It feels like a dead meme by now, but it needs repeating: We’ve reached August, and there is still no song of the summer! The main thing I do on this blog is write about music and the charts, but that’s difficult when the charts haven’t budged in months. As I’m writing this, 6 of the top 20 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 have been there for over a year. The rest are mostly Morgan Wallen songs and songs from the K-Pop Demon Hunters movie soundtrack. There has only been one true pop smash hit this year, Ordinary by Alex Warren, which has topped the charts for the last 9 weeks. But Ordinary is a bad song: uninteresting, non-summery, and tip-toeing far too close toward being Christian music. Last summer we had Espresso, Not Like Us, and Brat. The year before we saw the momentum of the Eras Tour launch Cruel Summer to number 1. And 2022 was Bad Bunny summer, with eight songs from Un Verano Sin Ti lasting on the chart for 20 weeks. But 2025? The only worthy contenders I see, at least in the mainstream, are Sabrina Carpenter’s Manchild and Ravyn Lenae’s Love Me Not - both of which are good songs, and decidedly 2025 songs. And I’m sure they’re both someone’s song of the summer. But I don’t think they’re the songs of the summer.
I’ve seen people make the case that this year’s lack of good, big pop music is the result of America’s recent leap toward conservatism. Good pop music is almost always gay, Black, feminine, or rebelious, and those are not easy things to be right now. I certainly think our country’s politics are related to the extra Christian music on the charts this year (and the extra country music for the last three years). But I’m hesitant to mourn the death of pop music too soon. 2024 was an exceptional year for pop, with a truly absurd amount of new releases from the biggest names. Most of the big artists are still capitalizing on the success of last year’s music, or maybe barely starting to work on any new stuff. Have Americans’ political persuasions taken pop music from its best year in recent memory to completely dead in a matter of months? I don’t buy it. And I’m worried that dooming over its recess is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just like how making concessions to fascism only makes them more powerful, acknowledging the death of pop music too soon may be what kills it.
Anyway, here’s some songs I like!
Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved - Miley Cyrus ft. Naomi Campbell
In a just world, this song would’ve been as big as Flowers was a couple years ago. Miley’s latest album, Something Beautiful, came out in May and lives up to the name. What makes Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved such a standout to me is the chorus. Miley belts the chorus in her naturally gritty voice over a blaring horn section and some bold percussive sounds that I can’t identify. Then the post-chorus gives us some lines from Naomi Campbell. I don’t know much about her or fashion/runway culture in general, but her addition to the song is really special, synthesizing the restrained poise of the runway with Miley’s textured voice and the chaotic instrumentation. And the way it all comes together, it’s like the song was custom-made for the gay club.
I Care - Turnstile
I don’t know much about Turnstile. Actually, I’d never heard of them until I heard to their new album. But this album, Never Enough, brought me a polished, exploratory, punk sound that I didn’t know I needed. I don’t normally gravitate toward punk, but it feels warranted these days, and Turnstile make it pretty easy for a newcomer to join the party, with each song adding something unique to the drums and guitars. I think a part of why I like I Care so much in particular from this album is that it’s basically a pop song that just so happens to have a punk chorus. Most of the song catchy and relaxed, with these 80s synthesizer drum passages and a looping chord progression that’s never too tense or too resolved. But these pop sections are punctured by the heavier, shoutier chorus. It sounds like a warm sunny day in July. One that comes after an unusually cold and rainy June, and even though you’re enjoying the nice weather you’re still frustrated that summer is already half over even though it feels like it barely started (not that I’m speaking from experience).
Mr. Media - Tyla
She’s back! And she’s angry! I won’t get into the various PR controversies Tyla’s gotten into over the last couple years (from what I can tell, they’re mostly just misunderstandings, xenophobia, and misogyny). But she’s letting the frustration they’ve caused her fuel this track. I didn’t love her two last singles, Bliss and Is It, but the rest of her new EP, WWP, (which also includes Mr. Media and the WizKid collab, Dynamite) won me back over. I love her attitude on this song, especially the way she rolls her R and stresses the line “I can never get it ri-i-ight”. Few things are more cathartic than an angry song to dance to.
One of My Bedbugs Ate My Pussy - CupcakKe
I’ve been a genuine fan of CupcakKe for a while now, and she has long been the queen of injecting raunchy hip hop with absurdist humor. But wow, this one still left my jaw on the floor. Even past the title, it’s filled with meme references from last year, a punchy and danceable beat, incredible flows, and an Itsy-Bitsy Spider interpolation of all things. I won’t go in too much detail because the song speaks for itself (and also because my parents read my Substack). But I’ve had this song on repeat far more than I’d like to admit.
The Subway - Chappell Roan
Aaaaand just after I started working on this post I had to rewrite it because we might have a genuine song of the summer on our hands! (Very) early predictions based on streaming numbers have it in competition with Ordinary for a number 1 debut next week. We’ll see if this song proves stable enough to pull it off. But I’m feeling optimistic.
This song only came out two days ago (at least for me since I never watched the live recordings), but I feel like I’ve been listening to it for years. Like so much of Chappell’s songwriting, it’s timeless. She tones down her theatricality here, leaning into the vulnerability of longing and heartbreak. And the bridge/outro, where she sings “She’s got a way; she got away” is one of the most powerful vocal passages I’ve heard in a pop song in a while. And the line about moving to Saskatchewan is particularly relatable right now. It might not be a typical, upbeat song of the summer. But it feels appropriate for the moment.
Pop might be paused, but it will resume shortly.
Curious abt your take on the Jojo Siwa/Ethel Cain takes of Bette Davis Eyes