The “Song of Summer” is a myth

Summer is in full swing and everywhere I go I hear Sabrina Carpenter’s catchy, slightly nonsensical “Espresso.” But is it the song of the summer? There’s also Charli XCX’s new album, bratwhose sophisticated club tracks have led fans to embrace “Brat Summer”; meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” dominate the charts. To understand what qualifies songs for “Song of the Summer” status—and why people love to nominate them—I spoke with my colleague Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic‘s music critic.

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“A shared hallucination”

Lora Kelley: How does a song become the “song of the summer”?

Spencer Kornhaber: “Song of the summer” is a much-debated term, more a cultural myth or common hallucination than a fixed term. Most summers bring us a few summer songs that appeal to different audiences.

However, in my opinion, a summer song doesn’t just mean “great in the summer.” It has to have an upbeat, bouncy quality. It has to work just as well in a car with the windows rolled down as it does at a lively barbecue. I’d say Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” all meet those criteria — although you probably wouldn’t want to play Lamar’s song at a barbecue full of Drake fans.

Summer is a season when we spend time in social spaces; songs aren’t just a matter of headphones. When people want to remember a summer, they might do so with music. That’s partly what prompted the impulse to talk about a song of summer in the first place.

Lora: We live in a time without monoculture, and yet it feels like “espresso” is everywhere. How can a song become ubiquitous right now?

Spencer: Like many cultural phenomena these days, it has to do with Taylor Swift. Sabrina Carpenter is a former Disney Channel actress who has been making music for more than a decade. But her breakthrough came in a new way when she began opening for Swift on the Eras tour. Considering Swift is pretty much the only monocultural phenomenon we have, she gave Carpenter the most valuable platform imaginable for a young singer in 2024.

Not only did the tour increase Carpenter’s exposure, but it likely helped with streaming as well. If Spotify knows that a portion of Swift’s fans listen to Carpenter’s music, it will recommend Carpenter to other Swift listeners who don’t already listen to her – and that’s a huge potential audience. With enough exposure, a song as catchy as that will inevitably grow in popularity.

Moreover, Carpenter sounds like a logical progression of what post-Swift pop should be. The music of “Espresso” is pretty generic. But the lyrics have a lot more narrative and personality than the generic pop of, say, Katy Perry 10 years ago. Swift taught a generation of young women how to write catchy songs that are also interesting, and we’re seeing the fruits of that now.

Lora: As you’ve written, pop divas are exploring femininity in fresh and unapologetic ways this summer. How different is this music from previous female pop hits?

Spencer: There was a lot of pop before about being a strong, independent woman, but for me the difference is that these new female singers are poking fun at their lack of interest in what straight men think of them. Chappell Roan, for example, doesn’t seem to be trying to please the widest possible audience; she’s more into making inside jokes with the girls and the gays. And Billie Eilish’s “Lunch” is about having a crush on another woman.

Pop music as we traditionally understand it (and “Espresso” is very much that) isn’t actually popular right now. It’s not a mass phenomenon like it was 10 years ago. Hip-hop is a much bigger, more important and more profitable sector and has been for a long time. To me, the really funny thing about this moment in pop is that these girls are even in the charts.

Lora: Do summer songs affect mood or vice versa? Is it “Brat Summer” because Charli XCX told us to, or is she simply tapping into a more general feeling?

Spencer: Cause and effect are impossible to disentangle when it comes to cultural trends, which is why they’re so much fun to analyze. I tend to think that successful pop music has to be innovative in some way – even if it sounds retro or trite, something is happening that sounds novel and intriguing.

In Charli XCX’s case, she gave us new words and sounds that fit a pretty classic feeling that hits people every summer: wanting to stop worrying about your responsibilities and put fun first.

Lora: I have to ask: What does the chorus of Sabrina Carpenter’s “That’s that me espresso” mean?

Spencer: She’s hot! Honestly, that nonsensical chorus is interesting: People have compared it to the weird lyrics Britney Spears used to sing, written by a Swedish songwriter who didn’t care about English grammar. But there’s one crucial difference. At one point in “Espresso,” Sabrina giggles and says, apparently to herself, “Stupid!” That little touch of confidence makes her this summer’s espresso.

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Stephanie Bai contributed to this newsletter.

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