What Will the 2021 Song of the Summer Be?
This year, like any other, all of pop is vying for control of the charts during the sweatiest season. But the stakes are higher this summer, since we all need a song that defines the joy of renewed social bonds amid a desperately coveted reopening. Thankfully, plenty of artists understand the assignment of making the world feel alive again, be it with a raging breakup anthem or a sweet, fruit-based serenade. As always, what should and what will rule the summer are two different things. Below, we take a closer look at some of the biggest contenders and a few favorite outliers.
Saweetie: “Best Friend” [ft. Doja Cat]
In the last 15 years, the “song of the summer” as a concept has become codified with its own rules and rhythms. Though Rihanna’s “Umbrella” marked a turning point in 2007, and Billboard launched an official Song of the Summer chart in 2010, the competitive aspect of the whole thing really started heating up in 2013 and 2014. It was around then, in our unfortunate summer of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” that I read something on the subject that has stuck with me ever since: “This is usually when someone raises his hand and is like, ‘Oh, I’ve really been enjoying the new Spoon single, that’s my song of summer.’ Which… no,” Amanda Dobbins wrote on Vulture. “Let’s be clear about how this works: There is no such thing as a ‘personal’ song of summer.”
Does it matter that I’m going to feel wistful to Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten’s “Like I Used To” all summer long, or dance around my bedroom to some blown-out indie-pop track called “PISTOLWHIP”? No, it does not. There’s a social contract when it comes to songs of the summer, one that is still being worked out as life continues to open up. Though the charts suggest another Doja duet will be the contender to beat (see below), “Best Friend” has shown impressive staying power since being released early in the year—and I only see it growing in the zeitgeist. The video itself is proof of concept for a zero-fucks-given Saweetie/Doja buddy comedy I would very much watch, but, like Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” before it, get this song’s über-catchy chorus in a cute movie montage (or just an endless parade of trailers), and that’s a wrap, folks. –Jillian Mapes
Doja Cat: “Kiss Me More” [ft. SZA]
Several things feel off about Doja Cat’s new album rollout, like the fact that it’s coming out on Dr. Luke’s label or that the whole Planet Her concept looks like what might happen if Chromatica lost its franchisee license. But you wouldn’t know any of that just from hearing the lead single, which is why “Kiss Me More” has a perfectly good chance of following last year’s Doja Cat hits “Say So” and “Like That” to become a bubblegum pop-rap smash. As a song, it goes down easy: plausibly sexy but reasonably tame—it’s mostly about French kissing—with a very vaguely tropical flavor, like a piña colada seltzer. The emotions get briefly more complicated when SZA comes in for a guest verse, but “Kiss Me More” isn’t deep or insightful; this isn’t the season for deep and insightful. This song will give tens of thousands of people coming off a period of limited social contact an immediate excuse to make out on the dancefloor. What more do you want? –Anna Gaca
Justin Bieber: “Peaches” [ft. Daniel Caesar & Giveon]
The most glaring thing about “Peaches” is that it doesn’t feel like a Justin Bieber record at first. It’s instantly too smooth, too dreamy, too warm. (He takes his “bad-ass bitch” where?) But this is Journals-era Bieber skating over a track with two of the most tonally distinct R&B singers around—both of whom make him sound not only fresher but more relaxed on his own single. Daniel Caesar’s verse is sweet enough to forget he’s singing about trading true love for Mallorca, and when the song transitions to Giveon’s sonorous reflections on romance as surrender, it makes for a pleasant contrast. A smooth-as-ever Usher salvages the remix from transient houseguests Ludacris and Snoop Dogg, adding lived-in harmonies to an already suave song.
Sure, it’s easy to reject the allure of “Peaches”—from the wistful opening chords to Bieber’s “edgy” ad-libs and the final finger snaps, it’s such a targeted summer anthem. Yet something tells me that when fall breezes start drifting in, this song will be among the few that evoke memories of a uniquely carefree, social season filled with gratitude for life, fun, and touch. Like the best fruits, neither summer nor love seems to last long enough to really savor. –Clover Hope
Megan Thee Stallion: “Thot Shit”
For the third year in a row, Megan Thee Stallion has put forward an unimpeachable contender for song of the summer. Like “Big Ole Freak” and “Savage” before it, “Thot Shit” is a call-to-action for a permissive, indulgent good time: throw ass, sip something, feel yourself. Longtime collaborator LilJuMadeDaBeat offers a propulsive siren of a beat, and Meg laces it with her unwavering commandments for a season of aspirational post-pandemic debauchery. Neither the sound nor the conceit of “Thot Shit” are especially innovative, and that is precisely the point.
The song’s music video—a circus of ass, with a pro-woman, pro-worker storyline widely interpreted as a response to the conservative backlash to last summer’s “WAP”—functions as context for Meg’s choice to double down. But on TikTok, where past singles found robust success as trending dances, an equally political, tongue-in-cheek trend has emerged. Rather than devising elaborate choreography to accompany “Thot Shit,” some users have turned it into the soundtrack for an informal protest, a kind of commentary on the ways Black labor and creativity are often usurped on the platform. General strike summer? Yes, please. –Rawiya Kameir
Kali Uchis: “Telepatía”
Kali Uchis’ breezy deep cut from her second album Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞ arrived just before the holiday season last year, but the song’s heat-seeking powers became undeniable once the weather warmed up (spurred on by a second life as a TikTok hit in March). It’s obvious why: “Telepatía” is a dreamy, bilingual love song about forging a mental connection with someone you can’t be near physically, with an of-the-moment theme that coasts on Uchis’ purring flow and the track’s featherlight replayability. (Case in point: the looped, hour-long YouTube version that’s racked up close to 4 million views.) Like a delicious, deceptively potent cocktail fit for the beach and the bedroom alike, putting on “Telepatía” has become shorthand for setting the mood—who has the power to resist Uchis when she trills, “La luna está llena, mi cama vacía” (“The moon is full, my bed is empty”)?
Yet there’s more to “Telepatía” than sultry poise and good vibes. The song’s viral staying power made Uchis the first female solo artist to top the Latin Songs chart in nearly a decade, and it has slowly crept up the Hot 100 to become her biggest hit to date, further proving artists don’t need to accommodate English-speaking audiences to succeed. –Eric Torres
Olivia Rodrigo: “good 4 u”
Every summer needs a good, cathartic breakup anthem to scream out of your car windows on the way home from the beach, and in 2021, that song is indisputably Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u.” But this summer also needed an anthem for yelling at your phone screen while scrolling through pictures of your friends (or enemies) out there having fun while you sit at home paralyzed with anxiety about re-entering the world post-lockdown. Fortunately, “good 4 u” is that song, too. “You look happy and healthy/Not me/If you ever cared to ask,” Rodrigo snarls over a Paramore-indebted pop-punk attack. “You’re doing great out there without me, baby/God, I wish that I could do that.” See? It works just as well targeted at an ex who’s moved on with that blonde girl as it does a bunch of college buddies out for a maskless indoor brunch. Depending on where you are in life, the lines “You’re so unaffected/I really don’t get it” could either be hurled at COVID-denying anti-vaxxers or at a former lover currently singing Billy Joel songs with a new girlfriend. And if you can’t relate at all? Well, good for you! –Amy Phillips
BTS: “Butter”
It’s right there in the first verse: “Hot like summer,” BTS’ V sings in his sultry croon. He promises to make you sweat, as if his good looks and charisma are as scorching the sun. These days, that kind of metaphor isn’t a huge stretch: After the Korean boy band scored their first Billboard No. 1 hit last year with “Dynamite,” “Butter” is now enjoying its fifth week at the top of the charts. At this point, it seems like the question isn’t if “Butter” is the song of the summer, but for how long.
Some fans and critics have expressed disappointment that BTS would push another easy-listening, all-English single, especially since their songs in Korean exhibit vastly more complex lyricism. But following a pandemic year that left us with head empty, no thoughts, they are giving listeners what we need: whipped-creamy escapism. As the band’s trolling has increased amid an exhausting recent run of American press (that involved one interviewer pretending to eat an actual block of butter in front of them), it’s clear that BTS knows “Butter” isn’t their most nuanced work. But they’re also aware that any kind of criticism can’t stop them; as Suga raps on the song with a knowing grin: “Hate us!” –Michelle Kim
City Girls: “Twerkulator”
“Twerkulator” sounds like a kooky, nefarious invention designed to launch any ordinary citizen into 24-hour booty-shaking, physical limitations—arthritis, a concave ass—be damned. The City Girls track was leaked in 2020, along with the rest of the Miami rap duo’s album City on Lock, but it wasn’t officially released until this past May because of difficulties clearing two classic samples: Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock” and Cajmere’s “The Percolator.” That didn’t stop TikTokkers from heeding JT and Yung Miami’s call to “back that ass up,” blowing up the unreleased track with a viral dance trend that perfectly matches City Girls’ cocky rhymes.
The titular word has the gratifying mouth feel of previous pop absurdities like “Fergalicious,” and the song opens with Lil Yachty panting “Ah, ah-ah, C-I-T-Y” as if he’s racing to catch up to the girls, who’ve been working on their fitness (ooh-wee!). At a time when hot girl anthems are in abundance, the sassy enunciations and laser-beam beat elevate “Twerkulator” beyond the standard roster. One more for the freak bitches, indeed. –Cat Zhang
Willow: “Transparent Soul” [ft. Travis Barker]
A year of pent-up energy makes me—and likely, everyone else—want to scream. Luckily, so does Willow Smith, whose roaring single “Transparent Soul” features strains of Poly Styrene, Paramore, and mom Jada’s hard rock band Wicked Wisdom. Atop thick guitars and pop-punk percussion courtesy of Blink-182 drummer turned Gen Z fave Travis Barker, Smith confronts fake friends, snakes in the grass, and exploiters. It’s a mighty sentiment, inspired (of course) by this quote from spiritual teacher Radhanath Swami: “It is said that a saintly person is so pure that he or she acts like a spotless mirror. When we come in the presence of such a mirror-like soul, we can see both the beauty and ugliness of our inner life.” With this aspiration in mind, Willow soars high above the haters, emotionally and sonically—her power vocals on the song’s chorus are like jet packs. For the rest of us, the urge to rise above it all is infectious. Get ready for Enlightened Girl Summer. –Quinn Moreland
Polo G and Nicki Minaj: “For the Love of New York”
On the surface, Polo G and Nicki Minaj’s “For the Love of New York” is a typical attempt at a summertime anthem. It has this bubbly steel drum instrumental reminiscent of some jam band at a Caribbean resort, and Polo G sweetly croons next to Nicki’s breezy energy. But Polo has become such a compelling new rap star (including multiple songs potentially in play for song of the summer) because he refuses to give in to conventions completely. At its core, “For the Love of New York” still contains elements of the melancholy ballads about trauma and heartbreak that Polo made his name on. “Tired of cryin’, she done cried all her last cries/She been heartbroken for the last time,” he sings, like his heart is about to burst out of his chest. Someone will hear this song 100 times all summer—at a beach day with friends, blaring from Bluetooth speakers at the park, alone in their room on a weekday dreaming up what they’ll do once it’s Friday—until one day they pay closer attention than usual and realize, Wait, this is kind of depressing. Yes, it is! Save the fake-happy shit for next summer. –Alphonse Pierre
Monaleo: “Beating Down Yo Block”
Everyone knows Megan Thee Stallion is the undisputed queen of Hot Girl Summer. Now fellow Houston tough-talker Monaleo is poised to be the movement’s ascending princess (or maybe duchess? I’m not sure how the Hot Girl hierarchy works, exactly). Monaleo only started rapping about a year ago, but she’s already got a viral hit that’s primed to boom out of every cotton-candy-pink Benz and Bentley in H-Town and beyond.
“Beating Down Yo Block” borrows its beat and part of its hook from Screwed Up Click member YungStar’s 1999 track “Knocking Pictures Off Da Wall,” which is basically about blasting a subwoofer loud enough to make the entire neighborhood’s photos of granny collectively come crashing down to the floor. Monaleo uses the rattling instrumental to take aim at jackasses of all sorts. She is “knocking bitches out they shoes.” She is tossing around lames “like they bean bags.” And as for that one boyfriend who cheated on her? “Don’t ask me ’bout my ex, let’s just pretend that ni**a died,” she raps, emphasizing the last word as if she’s slamming a coffin door on anyone who would ever dream of getting in her way. –Ryan Dombal
Silk Sonic: “Leave the Door Open”
Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” is a bit of a Rorschach test for music lovers. Depending on whom you ask, the Philly soul-inspired collaboration from Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak is an obscene exercise in retro-fetishism or an immaculate homage; a been-there, done-that cash grab or a serendipitous meeting of two pop-R&B figureheads. When the song arrived out of nowhere earlier this spring, the jokes about its overwhelming palatability flowed like water—and the hammy singers were right there waiting with their Lacoste brand deal, eager to lap it all up.
The antics might be grating, but none of this changes the fact that “Leave the Door Open” is a perfect candidate for song of the summer. It’s a slow-burning yet danceable hit powered by .Paak’s cheeky, winking lyrics, some vintage production, and one of Bruno Mars’ most compelling vocal performances ever. Detractors who bemoaned this song for being a shallow retread of the well-established Gamble and Huff blueprint do so at the risk of ignoring its pedigree, with string arrangements by onetime Gamble and Huff collaborator Larry Gold. There is nothing new under the sun, but soul grooves done this well never get old. –Noah Yoo
CORRECTION: This article originally attributed a line from BTS’ “Butter” to the wrong member of the group.
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What Will the 2021 Song of the Summer Be? - Pitchfork
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