The Press Box - Ep. 167: 'Jam Session' Songs of the Summer

Episode Date: August 17, 2016

The Ringer's Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins map out the all-time best and worst songs of the summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of Jam Session is brought to you by Seatgeek, our presenting sponsor and the only fan-friendly app for buying and selling sports and music tickets. Seekkeek makes buying tickets on your phone a total snap. With just two taps, you can instantly buy tickets to an event that same day, have your tickets delivered straight to your phone, and enter the event without ever having to print a ticket, which is magical because printing things is hard. And if you can't go to a gamer show,

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Here we are. Almost at the end of the summer. What a depressing phrase. But that means we have so much summer. fair to evaluate specifically summer music song of summer song of the summer here we are um we'll reveal our songs of the summer i had i'm so curious what you'll be picking um we're doing both 2016 and all time yeah in all time i have i have two ready for you great i do too you're gonna get the reveal live on air we have not consulted about this we also pulled our colleagues some of them

were right and some of them are very wrong yes agreed um and we'll get into it i love pop music so this is like one of my favorite discussions. I would like to like talk about the definition of the song of summer for a while. This is a topic I feel passionately about. Great. I've studied it for many years. Okay. I do recall reading you about this before I knew you. Yeah. It was a thing that I made a lot of hay of when I had to write a lot. Yes. So I evolved a very specific theory about the song of summer, which I actually, you know, there are rules. It can't just be like, the song of summer is not your personal favorite mountain goat song. The song of summer is a collective choice. Do you know someone who would reference the mountain goats as their favorite song of the summer?

Actually just like sub-tweeting my husband right now. Oh, I see. That's why I keep bringing up the mountain goats right now. It seemed like a safe space to just like, and he actually, he would not do that. I feel like I slander him all the time. He's a smart person who understands songs of summer. But yeah, I don't like the mountain goats. Anyway. I don't know who they are except I know that I like saw them live once. You saw them live, but don't know who they are? I couldn't name a song for you. It's actually one man.

It's a man. Right, one man. Yes, I saw him like in San Francisco. Oh my God. This is way too much Mountain Ghosts on Jam session. I'm so sorry to everyone for like, you know, betraying our brand. Anyway. So this song of summer is not a personal choice.

It is a song that we agree on. Sure. As a nation, as a community of pop music listeners. Yeah, like when you were on the roof with a beer and your your hand. What was the song that was playing? Exactly. And it's like, you know, what's the song that you hear everywhere on the radio, like people driving by in cars? I think wedding dance floors are an underrated component of the song of summer experience because it's the song that like you're excited to hear on the dance floor and also your mom like after a couple glasses of wine will probably dance to. I think it's a real

one year lag in that though because a lot of it's true. A lot of the time the planning of a playlist goes on in advance. Also, like, you want people to be really excited. So usually it's like a song from like the previous summer or something. That's true. Or, and this is interesting because we should talk about timing a little. That is always the song that came out in like January or February. Yeah. So that everybody has had time to listen to it. A true song of summer is very rarely released in like July or August because it doesn't have enough time to reach enough people. Yeah. To be unifying anthem. Totally. Yeah. It's usually a March release. Yeah, and it's actually gotten a bit earlier as the years go on and as there are so many different ways to discover music, you know, which is another interesting thing that I wanted to talk about.

It's kind of interesting how, like, the summer season of both movies and music has just become like year-round. Yeah. And it's like, I mean, it's a broader discussion. Just because it takes a long time to get, to collect a large audience. Yeah. Like, you can't just, like, it used to be that there were three TV stations and you would go to the movie theater and there was the radio. and that was it. And so like corporations had a much larger hold on sure we're giving you this and it will be popular. And like my primary music portal is Spotify and I'm so lazy that I

rely on like their recommendations and their playlist so often. So like unless they have recommended a song to me, I probably haven't heard it. So this is another interesting component of the song of summer that has changed a lot. It used to just be like what was number one on the radio played a major factor in what the like that was sort of the song. summer. If you held number one long enough, you win. That is not the case anymore because people listen to Spotify and people just like do things on the internet and listen to a lot of YouTube. And there are a lot of different ways to listen to music. So it's harder to measure like what's popular. Sure. Which is a death of the monoculture. Exactly. Justin Charity wrote a very good piece about

this for the ringer, specifically about the Billboard Hot 100 and how it's just like it's much harder to measure what's popular. So that's interesting, right? It's a little bit harder to decide definitively what the song of summer is. The objective, like, number one on the Hot 100 all summer, Song of Summer for 2016 is one dance by Drake. Right. I'm not mad at that. I guess I'm not either. Although I feel like too good was the second single. Right. The thing is, is that it doesn't feel as definitive of a song of summer anymore because there were, like there are a bunch of different ways to have a song be popular. Sure. And you've heard a bunch of different things. So I actually don't think that one dance is the song of summer. Objectively, it's the song of summer. If you came to me and

you were like, one dance is a song of summer, I'd be like, yes, you've done your reading. And like, I respect you as a pop music listener. I think it also was dissonant with like the Drake moment, which feels like the second album didn't really, or not, obviously not a second album. It was the most recent album hasn't done that well. He hasn't really had like a like a meme come out of the second album. That's true. Recent album, which is like a real Drake failure because he's given us so many memes and slogans. And it's also like one dance is a great song, but it's not particularly drakey song. And there's like a whole other conversation to be had about dance hall Drake and cultural appropriation. And I don't think that we need to go there right now. Sure. But it

for the purposes of the song of summer, it's not very drakey. How do you feel that festival culture has affected the song of the summer? Because festivals are so mainstream now, but also aren't like reactive to what's popular at the moment because they're booked in advance. And they just like are such a big part of like the music scene and the warm months, but are not really connected to radio play at like at the same time. Well, I mean, I think festivals and pop music are just kind of, I understand the festivals are popular and mainstream.

Yeah. But they don't really incorporate pop music at all. Except for pop stars going to them to like to be seen. Exactly. Right. So I think it's just. It's not top 40, but it's pop. Right.

And Song of Summer, that's an important distinction. Song of Summer is really a top 40 phenomenon. I still love top 40 music. I also love type 40. I think you and I are both so excited about this because we just mostly like to listen to top 40. Totally. Totally. Yeah.

So one dance is nomination. What are some other ones that you think are in the mix? Can I just tell you my, it's definitely Pandas. Oh, Ponda Ponda. Ponda, Ponda, yeah. Which, so Ponda was number one, but not technically. I think it eventually lost the crown to One Dance.

So One Dance has held the number one spot for most of the like summer. Sure. May to now. But it did hit number one. And it was just then a really, a true fun song of summer is a phenomenon. Like call me maybe like blurred lines like things that. Yeah, I was going to say that too. like if you take them, they exist like outside of a moment.

Like they're just like, that was a song from that summer. Whereas like both one dance and Panda are like so tied up and like what's happening with Kanye and like the current Drake trajectory. Yeah. But I just at least like Panda is a little bit of. It's really interesting, right? Because we found out about it because of Life of Pablo. But it became more popular than that entire record.

And like more popular than any future songs right now. Yes, exactly. And like even though he's literally never been to Atlanta, but he's doing future better than future. It's fascinating. Also, he's just like. A super young kid is definitely like fun and creative. And I know very little about him. Like what, like what do you know about him?

Where is he from? I think I just told you everything that I know. He's from New York. Interesting. And there has been this moment, he's 19. There has been this moment of like, is he just this one hit wonder that Kanye found or he did a freestyle for XXL, I believe, Timmy Turner, that everyone is just like, oh my my God, maybe designer's a genius.

So that's kind of interesting. you're watching this person become a person in real time as opposed to Drake. Like, we know what Drake is about. Yeah, yeah. So I think that there's like, there's a real moment there that kind of makes the case for me. And also, like, honestly, just ponda, punda. Punda. It's so fun to say.

And like, you can't underestimate that. And the song of summer is really stupid. But just like go up to anyone and be like, ponda. Anyone under 40 will just be like punda punda back at you. You can't underestimate. That is like that you win. Do you think either of those songs will be played at weddings next summer? I mean, that's tough, right?

Yeah. I bet one dance seems more likely. Especially if you love Hennessy. Yo, you'll definitely play Pandetta. You'll definitely definitely play Pandetta. I don't know. Not a lot of the weddings I've gone to. Late night, though, when things get weird?

Like after party? Yeah. Come on. Okay. I don't know. I just feel like that one's in the come and go. I mean, now when the grandparents are still around. Sure.

You know? I don't think. I don't think like you're on like Janet is going to relate to that but it's but that's fine. I think that it's still it's just fun. That's the other thing like a song of summer has to be truly fun for a lot of people. And that song for whatever reason is, it's like the magic bottle thing that you can't really. I think if it's just one word that you say over and over again, very low barrier singing along. I know.

Listen, meme ability is is crucial in the song of summer race. Also it has an emoji. So it's just like it was already That's true We've written about this extensively I guess one dance has an emoji as well The dancing woman Yes

Or like a glass of whiskey or whatever I feel like there hasn't been enough made About the Hennessee Component of One Dance Like I just feel like if I were Hennessy I'd be like just jumping on that For my advertising Or there'd just be more like

Gifts of like Drake with like a drink in his hand I don't know I just feel like we're missing out on some content here Maybe you should As a content maker think about these things. Like maybe there's a connecting opportunity for you with a check involved at the end. Maybe.

My song of the summer is more of a sound of the summer and it is the chain smokers with Daya plus Sia because those two songs sound exactly the same. Hers is called Cheap Thrills and theirs is called Don't Let Me Down. And for a long time I thought they were the same song because they sound so similar. Honestly, you put me, got into my head. I guess I could tell now, but. Those two together make up like 40% of the airplay on pop rate on top 40 radio right now. Someone listens to Kiss FM a lot.

I hear those songs a lot. And they, the only thing is like, I don't know if either like stand the test of time. Like I think cheap thrills is more likely to. Do you get excited when I like to sing along? No, cheap thrills. Like I think it's like a fun one. But like I just think that those two songs because they sound the same, there's there. And there's two of them are like ubiquitous.

And like it's kind of depressing, but I think that the chain smokers like really speak to like the derivative nature of pop music right now. Yes. And so like because of that, like, yeah, that actually like really makes sense for like this exact moment. It makes sense for the moment. But do you think that there's like the crowdswell behind it? People are just like, yes, this song, because that is an important moment of song. It's true. To be like, woo!

Panda! I think that Sia songs have a long lives because. Chandelier is just a jam for eternity. Elastic Harv at the weekend I really like. I don't acknowledge the weekend. Oh, okay. I just, I don't. Fair enough.

Pass. Like, please do not at me. This is the version without the weekend for you too. Okay, great. I think that song also is a long life. The one that's like titanium, that one lives like live forever. I mean, that's pitch perfect's fault, but yes. Yeah.

Yeah. But then she, I just was reading this interview with her that Rob Harvilla sent to me. We're like, she, I don't, she just going. so many songs. I don't know. Like, Sia is, I think, like, filling the Dr. Luke vacuum right now. Absolutely. And she's, like, redefining the, like, the radio sound, basically, which I don't think she ever, like, meant to do. But now it's, like, undeniable. It's pretty, it's pretty crazy. I was listening to the song that she wrote for Shakira. She is, like, such a chameleon in some ways. But it's, like, no longer is, like, a chameleon capability when, like, everyone just is

using your songs. Yeah, that's true. The tricky thing about her, filling the Dr. Luke void, which is a great point and is very true. The fact that she exists and is recording her own songs as well just means that you, I'm just very aware when like Rihanna is doing a Sia song or like, totally. Anyone else is just doing their Sia song and you can like hear her singing it. She's kind of like undercutting her own writing career. Exactly.

And you know that like Dr. Luke, whatever you think of him, which is a very complicated subject. Sure. you know he's like lurking behind the shadows but it's it's like in the song form it's just the DNA of a song yeah as opposed to like an actual person i guess actually now he's an actual person and i haven't really listened to a lot of dr luke's songs since all of the cash allegations so i would be curious to hear whether i should go back and examine my response to them i suppose well this let's this so that's my that's my choice of 2016 but this is a good transition to some nominations for our colleagues of the best summer songs of all time. And one of them that got

like a lot of like, yep, that's a good one is Teenage Dream by Katie Perry. Yeah, you can't argue with that one. It's a great song. Also, California girls definitely was a song of summer. Don't. There was that whole album, the teenage dream album is first of all phenomenal. Second of all, like the peak of Dr. Luke. And Katie Perry, like, since has not had a song nearly as good. I really liked walking on air from her PRISM album, but like nothing really took off that way. Yeah. And that's partially because she was like more involved, I think, with like the writing as with John Mayer. And also then she felt to me to be emotional and sing ballads.

Yeah. I don't know why she was just something like, I guess I'm 30 something and now I have to be adult contemporary, which by the way, you do not. As a 30-something year old woman living out in the world, it's still okay to like top 40, Katie Perry. I support you. Everyone seems to really like Katie Perry. Everyone who knows her.

In the same CIA interview, she was saying how much she loved Katie Perry. Like she's like a great person. Yes, everyone but Taylor Swift. Yeah. Which is like possibly. that's the real referendum on Swift, not Katie Perry. But Cio was like, she was saying that even though that writing for her didn't work out, like she really wanted to be friends with Katie Perry, which is that was so funny

and really sweet. But Teenage Dream is like, I think, a top 10 pop song of all time, let alone summer songs. Yes. It's just an anthem. It's great. It's incredible. It also launched a second person's career, which I was thinking about today, which is Darren Chris from Glee.

He had like a three-year career on the strength of that. That actually, I say what you will about Glee, but that's a really special two minutes. Yeah. It was really, and they're all in the little Blazers, man. It was very sweet. And seriously, that, like, that, like kept the second season of Glee going and also gave Darren Chris, like, a new career who until that point was just like a Harry Potter super fan. He wrote a Harry Potter musical.

I did not. Oh, I did remember that. It's like, it's pretty catchy. I think he actually is pretty talented, but, like, not really, like, I don't know what you do with him. But anyway, he, like, at the University of Michigan, really, like, this Harry Potter musical that became, like, a cult classic. Let your light shine, you know? Yeah. Good for him.

That's a really strong one. Pretty hard to an eye. Another one tonight. That was Allison Herman's nomination, and I wanted to, like, reward her because she was, like, I know this is lame. It's not lame. It's not lame. Katie Perry is not lame. She's not.

I went to her, I saw her in concert. She's not a good performer. It was actually, I also saw the PRISM tour. It was terrible, but whatever. It was just low energy, but the songs are great. Yeah. Also, the thing about Katie Perry that makes her perfect song of summer is that she just buys the best songs and then produces the shit out of them. And it's like the true perfect pop confection, which is what you want for Song of Summer. It's not supposed to be a thing

that you enjoy in concert. It's not supposed to be like a deep, challenging musical experience. But she is the best at like the truly enjoyable pop song. She's just like turned that into a business. Listen to it in your car. Have fun with your friends. See it on Glee. It's all great. It's all really good. We're going to talk more songs of the summer, but first, Amanda, can I talk to you about Blue Apron? I would love to hear about Blue Apron. Blue Apron is a food delivery service. Yeah, it's pretty dope.

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It's just a better way to cook. Okay. Let's talk more music. Another really good nomination from Rob Harvilla is Umbrella by Rihanna. Yeah. In March 2007. So this was like a huge, huge song for me when I was in college. Like I can, I just feel sweaty at the bar thinking about it.

It was just so good. That is true for all of us. I think we had a, listen, this really, we had a lot of interesting conversations with the ringer staff preparing for this. Yeah. And we had a very interesting conversation with Ruby Edmondson, who is in a Song of Summer Fantasy League. Pretty amazing. And she's, so this is the first year she's been doing it formally, but she's been informally betting on the Song of Summer for a decade, which is fantastic. So I was talking with her about whether it's easier or harder to determine which is the Song of Summer.

she was like, it's getting a little harder. There was that run where it was very, like, it was just very clear. And I think Umbrella is possibly the clearest song of summer of all time. Yeah, totally. Like, no one will argue with that. It was literally everywhere. It was too much, really. It was really good.

And then the Chris Brown remix came. Dun, da, da. And I remember hearing the Chris Brown remix the first time. And, like, he, like, he went into the studio alone. Like, it wasn't, like, an official remix. He was just really into the song. And so he just, like, got studio time. And so, like, they're saying, like, their tags up top.

And you hear them, like, interject really quickly. And Chris Brown. And then, like, goes into the song. And it's just, like, so amateurish, but it really took off. And then they dated, obviously. And then, you know, it went horribly wrong. And it was the worst. But that's, like, it's just, that's a great, a great song.

It's so good. There's so many also, like, just so many other rumors attached to it. That was, like, kind of the real, like, the mainstream moment for Rihanna and Jay-Z. Oh, yeah. It also illustrates another key song of something. summer point, which is you need the instant reaction meme moment. Like, I need, if you just say umbrella to someone, Ella. Yeah. Like, which again, it's sort of like the panda thing, but it gets so one, if one bit of it gets seared into everyone's head, that's like a pretty good. Yeah. Success

indicator. It's a really great song. I still happily listen to it now. And like, of course. That was a great JZ guest verse. Like everyone just did great on that song. I was, I was really into it. I did feel like as I was reading, going back and kind of doing the history research, I had this moment being like, oh my God, remember when pop music was so good and now it's not anymore, which I know it's not true. I know it was just like nostalgia kicking in. And also, obviously, you forget all of the shitty-ass songs that they were on the radio at the same time. Well, like this was from-

But umbrella is really, what a moment. Yeah. It's from 07, which is when The Dream and Neo were both writing a lot of pop songs. And like that's like that kind of like R&B pop I love like I love I love irreplaceable by Beyonce which Neo wrote I love I love all of Neo's songs he's written for Beyonce and Rihanna. So like that was just like a great era of pop music in my mind and an umbrella is like the encapsulation of it for sure. Yeah.

Okay. Some other some other suggestions of best all time. Jason Concepcion said regulate by Orangey. That's like hard for me to weigh in on because while it's a great song, like I was just kind of like too young to really know that moment. I mean, it's a great song, but it's, I, I wasn't enjoying it in 1994 in the moment. I was not, I was not cool enough. Let's, I was 10 and was not cool. I was really, really into, um, Boys to Men from 1994 and 1995, like just so into them. That's great. Why that particular year? Um, I think it's when the two album came out. Okay. So like water runs dry is one of

my favorite songs. And I, I don't know, just around them, they were really. Boys to Men was my first cassette tape. Really? Yeah, end of the road. Mine was vividly remember it. Mine was, um, a a cassette single and was I like Your Smile by Shanice. Wow. Yeah. I remember my local HMV had a room of just cassette singles and I went there to get it. Another really good suggestion, but again, I feel I was too young for it, is Return of the Mac by Mark Morrison that Justin Charity suggested. Yes, a great one. That's a great one. That's a great one. Though, like, that is a great song.

It was not the 1996 song of summer. The 1996 song of summer was the Macarena. Like, I'm sorry. We were all complicit. I'm not proud of it. But like, I love dance crazes. So I am, I love it. It's like, listen, it's not all, we don't always make good choices as a group of, like, as a nation. I think our current political process is indicating that. But like, you can't deny that the Macarena was the 96 song of summer.

It's so true. It's tough. That's really, really true. This is another controversial one from Melissa Bresnack about 2007. Okay. competing with Umbrella. Yeah. That was the summer of paper planes by MIA.

Yeah. Listen, that was, the song was definitely a phenomenon. Like, Umbrella was the song. the summer. I just, there's no, I think I went to, there's no argument. I went to Laalooza that summer, my one and only time going to a cool festival. And, and who was at Lala Palluza that year? Daff Punk. Okay. Which was pretty cool. All right. And then I think like Pearl Jam, which, like, I didn't really care about. Sure. I saw Amy Winehouse, which was pretty cool. Oh, that's nice. Her last American performance. So that's cool. Oh, that's, now I'm sad. Yeah, sorry, brought us down.

Anyway, MIA, I think also performed that summer. And like we were saying, like, if you're on the festival circuit, like at the same time that your song is popular, it's not that popular because they were able to book you for a said festival. So, you know. Yes, that's true. From Ruby, 1995, Waterfalls. Yeah. I mean, that, it's hard to argue with that. Pretty unimpeachable.

What else did we have in 1995? I'm just trying to, let's see. That's a really good one. I think that was the summer of boys to men as well. also apparently was the summer of kiss from a rose so you know that's not a song of summer a song but let's just let's just take a moment for seal it was that was a good one I mean gangsters paradise came out came out in that September right too late yeah for song of summer oh it's also the summer of this is how we do it and so that's like an interesting one so that was like more of like a march april release okay

and that song like really indoors as like the fun song but I don't really think it was like a song of the summer It also is just so cheesy. Many songs of the summer. I mean, I guess I get psyched when both, this is how we do it, and waterfalls come on. Yeah. This is what I'm saying. I love TLC. No Scroves is my go-to karaoke.

Shit. And creep was this year. Wow. What a year. It was 95 was really good. It was like on bend of knee. And then fantasy was never one in October. Holy shit.

Oh my God. Sorry. Oh, fuck. And then one sweet day. I forgot. 95. Okay. Good year.

Wow. We just also really just had an 11-year-old moment. That's okay. Listen, it's good to have nostalgia. Speaking of nostalgia, Alison Davis had an incredible nomination, 1998. The Boy is Mine, which just brought back some real TRL memories. Are you more of a Brandy or a Monica? Brandy.

I'm more of a Monica. I actually don't know. Have you ever an angel of mine were like very important bar mitzvah songs? Have you ever played the game Snowball? No, what? Okay, you didn't go to enough bar mitzvahs. Sorry. You stand, everyone stands in the circle and like the bar mitzvah.

a boy or bottsma girls in the middle and they start slow dancing with a boy or a girl. Okay. And then someone yells snowball and they have to go get someone else from the large circle. And it keeps snowballing until everyone's involved slow dancing. That's so nice. I guess so. Anyway, Angel of mine. We did not do that.

Angel of mine and have you ever were the two most important snowball songs. They're like. Of that, what was your most important all time slow dance song? Sorry, it's a different, different podcast, but we're doing this. Like from when I was 13? Yeah. I think Angel of Mine by Monica. It was really important to me.

Also Unbreak My Heart by Tony Braxton. Oh, my God. I don't, oh, yeah, that's really good. That's too emotional for a slow dance song. Especially at the age of 13. In middle school, definitely where I went to school, the most important slow dance song was satellite by Dave Backy's band. So now you know everything you need to know about me.

Oh, my God. That's incredible. That's really. It was really, it was like always the last one and you really needed to get like the best person for that one. Have You Ever by Brandy is one of the most important songs of my life. Like, it's just so emotional. Have you ever love someone so much you thought you die? That's how it begins. Wow. Okay. So that really hits hard when you're 13. You just really like sad shit. Yeah, I do. I really do. And for, I mean, for Snowball, obviously you need a good slow song.

Okay. So Boy is Mine. I vividly remember watching TRL in the summer. Yeah. And this was big part of it. And I think honestly, TRL was the home for much of our song of summer. Yeah, absolutely. Discussions before we had the internet. The Seaside Heights House. Yeah. And it was also like we were young and it's not like you had that much to do in the summer. I watched so much TRL in the summer. I didn't watch any summer TV because I was at camp and then on Cape Cod. But TRL was obviously like kind of the battleground for all of these. All of these song debates. Also, Junion and Bottle came out over the summer. and like took TRL by storm.

Yes, I vividly remember that. And that was a big one too. I mean, that was like a, that was a big moment. I was like, oh, Christina's here. Yeah. I remember hearing about that when I was at camp. Like someone on visiting weekend was like, there's this new song from a new singer. It's like she's like Britney kind of.

Like, so then do you just have to wait until you get home from camp? There's no music at camp? No, you bring music. So like the most, the most seminal record for like women our age at camp. Yes. Is the now and then soundtrack. Okay. What's on the now and then?

I didn't go to camp. Like a lot of stuff. Like sugar, sugar by the Archie's. It's like oldies. Knock three times. Yeah. You're not doing. I mean, that's great.

Yeah. And then also like usually it's like like wedding is a one year lag. So like one year ghetto superstar like was really, really popular. Okay. And so it's like the song is you know, it's like as it comes up. And then I hear songs now all the time and I'm like if I was at camp, we would be making up a dance to this for the talent show. Okay.

Like like little mix and fifth harmony, great, great music for. Work, work. Yeah. I bet that song's really. popular with like 13-year-old girls at camp this summer. They're probably working on their dances right now. Yeah, sure. I like that song.

It's good. It's very sexual. So it's actually very inappropriate. Yeah, right, but it's okay. So it's okay. Songs that we listened to when we were 13th. We just didn't know. It's totally fine.

I actually think they missed time, Fifth Harmony. They should have pushed them a little bit because boss is also a good, like, Michelle Obama. Yeah. It came, it was like March. Like, yeah, it was too early. And it was also too close to Rihanna's work.

Yeah. Which is a song that we did not really talk about in the context of Song of Summer because I think it was a little too early. But like wedding dance-wise, like that is the song. Work, work, yeah, totally. I played twice in my wedding.

Twice, wow. I asked them to run it back. Nice. There you go. That's great. More suggestions. Danny Chow said, I need a girl part two.

I do like that song very much. Sure. That's from 2002, which I can't believe feels more recent than that. But impressive. I mean, here, that's a great song. Nellie's happened here.

it was also 2002. So I don't know what to say. That was really big for me. Yeah. I think Nelly wins that one. Yeah. That's a great song. It's so good.

How did you know what his... What was your Nellie recommendation for songs? Right. Okay. Tate nominated Ride With Me for a good one too. Okay. What a time. Nellie owned the turn of the century is what we're saying.

Shout to Nellie. Really, really true. I mean, that's great. You know, I like Nellie a lot. Micah, the coolest kid in school said for this year, it's pick up the phone by Young Thug and Travis Scott, which is obviously incorrect. We've already established that. Yeah, it's, I mean, that's a great song.

Again, it's a little too cool. Are you ready to reveal your greatest song of all time? Yeah. A summer song of all time. Yeah, are you excited? I have a feeling it might pick the same one. You go first. Mine is Crazy in Love.

Oh, nice. That's not mine. Yeah. Mine's Calling Maybe. I mean, Call Me Maybe is a close second, but Crazy in Love was just 2003. It was all you heard, Beyonce's first number one. I vividly remember it was the summer after my, first year of college and I was like nannying for the summer and and I like would drive the kids

around and I just remember the tiny kid in the back being like put on the uh-oh song a bunch uh-huh which is how you know that your song has really like like reached a full audience is when a three-year-old is like knows your song yeah crazy love forever that's a really good one I forgot about that yeah Beyonce I feel like I don't know she's like not in my summer life yeah but that one that one was it was really the only time. Yeah, that's true. And, you know, when we were talking about festivals, I was thinking about her, like, epic, uh, Glass and Berry performance of crazy and love, which was after the fact. Right. But like, if you can even conquer the festivals with your song, you're a true song of summer champion. It's true. And the British festivals have been going on for

longer and, like, have more cachet to American. So I feel like they're a slightly, slightly different category. I don't, I don't like hold that against the artist in the same way. Um, mine's calling maybe from 2012. Yeah. Really bolstered by, well, you know, the way they made a big song was by Justin Bieber doing like a fake viral video for it. Totally. The phenomenon aspect is very real. Yeah. And then the Olympics, like all of the Olympics, like the swimmers did like their plane video. Yeah. It just really took off with the help of the London Olympics, which is probably my favorite Olympics ever. That's true. And it just was everywhere. And it's like she, I think, I think, you know, she's not a one hit wonder because like all the-the-album, her second album, actually

the first album was very good too, by the way. Yeah. She is like a talented musician. Yes. It's funny. She is like our age, which means she's old for pop music, especially when she debuted. So like she kind of like never had a chance like go like fully mainstream or she'll fully Katie Perry basically. But she's been like pretty successful given like the extremely fast rise of that one song. And the fact that she insists on having bangs. There was absolutely no guarantee that she would follow up with it at all.

And like I think her, the album that she did with, called me maybe, I think it was called Kiss, was very good but did not sell a lot. Right. And then she was on Cinderella and people were like, hmm, I guess Carly Ray Debson is done. Yeah. And then she worked with Dev Hines and figured out and like made a really great album. Right. That again, didn't sell a ton, but now she's sort of like critically adored.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she obviously is more than just like a top 40 pop singer. Yeah. Not there's anything wrong with being that. There's not. But she, yeah, I think when she was kind of like allowed to go in like the musical direction she really wanted to, it sort of yielded better music. but less mainstream success,

although much more critical success. Yeah. I feel like all the music heads love her. They really do. They're like, oh yeah, like I'll tell you what's really good. That's probably Ray Jepson Jam.

Right. What's really, really, really good, is Call Me Baby. What's really, really, really good is Call Me Baby. And she's like, you know, I can't stand high fidelity people at all,

but like even true music nerds were like, yeah, you can't really deny Call Me Maybe. Yeah, it's so good. When I hear it, I'm just like instantly excited. I'll listen to it on a loop. So good. It's just a real. pump up jam. One song that I wish I had mentioned earlier that we both like, blurred lines.

I thought you were going to say uptown funk. Oh yeah. Well, that too. Um, yes, both great recent songs are summer, both wedding dance floor killers. Yeah. True killers. Uptown Funk is maybe the greatest wedding dance floor song of all time. I think it, I think it is too. Also, because wedding bands can play that really well. Yes. That's great. Yeah, that's an interesting thing that we didn't really explore. And I guess like the wedding dance floor song is related, but different than song of summer. Yeah. I think that the reason like songs will like endure though is like how easily it is for a yeah, a band to play it. And Uptown Funk is like written for a band. When when they start trying to cover crazy in love, I just like run and hide. It doesn't it doesn't work out well. But a man or a woman.

It's not good. Because of Bruno's register, a man or a woman could train it well. And you know, it calls for instrumentation. So it's good. It really works that well. And like, and blurred lines, just that beat is so good. The summer of blurred lines and get lucky was my favorite summer. Yeah, 2013. It was a great time. I understand that those are both like hugely derivative songs. Like people who are live in the 70s, like, please don't lecture me unless you just want to send me cool 70s songs to listen to. Like I love disco. I understand that neither of them, that they were both borrowing. But I loved the way they borrowed. Yeah, great job. I had a great time. I had a great time. I'm still psyched every time I hear either one of those songs.

I feel the same way. I heard blurred lines in the car over the weekend and it was like a great time. I was like, let's run this back. Two more times with blurred lines. I'll do it. Yeah. And I think that also as a T.I fan, he's got a great contribution on that record. It's really good.

He's an Atlanta man, isn't he? Yeah, of course. Another like summerish song of Atlanta provenance is yeah, by Asher. Oh, 2004, what a year. That was a great, great, great, great album. I love Confessions Part 2. There's so many great songs out there, Amanda. What's your, before, what's your all-time least favorite song of summer?

Oh, interesting. My all-time least favorite song of summer. Again, I refuse to acknowledge Fancy, but there was no other alternative. It was not here for that. Interesting. I don't know. I feel like I've blocked out all of the ones I don't like and I just focus on the pep. if I had to pick

hmm I don't know what are some other ones that I that I'm not thinking of just fancy it was the worst fancy that was a really dark year 2014 was just like a very bad year

for pop music yeah which I think we should which we should remember as a way to be grateful for what we have now totally we really had like an incredible for six months of the year in terms of a lot of really good music a lot of people had just been holding on for

like not release anything in a long time. It's true. Formation is just starting to get like radio air radio play here in L.A., which I think is really strange. It's very delayed, obviously. And it's like only even on like some stations. It's weird. It's interesting. Like Beyonce just like, like she doesn't need the radio and just doesn't try. And they don't and they also. I've been a lot of sorry actually. Yeah, sorry. That's true. Sorry's been on too. That'd be, that'd be a fun one to like, you know, late afternoon coming home from the beach, just pump sorry. Whatever. I'd always rather hear call me maybe. How about both?

Yeah, both, totally. Okay, great. Are there any music that you're looking forward to in the fall? I feel like fall's worst music period. It seems like there will be a Taylor Swift album, which I'll be interested in. Okay. I don't care about Lady Gaga, so I know that... Have you ever?

You know, listen, like I like poker face as much as anyone. Sure. That was fine. I didn't... The moment was not for me, more generally. You know me, like the theater kid aspect. Sure. I get a little nervous.

That's been in the works for a long time. I will say that Mark Ronson has been rumored to be working on it, and I like the music that Mark Ronson produces, and I also like the way Mark Ronson looks. So I'm, like, excited for both. I will enter with a vaguely open mind. Okay. I'm trying to think if anything else has been rumored, pop-wise.

I'm just talking top 40 right now. There's a lot. Taylor stuff will probably take over. That sucks. I forgot about that. However, I do love shake it off. When that comes on, I'm happy. Yeah.

That came out in late August. And there was a lot of discussion about that at the Grantland office in August 2014. I mean, I think there was everywhere, that awkward Yahoo! Lyshame. Though I would say, like, if you release a song in August, it's too late for song of summer. Right. You're just crashing the party. Yeah.

You're looking for like September. Yeah. Celebrations. Get out of here. All right. This was really fun. You know, 1995, I think, is the big takeaway. Yeah. What a time. I'm going to listen to a 1995 playlist as soon as we're done recording here. Thanks for listening, everyone.

Thank you.