Switched on Pop - Songs of Summer Call-in Special

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

Every year, critics and media outlets the world over put out definitive song-of-summer guides based on... well, we’re not always entirely sure. Certainly popularity, as measured by streams and radio play; not to mention that bewildering feeling that creeps up some time mid-July, prompting whispered exclamations of: “man, this song is everywhere.” But the most ubiquitous track isn’t necessarily the one you’ll have on repeat on those steamy summer commutes to work, nor is it the song you’ll want soundtracking this year’s vacations, graduations, summer flings and backyard cookouts. In this episode, we abandon the pursuit of a single song of summer, and ask the question we’re more interested in: What does summer sound like? To answer that question, we asked you, our listeners, and got some downright awesome suggestions in return. Your voicemails covered everything from Hot Girl Summer anthems and nostalgia-inducing dance jams, to globally infused collaborations and just-released future-feeling indie rock cuts. Today, we travel across the full spectrum of summer feels, and the music that comes through when we need it the most. Songs DiscussedMUNA - Number One FanAmber Mark - Put You OnJonas Brothers - Only HumanShawn Mendes, Camila Cabello - SeñoritaCharlie XCX, Christine and the Queens - GoneBTS, Zara Larsson - Brand New DayKaty Perry - Teenage DreamPost Malone - SunflowerLil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town RoadPinkfong - Baby Shark Khalid - BetterMegan Thee Stallion - Big ol’ FreakMegan Thee Stallion, Juicy J - Simon SaysSaweetie - My TypePetey Pablo - Freak-A-LeakCity Girls - Act UpMegan Thee Stallion, DaBaby - Cash ShitClairo - Sofia HAIM - Summer GirlLou Reed - Walk on the Wild SideMother’s Daughter - Miley CyrusRosalía - Aute CutureAriana Grande - NASABANKS - GimmeGrimes, Hana - We appreciate powerLizzo - Truth HurtsPaul McCartney - JetDon Henley - The Boys of SummerSantana, Rob Thomas - SmoothBritney Spears - ToxicThe Slits - I Heard it Through the Grapevine Missy Elliott - SlideFreddie Gibbs, Madlib - CataractsVampire Weekend - 2021 Misc extras Listen to all of these songs and more on the Switched on Pop Songs of Summer 2019 Playlist.  Note In this episode we made light of PTSD by using the term irreverently - thanks to listener feedback we're better aware of how destructive such diminishing comments can be to people dealing with trauma. We apologize for the misuse and will strive to avoid it in the future.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you're tired of endless scrolling to figure out where to eat, same. I'm Stephanie Wu, editor-in-chief of Eater. We've just launched the new-ish and way better Eater app. It has all the restaurants we love, gives you personalized picks wherever you are, and serves up smarter search results just for you. You can find my list of the best places for martinis and fries in New York City. And save your favorite spots, share lists, follow editors, and book right in the app. the Eater app at Eaterapp.com. It's free for iOS users. Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm

songwriter Charlie Harding. And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. So any, each summer, we like to do a song of summer rundown. Oh yeah. And we've tried it in some very different methods. We've done live shows. We did a debate. We did do it. Oh, I forgot about that. Yeah, you won. Yeah, I'm surprised. I forgot. I wasn't pleased by that. Wait, sorry, remind me again what the outcome was? You won. You lost. Yes. I got it now. Okay. Great. Where were we? We tried to throwback thing. We went back to the 90s last summer. Yeah, of course. It's all coming back to me, Charles.

I remember it well. This time, I thought we would open up the microphone. Yes, absolutely. Open mic night at Switch on Pop, Song of Summer Edition. Okay. So what we did was you put out a call to our listeners as well as friends of the show

to see what are the summer jams that are important to them. And I want to use this as an opportunity to expand our ears. Yeah, I'm ready. Crowdsource this summer hit. Let's do it. We'll get some new tracks, some old tracks, and we're going to probably even declare a winner. Wow, okay.

I want to kick it off with a double recommendation for a Hot Summer song. Hey, Nate and Charlie. My name's Amanda. My songs of the summer has been Luna's number one fan and put you on by Amber Mark. Whoa, okay, wait, wait, slow down. You've just hit me with so much here. We have listener Collins, which is amazing. You started with a double pick, which is completely insane.

Which one of the two are we listening to right now? This is Muna, number one fan, and this is exactly why Amanda liked this track. Number one saying came out of the top of this summer and has been in factuously part of my entire summer soundtrack. I can't stop listening to it. The drums, the percussion, the production on the song is incredible. For me, this is all about that 80s throwback. We're going to hear some more music from that period later, but this is that thick digital bass,

those synthesized drums, hot beat, really fun, but it's not her only recommendation. And then put you on by Amber Mark, living in New York, how can you not listen to that song in the summer? Bet you're missing New York. Here's Amber Mark's put you on. I am feeling that.

That's featuring Dram as well, right? Yeah. It seems like we've moved from the 80s now into the 90s. But through the lens of the present, you spoke with Amber at your old apartment in New York. We basically broke her. I mean, I have yet to see her in any, you know, publications say, my fame is thanks to dissecting Kendrick Lamar on Switched on Pop, you know, three years ago. But I think we all know, you know, what set off her meteoric ascent. I think you really haven't let go of your ego from winning that debate a few summers ago.

I'm feeling my oats a little bit. These are great tracks. These are really fun. And I think one of the things I hear in both of them is that the combination of something fresh and new, but something old and nostalgic. Yeah. Props Amanda. Good stuff. Setting a high bar.

I want to play you another double hitter, which leaves room for further debate and for you to continue to win these debates. Hey, guys. Steph Bams here from the Pop Neural Lounge podcast, and my choice for a song with the summer would have to be a tie. It's either Stenia Rita by Sean Bendez and Camilla Cabo or Only Human by Jonas Brothers. All right, so you have to pick one. Which are you going to defend? I'm going to go with Only Human. Only Human by Jonas Brothers. I love that it's so different from anything else that they've ever done.

You can definitely hear the Ryan Petter Touch on it because he was the executive producer on that album. All right, if you're team Jonas Brothers, that means I'm going to have to be team Sean Mendez and Camilla Cabo. Here's Sénierita. I love Sean Mendes. and I'm a huge fan, and it's the one song that actually sucked me into the Sean Mendes universe. I've loved all his songs, but that was the one that really made me, I guess you could call it a quote-unquote fan.

Thanks for what you can do, guys. I love you. Bye. Okay, so now I make my case for Only Human. I don't know how there even could be a case. By the Sons of Jonas. You know, I ordinarily wouldn't put myself in the position of defending a song by three white guys. that appropriates reggae and steel drums. Okay, right, you lose. And has one of the most awkwardly sort of declimated lines I've come across in a while where in the chorus they sing, I'm only Hugh.

Men. And you're like waiting for a long time to be like, what? Are you Hugh Grant? Like what is the end of that word? There's a positive spin here. And yet I do firmly plant my flag in the Jonas Brothers territory in this debate because this song does like hit that summer sweet spot. It's got this easy kind of loping groove lyrics that are about the sort of pleasant redemption that you can get through dance and bodily movement. And as we just heard, a ridiculous, funky drum fill that leads you back into the second verse.

and that moment alone almost might be worth the whole only human experience. I'll give you the drum fill. Okay. It's a great drum fill. But there's no doubt that Senorita is the better song. Okay. So first of all, rather than having to play some, you know, maybe appropriated regar rhythm, we have a wonderful Latin guitar sound with contemporary sort of hip-hop sort of drums.

It's great. Most importantly, though, here, this is a romantic. summer duet. Is there anything that people want more in summer than the love of another? Ice cream. Ooh. You might win that debate. But your point is well taken. Either way, I think Steph has chosen two great songs and I am in the position of thinking that neither of us is willing to concede. Let's give it to the people to decide. Sure. It's not, this isn't our decision to make. Well, the people have spoken and they have some other great songs. Let's hear us the play. I'm excited.

Hi, this is Jason over in Ann Arbor. Song of the Summer hands down Charlie X-EX and Christine McQueen's gone. Give it a listen. It's classic Charlie. It's emotional. It's sad. It's a banger. It's got a little breakdown. And it comes in at like four minutes, I think. So going back to traditional pop, we love it. Okay. Thanks. Bye. I think Song of Summer is really just about great Tom Phil's.

Bobum, bum, bum, bum. Yeah. Wow, great pick from Jason in Ann Arbor. And I'm not surprised people in Ann Arbor have great taste. This is true. They have Blimpy Burger, one of the great burger. They have the restaurant Spencer, one of the great farm to table restaurants

that happens to be owned and operated by two good friends of ours. So I'm not surprised that he's coming in hot with this Charlie XX, X, X, X, X, X, Christine of Christine in the Queens combo. Yeah. And, man, I am feeling this track. I've enjoyed Christina the Queen's new album. I've enjoyed Charlie XX's stuff and her collaboration with Lizzo. She's smart.

She works with the right people. And this really works. Their voices blend together in this beautiful way. The groove is kind of elusive but also funky at the same time. Is it dark? Is it light? I don't know, but I like it. This is a great example of less as more.

You bring two amazing people together and then just strip back the production. It's so sparse. Like you almost sometimes can't even quite find the downbeat. You're looking for it. You're dancing to it. And you're just drawn to their voices. Yeah. I love that. I love that. Great track. It's a great collaboration. I want to bring us another fantastic collaboration for the summer. Okay. Hi. My name is Alita. And my summer soundtrack is a brand new day by BTF featuring Zara Larson. Thanks. Wow. I've never heard that. before and I dig it. I mean, wow, what a great example

of something we talked about when we covered BTS maybe a month ago. They're incredibly I think healthy disrespect for musical borders. And if you just listen to the very beginning of this song, I mean,

how many different sort of international musical traditions fit in here? It begins with a sound that almost I don't know, but might be drawn from like the jazz Japanese flute, Shakuachi tradition. And then immediately after that, you get this drum roll. Speaking of drum, another drum fill.

But this one sounds like almost timbales, like from a more Latin percussion element. And that takes you into a groove that has both like a reggaeton beat from the Caribbean, but also like a Kalimba or imbura, like an African thumb piano. So I don't know. I mean, just within the first couple seconds of the song, you were just exposed to so many different musical, global traditions. And I actually think it works. It all works together.

How can you have a band with so many singers and performers, and yet also, again, here we have something so sparse? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I feel like in both examples, it leaves so much room for us to fill in either by dancing or singing or however we want to interpret it. I think this is a great summer song. Maybe that's part of a good summer hit is that there's some,

it leaves you to fill in some of the blanks or something. Makes me think about how for us, there probably wouldn't even be a switched on pop if it weren't for one of those great summer songs, which is Teenage Dream. I think we've talked about it perhaps in the past where the song never resolves, and it's kind of in your ear,

you're just waiting for the chords to resolve. there's always something that sort of puts you into the piece. Yeah, I mean, and as always, shouts to Owen Pallett for his brilliant analysis of that Katie Perry classic. And like that song, there are many other songs that just won't go away. And a lot of people brought us tracks that have been popular for a little while now, but just seemed particularly fitting for this summer. Hey, this is B. Beeman, and a song I Can't Get Enough of this summer is Sunflower by Post Malone.

Wow, B. Beeman. So great to hear from him. And such a wonderfully unexpected choice from one of the most sort of political songwriters we've ever spoken to on our show. Because this song is just like kind of a burst of pure joy. It's just like it's happy. It's mellow. It's kind of what feels like I'd have to clock it out at BPM. It feels like a very kind of slow tempo.

It's slow. The synthesizers are all a little bit out of tune and a little woozy. Yeah, a little woozy, a little mushy. But the effect is not of anything sluggish or dragging, but it's just like this almost just lovely loping beat that just kind of lulls you in. And you're just like, yeah. It has that feeling of a really hot summer day in L.A. where the heat is so strong that you just got to move slowly through it.

But you're happy to be outside in the sun. And this is a great use of Post Malone's very specific skill set. You know, he's like the anti-Mariah or something in that his, you know, he has like no vocal range. And his melodies tend to be like, you know, just a few pitches in width. He's supported here by Swayley, who's got a bigger vocal range. Swayley, I mean, like, slightly. But, I mean, but again, it's not, it's utterly beside the point. Yes.

point here is not to wow you with vocal pyrotechnics, it's to seduce you into this easy loping groove and just have you kind of forget about all your troubles and just get in that happy summertime place. I love summertime songs that can do that and also transcend generations. Hi guys, this is Matt Linder and I was going to call in with my song of the summer And that is Little Nauza's X Old Town Road, the remix with Billy Ray Cyrus. Hat down, cross town living like a rock star, spend a lot of money on my brand new guitar. Baby's got a half a diamond rings and fend his sports braw riding down Rodeo in my Maserati sports car.

My twins, I have almost two-year-old twins who absolutely love the song because it's very catchy, It's very danceful. We've had lots of dance parties in the kitchen listening to it all summer long. And I'm glad they got obsessed with that song and I'm glad it wasn't Baby Shark because that song is a lot to take in. Thanks guys.

Love your show. Doing a fantastic job. Bye. Old Town Road just will not leave us. I love this here that like Baby Shark, the primary driver, or one of the big drivers to listening has been young people. There was a very popular video of Lil Nazak's going into a, I think it was an elementary

school auditorium or middle school auditorium and the kids just losing it and all singing along. It's fun that a song which has had been just mired and controversy as well as celebrated widely can be adored by so many people, including young people. I think that makes, I think a great song of summer can extend beyond any one group of people. Well, summer is the season of youth, right? I mean, the kids don't have school. And so, yeah, they're out there listening to music, making trends. I mean, otherwise, it's just teachers like myself and people with fake jobs like you.

So, you know, we have to rely on the kids to tell us what to listen to during the summer. I like to believe it's not too late for us and that pop music can go beyond any particular age. And we have some listeners that agree. living in a rom-com. It made me feel like I was Gina Rodriguez and somebody great or something. It was just exactly the mood. I needed to feel this summer, it gives me this release and allows me a 30-year-old to feel like I'm still allowed to live a high school teen dream. Wow, that's so fun. You know, I feel the same way when I listen to Khalid better as a great example. I do feel like a teenager, just to focus on one moment of that song that is so key to me,

is like you listen to the beginning third of it, maybe, and it's very low register. He's singing very low, better than this, you know. Second to third, same thing. It's like, better than this. And then it's not until like the- I didn't know that Kelly was actually like a Tom Waits impersonator. No, he's a, he's Marlon Brando. And then, you know, you finally get to.

what you've been waiting for and what he's been saving the whole time is that like insane upper register of his voice and when he hits that better than this like this melody you've heard again and again but all of a sudden it's so much higher it's just a moment of like such catharsis that I think it does make you feel very young and kind of innocent again or something I hear you man so much of summer music does support me back to another time, which can unfortunately remind me of, oh, yeah, I'm no longer in high school. And there's a lot of things that I don't get. For example, there has been the ongoing conversation about Hot Girl Summer, which we have neglected to speak about. And instead,

we got a great voice note from our producer, Bridget, who wanted to share some of the best callouts from Hot Girl Summer. Hello, my name is Bridget Armstrong. I'm a producer for Vox Media, and switched on pop. And here's my playlist for Hot Girl Summer. Hey, Big old freak. Big booty, big old tree. Okay, so Hot Girl Summer is a mindset.

It's a mantra introduced by Megan the Stallion. Megan is a 23-year-old rapper out of Houston who declared it to be Hot Girl Summer. And according to Megan, Hot Girl Summer is about women basically being unapologetically themselves, about embracing who they are, about being a bad bitch. And a lot of the songs on the Hot Girl Summer playlist

are definitely bad bitch anthems. So Megan's song Big Old Freak actually came out on her mixtape in 2018, but it was released as a single earlier this year just in time for Hot Girl Summer. Megan's from Houston. I think the influence is really evident in her. music. A lot of it sounds like down south hip-hop music from the early 2000s, and it has a certain

twerk vibe. Her music is definitely the type you can dance to. Like her song with Juicy J, Simon says. So Megan might have kicked off Hot Girl Summer and come up with the mantra and term, but there were a lot of songs from women rappers that encompass the Hot Girl Summer mindset. Like Sweetie's my type. And even in this song, you sort of hear that early 2000s down south twerk vibe. The song samples Pity Pablo's 2004 Freak Alec. And I'm happy to say it's still just as fun to dance to 15 years later. And of course, it wouldn't be Hot Girl Summer without the City Girls, the rap duo out of Miami. I think their song, Act Up, is definitely a contender for the Hot Girl Summer anthem.

You can get get snatched up Back up You can get snatched up dirty ass dance Baby girl you need tobacco Last one I'll talk about is Megan the Stallion's Cash-ish with the baby

I can't be I can't touch this Hey I try to rich Huh My money thick thick Walk with a limp

limp I'm on some pimps I'm Bridget Armstrong And that's what I've been listening to this summer I love all of Bridget's recommendations because they all

all definitely make you want to dance and highlight some awesome women rappers. Yeah. You know, part of summer can be the hot side, but it can also be the cold and sad side. And when we return, we're going to talk a little bit about Sad Girl Summer. Maria, you have a podcast now and you need to start acting like it. What's the first step as a podcaster? Well, you have to ask lots of questions. I'm Maria Sharpova, and I'm how much.

hosting a new podcast called Pretty Tough. Every week, I'm sitting down with trailblazing women at the top of their game to discuss ambition, work ethic, and the ups and downs that come on the path to achieving greatness. I have a few pretty tough questions for you. Okay. Ready? Ready. Do not sugarcoat something for me. No, no, no. We'll dive into their stories and get valuable insights from top executives, actors, entrepreneurs, and other individuals who have inspired me so much in my own journey. Pretty tough is your front row seat to the women who have demonstrated the power in being unapologetic in their pursuits. I hope you'll join us. New episodes drop Wednesdays on YouTube or in your favorite podcast app. Immigration may be Donald Trump's signature issue.

President Trump is now targeting predominantly democratic cities for ice raids and deportations. Dozens of protesters clashing with immigration and customs enforcement agents in Minneapolis Tuesday. We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal. aliens back to the places from which they came. But what we want to do in this space is talk about America and politics beyond the current president. So what do most Americans think about deportation and border security, period? I think that Americans are definitely against the kind of violent displays that we've seen

in the street from ICE. When it comes to the question of deportation, the answer is more complicated. My sense is that people want border at the border. They don't like the idea of having no idea who's coming into the United States at any given time. The view on immigration from the bottom up instead of the top down.

That's this week on America Actually. Every Saturday in your audio and video feeds. Ned, I told you that we had a couple of friends of the show ring in to give some recommendations. And I want to kick off with one of just the best songwriters working today. Hey, what's up? This is Emily Warren. And my summer sounder.

track would definitely include Sophia by Claro This is a new one to me. Emily Warren with the deep cuts, cool. Yeah. What do we know about Clero? Well, I just wanted as a reminder to myself to be like, what were Emily's credits? Because, you know, this is someone we should

really trust. I just like went to Wikipedia and boom, we were like, oh, sure for the Backstreet boys? The chain smokers. Sean Mendez, Khalid, Fifth Harmony, Jesse Jay. Her credits are wild. She's a great songwriter. So she's bringing us a deeper cut.

This is Sophia by Claro. It's a bit of a slow burn. It's a little more melancholy. And she's not the only one to bring us this track. Hey, this is Jake. And I am a firm proponent of the sad girl summer as opposed to Hot Girl Summer. So I've been listening to nothing but Clara's new album.

and Carly Ray Jackson but that's always the case so I don't think that really counts. Love the show, thank you so much this is cute. Bye. Carly Ray can sometimes definitely have that ups and downs

emotional ride feeling but we're getting it here in Clara you need both. I mean this is what you're getting from the show and our brilliant listeners is like you get the full summer spectrum from hot girl to sad girl summer, like you get it all. You get the,

the steamy, you know, nights when you're cranking Megan the stallion and like, you know, getting down and then the brutal morning after where you're like rubbing, you know, your bloodshot eyes and thinking about all of the mistakes you made and listening to Clero.

So we've got you covered. And there's reasons, yeah, to your point, that summer might have a, a mix of feelings. It's not just the upbeat. And some other listeners would agree. Hi, my name is Carl and I think summer is the quintessential pop

season. There's something about it. It's bright and it's fun, but at the same time, it's so ephemeral. So I always enjoy songs that have a little bit of that melancholy to it. Kind of reminding you that this is really great and really fun, but it's got

a limited time for it. Thanks so much. Love the show. And that gets to the of the issue of youth, right? It's just like, summer's passing, time is passing. Yeah, Carl, that's profound, Carl, yeah. But I don't want to rush out of the lull in summer,

the maybe solemn summer that can happen, because it's an important experience for a lot of people. This note really struck a chord with me, if you'll allow me. I'm Allegra Frank, and every summer I have one rule I abide by, which is I listen to songs very explicitly about summer, but they rarely sound what summer is supposed to sound like

if we can believe that it has a certain like upbeat and relaxing, happy vibe. I like to listen to songs that are a little more wistful and woful, but one summer song this summer that I'm actually enjoying that I think fits the vibe of the season better than any other summer song I've really been into is Summer Girl. by Haim. I'm your summer girl. I'm yes, I'm a girl.

It's so breezy and chill and not necessarily all completely optimistic or positive, so it still feels like a thing I would personally be into, which is remembering that it doesn't matter what the season is. There's always reason to be mourning something, usually a crush or a relationship. And Summer Girl isn't quite bad. It's a little more uplifting, but it definitely is speaking to a sadder person from a happier place. So hopefully maybe next summer I'll actually take that one in stride and follow the lead of Summer Girl by Heim. Things have taken a somewhat sobering turn here, but I like it.

And this is, I totally agree with Allegra's pick. I mean, this song by Heim is like both a little melancholy. Conlon collie, as she says, and also, like, super kind of catchy and vivy and fun. So it's an interesting mix that maybe captures the dichotomy of summer that we've been exploring. It also has just such a great sax part that makes me really happy every time I hear it. And a nice sort of Lou Reed reference as well. A Lou Reed reference. We're talking Walk on the Wild Side here?

Yeah. Okay. Anything specific? Or just the general groove? The groove and the do to do do do kind of thing. Playing them back and back. You know, we got the, a little like light snare drum. We have a do to do.

We have a do to do. I don't know if you're familiar with the technical term for that, but it is, in fact, a do to do. Oh, okay. Yeah. And are you suggesting that a do-to-do is just a normal song form that many drawn? I think you would find dootidoo's across, you know, time and space. I hear what you're saying.

This particular dutti-do might have a prior sort of do-to-do manifestation in Lou Reed. But in general, I would just cast it as a dut-to-do. Obviously, you're right. I mean, Walk on the Wild side does have the backup singers who are referencing other sort of older R&B sounds. And so I guess we have a whole history of dut-to-dos that we're hearing through Hym through Lou Reed. Doot-Doo. Do-D-D-D-D-D-D. Oh, I'm not do-D-O-O-T-D-O.

I'm not do-D-O-O-T-D-O. No, no, no, it's D-O-D-O-D-I. It's just lots of D-E. There's no T-R-O-D-S. That was just gibberish what you said. You have no idea what you're talking about. Charlie? Do-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-O. Okay. So summer can be a time of upbeat dancing.

It can be a time of more sad reflection. It can even be a time to get totally astrological. Yes. Since last year, I made a Spotify playlist to celebrate the start of Leo season, where my birthday falls. They're full of empowering pop anthems, which I believe is the defining genre for Leo. So for this year, I included mother's daughter by Miley Cyrus, Outte Guter by Rosalia, NASA by Ariana Grande, Gimmy by Banks. We appreciate power by Grimes, just to name a few.

Empowering pop anthems for the Leo's, the one that really stood up for. Leo's season, that's awesome. Who is that? Who sent that in? Sinai. Sinai? Yeah. Awesome.

Of all of her recommendations, the artist that I really wanted to have an opportunity to play was Rosalia, someone who we have unintentionally neglected to talk about on her show and whose music is just taking off. For those who might be a lot of, no, no. be unfamiliar. Rosalia is the Spanish artist who's really taken off over the last couple of years for blending a hip-hop sound with traditional

flamenco elements. And here I feel like there's almost like an old-school Kanye kind of thing happening in the sense mixed with that great clapping and stomping and drums that have that Spanish vibe. And

I think that as a non-Spanish speaker, I can hear that empowering Leo astrological feeling just in the way in which this sets a driving rhythm. Yeah, very cool, very cool. I'm glad we got to play here on the show

at long last. There was one other recommendation on Sinai's playlist that we would be in big trouble if we neglected. I usually try to add songs from the current year to my playlist, but sometimes I'll include past hits.

Like this year, I have, of course, Truthhurst by Lizzo. So thanks for listening. You guys rock. We were so lucky to have a great conversation with Lizzo a few years ago. And I never would have guessed that music that she was releasing actually in 2017, like Truth Hertz, has now made it on to Bill Ward, which is just fabulous. And this is a really fun song.

Yeah. And to Sinaya's point, some of the best summer songs aren't the ones that have come out this year. They're the throwbacks. They're the things that really just, Let's dig into nostalgia here. Let's go back in time. I want to play you a couple of the best recommendations of songs through the years that just continue to sound great throughout the summer.

Cool. Hi, Nathan Charlie. My name's Callie. And for the past few summers, I keep wanting to hear 70s Paul McCartney. The one song that I think is really summery, especially in the car, is Jet. To me, it's the ultimate summer jam.

Not even really sure why, but that's what you guys are for. All right, thanks. The answer is saxophones. I think it's... Woo-woo. Sax and more, like, old-school harmony throwbacks. Yeah. And also starting a lyric on the second beat.

Uh, jet! That's it. That's it. I think that's actually it. Yeah. Let's go from the 70s to the 80s. Hey, this is just a show. Cleveland, Ohio, and I'm calling to say that in the summer, I like to revisit

anthem songs. I'm totally been listening to Don Henley's voice of summer. You love this song. You're so happy. I know why you picked that caller. Why do you think I love this song so much? Well, I mean, going back to what has become a theme unexpectedly of this discussion, you know, great drum fills. Yeah, absolutely. This song in particular has this thing that I think certain summer hits do really well, where it is like has this momentum and this propulsion. Like this song starts and how long is it? This song is a whopping four minutes and 48 seconds.

That's long for a song. And yet like it starts and then four minutes and 48 seconds later it stops. And like at no moment at any point in between there does it kind of like relent for a moment. It is just there's always that groove going. there's always some chorusy guitar texture kind of cascading over it it just grabs you and doesn't let go you know it's surprisingly fast tempo but really sad chords yeah i think that combination is that duality of somewhere that we keep exploring the happy sad chords all right that's the 1980s we got a great hit from the 90s hey nancy do that for me you know sometimes i count the days the past before i have to

to hear smooth again because I think I was so inundated with it during its heyday. But hearing it again reminds me of one of my favorite things about you. The ocean under the moon? I'm so smooth. Wait, what? You just totally disarmed me there. You have the uncanny ability to play a piano montuno. Thank you. That means a lot to me. It's a hard thing to do. What the heck is that? I mean, that's getting whooped by Murray Lowe, the director of the Afro-Latin band I was in. That's him being like, no, this is wrong. It's too.

You're anticipating too much. Like, bring them back. And it's like, wow, the subtle little differences are huge. But, man, smooth. What can we say about this song? I have PTSD from hearing this like so many times 20 years ago. And now returning to it after sort of having my palate cleanse, a little bit. I'm like, hey, actually, this song is pretty, pretty fire. It's pretty great.

Perhaps also is slightly ahead of its time, given the unbelievable success of Latin music in mainstream pop. Yeah. It's a little mysterious, you know, it's just like the ocean under the moon. That's the same exact emotion that I feel for you. It's like, she says the exact emotion. And yet, that seems like a Very vague emotion. The ocean, is the ocean under the moon even an emotion, really? It's a certain kind of like almost romantic with a capital R, like, you know, the overwhelming beauty of nature is correspondent to the overwhelming sensation I get when I'm with you. But I'm filling in the blanks there a little bit.

So I just got to point that out, Rob. I have nothing else to add here. Well, thank you to Dan Vert from Virginia for resuscitating this hit. I think this could easily be a 2019 hit. You know, nostalgia doesn't have to go back that far. We can go into our aughts. And I guess that is a long time now, but I'm going to pretend like it's not. But we've got some great recommendations from this era.

Hey, it's Sarah from Berkeley. I have a six-year-old daughter, and she's really into party. in the USA, but because Miley name-checked Britney in that song, we are now working our way through the entire Britney Canon, and like any normal human being, my daughter has gotten

hung up on toxic. So, this summer's soundtrack is all toxic all the time, as well as should be. I guess the odds are a long time ago because here we have another really fun family crossover sharing something with the younger generation, someone who had not heard toxic,

and yet it's inescapable. Toxic, this is just, this is, if you, you know, stop me on the street and we're like, what is the single greatest pop song of all time? I would, there's a high likelihood I would say toxic by Britney Spears. Really? I think it is just almost platonically ideal pop song. And I love Sarah's story because it's like, okay, Miley gets you into Brittany. And then it seems inevitable that you get into Britney and then you listen to her cover, you know, I can't get no satisfaction. and then all of a sudden you're listening to the stones.

And then maybe after that you're like, oh, maybe now I'm listening to Muddy Waters and then you're listening to, you know, Bessie Smith. It's like, it's a slippery slope, guys, until your kids are listening to Ragtime, and I'm telling you now it has to, you have to stop it early before it's too late for them. What's your people with Ragtime?

No, I love Ragtime. I know you do. And since you've brought us back in time again, Before we catch up, I want to play you actually what I think some of the most wonderful recommendations from a real friend of the show. This comes from the producer of Vox's Earworm series and recent collaborator with Switchedon Pop back at the Code Conference a few episodes ago. Hey, Switchedon Pop, it's Estelle here, and here are my four favorite tracks this summer. The first is a very sloppy British punk cover of I heard it through the grapevine. It's by The Slits.

It's from 1979, but I only heard it for the first time this summer, so it's new to me. Well, that is just the greatest thing I've ever heard. You had a second ago, Brittany covering the stones,

and now you have the slits covering Marvin Gaye through the lens of so many other performers as well. What a great cover. Wow, very fun. Thanks, Estelle. Estelle also brought us a few more. Missy Elliott's slide

is always a go-to summer jam. It's the song I put on in the morning when I'm walking to work. In the summer heat, it really just keeps you moving. Makes sense to me because Estelle is a New Yorker. You are a New Yorker. This song sounds like New York

in the summer, and by that I mean, oppressive heat that you just can't escape, but also with all of the wonderful parts of New York, which is just like all of the myriad cultural influences. Here we have like a pablo drum in the track. It's a really

dark and crunchy synthesizers. I love this piece. Yeah, it's also very New York in that there's like voices yelling borderline unintelligible

things in the background. Hey, get, yeah, get, yeah, go, maybe one of those voices

is Estelle's next recommendation. I'm trying to make a transition here, man. Go ahead. Go ahead. What's stopping you? Here's Estelle again.

One of my favorite hip-hop collaborations is Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, and they just put out an awesome new album. Cataracts is the song I want to recommend. Old school, Chevy things, Cadillacs,

smoking on that good, good for my cataracts. Fucking up this bad food, fast food, get it back, nine extended clip attached, swinging it like a battle back. There's an amazing beat switch at the end, and the whole song just makes me want to buy a convertible. That is a hot beat flip.

That is a hot beat flip. Mad Liv, the beat conductor. He is a mad genius. And Freddie Gibbs has that kind of classic old school flow. This is great stuff. Estelle is coming correct. She's got one that I think is going to be just for you. Ooh, what's that?

Finally, one song I can't recommend enough is Places and Spaces by Donald Bird. If you like beautiful, joyful 1970s jazz pop, then this is the song for you. It really makes me wish I could just travel all summer. I think that's it. All right. Bye. You know, if you don't have those great tomfills, you have to have rising wild violins filled. That is one groovy orchestra.

Man, this is fun. Another good pick, you know. This is like roller rink music to me. No, seriously, like a huge, like Donald Bird was huge. This is something, God, like, like, Maybe we could talk about some day, but like, you know, a lot of the summer jams of the 70s and the 80s,

a lot of them were like the soundtrack to urban, like mainly African American roller skating parties, you know, outdoor roller skating, indoor roller skating. And this is privy. You think, you listen to this and you're like, oh man, I wanna just like cruise around on a track with all my friends,

just like, vibing to this endlessly. Like, this is probably a long song. Yeah, it's a long song. This is over six minutes. Yeah, this is just, and Donald Bird's stuff gets even longer. This is just for like, it doesn't apply in some ways to this sort of frenetic pace of modern life. But maybe that's why it's so valuable is that it like brings you back to a slower time.

So we've gone from hot summer songs, hot girl summer, sad girl summer, astrological summer, nostalgic summer and even some deep cuts and into the roller ranks. This has been really fun. And we did say we were going to declare a winner. But I didn't think it would be fair for us to decide. In fact, we got one recommendation so many times that I just couldn't give it to anybody else. Whoa. Yeah.

And of all the folks who shared with us this recommendation of our winning song, the summer track, there was one reflection that I really wanted to share with you because it doesn't just say what's happening in summer 2019, but may project further out and tell us what's coming in the future. Whoa. Here's our friend Sean, the host of The Daily News Show. today explained. Hey Charlie, it's Sean.

I'm glad you're making this important episode about summer jams. I made a summer playlist and shared it with a lot of my summer friends. It opens and closes with two new Beyonce tracks from the Beyonce live album. There's some Lizzo, there's some Taman Potla, there's some National. There's that incredible track with Mark Ronson and Angel Olson, True Blue. Big shout out to that one. But I got to say, like the song that has been in my head all summer. just constantly.

I don't even know why. I don't constantly listen to it. It's 2021 by Vampire Weekend. 2020-1 where you think about me. I could wait a year, but I shouldn't wait three. I don't want to be. Thinking a lot about the year, 2021, and what our country will look like that year,

what my life will look like that year. And because of it, this sort of refrain of 2021, will you think about me? 2021, will you think about us? Just stick somewhere in the back of my head and thus has been the song of my summer. I want to be clear, Sean was not the only person that recommended this.

There were many voicemails and texts. Here's just a couple. Here's our friend Jack again. Vampire Weekend, any vampire weekend song. And here's Emily Warren. The entire new Vampire Weekend album, Father of the Bride, I can't seem to let it go. even though it's a few months old now.

But I think what we really need to do is we need to listen to it. Here's the track, 2021. I love this idea that a song of summer is not just about the present or nostalgia for the past, but can have us reflect on who we're going to be in the future. That's a beautiful sentiment, though I have to say that one of the more depressing aspects of doing this activity now is realizing that the people who are, who listen to our show are, in fact, much smarter than we are and more talented, which is something I'll have to process in my spare time. But man, that's cool.

Yeah, I'm into this, 2021. It's probably not where I would have initially landed. But it seems to be the consensus amongst listeners who called in with so many recommendations, many that we couldn't play today. So obviously, we're going to have to make a playlist of all the recommendations. It is such a good playlist. We'll share that with everybody. Amazing.

I guess I'll see you next summer. Sounds great, man. And probably at least 50 more times before then. This episode of Switched on Pop was produced by Megan Lubin and me, Charlie Harding. Our producer is Bridget Armistrong. Our editor, a mixer is Brandon McFarland. Our executive producers are Nashat Karawa and Liz Nelson. Sarah Terry is our community manager.

We're a production of the Vox Media Podcast Network. You can find more of our shows on the Apple Podcasts. podcast app, Spotify, Radio Public, Iheart Radio, anywhere you listen to podcasts, we're likely there. You can always go to our website, www.switchedonpop.com, where you're going to find that playlist in the show notes for this episode, as well as if you're listening to any of those podcast players, they're going to be in those show notes too. So check out double nice. Yeah, that hot playlist. And talk to us on social media at Switched on Pop, Twitter, Instagram, all these places. Contact at Switchedonpop.com. That's her email.

I just want to say thanks again to everybody who called in. We had so much fun listening to you and what you like to listen to. It was so meaningful to us. Thanks for listening.