. I mean, she is in her home, I would imagine, making this beautiful romantic music.

And that is something to celebrate. So we'll go out on this. Anna Maria Sayer, Hazel Seils. Thanks so much for hanging out and offering a glimpse into your respective summers. Thanks, Robin. Thank you. And real quick, just before we go, I want to be. want to just take a second to announce that, if you don't already know, the full NPR Plus bundle

option is now available to everyone in the U.S. So NPR Plus, it includes more than 20 sponsor-free podcasts that, including all songs, considered, with more on the way. Some shows have bonus episodes. Others have archive access or early access to episodes. And the bundle also includes extra perks like exclusive podcasts and discounts for the NPR shop. an NPR Wine Club. The NPR Plus bundle is a better deal by design. You get all of the perks for one recurring donation of $8 a month or $96 a year. And more of your donation goes directly to support public media. So if you want to make a bigger impact and get more in return, visit plus.npr.org and select the bundle option today. That's plus.npr.org.

And for NPR music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered.