I Miss 'Songs of the Summer'

It's Getting Harder to Determine "That Track" for the Warmer Months

I’m not sure if you know this, but (one of) my dayjob(s) is that I’m a mobile DJ. Why is it mobile? That means I bring my gear and the party to you, but that’s besides the point. Something I’ve noticed being behind the ol’ Wheelz of Steel is that it is getting harder and harder to determine what a “hit song” was. And contrary to popular belief, it’s not JUST because I’m getting older, even though I’m ancient.

Every year, we as a populace come together to determine what the “Song of the Summer” was. This song, (along with its slightly less prestigious ‘Song of Spring Break’) really sets the tone of the culture. And when I was a kid, the Songs of the Summer got their coronation on radio stations, live concerts that were thrown by the local radio station, and commercials that would use the tunes to hawk merchandise. For example, in 1996, you could NOT escape “The Macarena”:

Who even took the time to learn the lyrics? I sure as hell didn’t. I know this sounds anecdotal, but the last year I remember there being a clear Summer Champ was back in 2009 with “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. But since then? Every year after that comes with like two or three songs that could be seen as the winner if you tilted your head and squinted your eyes a bit. Check out this list from the year 2011 from Billboard.

I mean, Party Rock Anthem was everywhere, but so was Adele…and I suppose 2011 was the Katy Perry *clears throat* “era.” 2016:

The streets had Drake on repeat for” Summer ‘16,” but Sia, Calvin Harris, and Fifth Harmony were on another level in 2016. Not to mention that “Panda” was the talk of social media. This brings me to my first point.

Social media has really fractured where music can be amplified. Whereas before a hit could’ve been heard on the radio multiple times a day, songs today can from out of nowhere. I’m saying hit radio, bedroom artists, throwbacks, social media sketch remixes, and more. There is a viral TikTok trend called “Face Card Never Declines” that uses an unreleased City Girls Track. I get requests for that track all the time now.

To be fair, that song sounds like it would be dope in the club. And the club leads me to my next point. Gen Z and Gen Alpha do not “club” as much as older generations. Preferring gatherings, hangouts, and doing things virtually (e.g. video games online), there aren’t as many heavy hitters that can make a party go crazy like before, due to a lack of a shared experience. And the shared experience doesn’t even have to be special. It could be as simple as walking the shopping district in a city for fun, or going to roller rink to skate.

Again, this is not me hating, but just sharing what I’ve learned. The lack of “Parents are out of town” house parties, or shopping malls to go to are just a fact of life now:

Someone had asked me what the Song of the Summer was last year and even though I thought of “Espresso,” I wouldn’t bat an eye if someone said “A Bar Song,” “I Had Some Help,” “Million Dollar Baby,” or that Hozier song. Though you can argue with people staying at home, the music hit machine being broken, and different tastes, we’re getting a lot more young people requesting older music when I’m working. Like I’ve played more ABBA over the past two years than in the first couple of years of my career. The first Grand Theft Auto VI trailer? It used a Tom Petty song.

And I guess that’s a net positive…? With so many songs and ways to access them that sort of content can easily get lost in the either. But man, I do miss the days were everyone kind of had a shared experience with a single song that was everywhere. Whether you liked it or hated it, you know that Justin Timberlake did a song for the Trolls movie in 2016. Trolls, man!

What’s your Song of the Summer?

And for those asking, even though it didn’t make anybody’s list. My favorite Songs of the Summer over the past decade were Jax Jones’ “All Day and Night” and “Tequila.”