By this time of year, there’s usually consensus around what the “Song of the Summer” is. But 2020 isn’t like any other summer in so many ways, including the pop charts. The Billboard Hot 100 has been all over the place for the past several months, with a new artist rising to the top most weeks, including Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, the Weeknd, Lady Gaga, and DaBaby. In this episode, we’re going to break down what makes a song of the summer and take a look at our favorites from 2020.
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Puja Patel: So let’s talk about what songs are rising to the top of the charts this summer. I feel like right now, all of us are listening to “WAP.”
Jillian Mapes: Yeah. It’s definitely one of the raunchiest songs I’ve heard in years. And like a lot of the best nasty rap, it understands that sex is funny and erotic at the same time. I really, really appreciate that they fundamentally understand that. Both of them make me laugh. I want to know what you guys’ favorite lines are. I think the one that kills me is Megan’s line about spelling her name when she rides you.
PP: That is an incredible, incredible line. Eric, what’s yours?
Eric Torres: I mean, “swipe your nose like a credit card.” Iconic. I mean, “bottom feeder” is a close second, but yeah.
PP: I was going to say “bottom feeder.” Every line is so visually visceral, like every single thing we just said, you're imagining a vivid picture and you can't help it. And that is some strong lyricism.
JM: It's true. Also the music is so sparse, like they really, really want you to focus on it and press you with their words. Especially the way Cardi is rapping, you just hear every line. She's calm, but a little menacing and just extremely specific.
ET: It also had just had so many things going for it, right? Like, just as far as the circumstances, especially in this context of song of the summer. It’s Cardi B’s comeback, it’s got Megan Thee Stallion—who is obviously the most exciting rapper right now, if you have a pulse—and an incredible video, just like a perfect storm of everything we needed.
PP: I mean, for me, I’m from Baltimore. And so the fact that the sample that drives this entire song is this classic Baltimore house anthem by Frank Ski, who made this song called “Whores in This House,” which has now been pivoted to be essentially a drum line.
Doesn’t it feel like a classic summer song, too? In that it’s this sparse, driving, dancey beat?
JM: I mean, it’s so lusty, too. And I love it. I mean, I think that is a theme among songs of the summer that don't skew sort of a little wholesome, is just the deep, deep nasty. And I love that. I mean that in multiple ways, like I just see this song dominating for the rest of the summer
PP: I feel like this song though, it just came out and it feels like it changed the entire conversation of, “What was the big song that we're going to remember the summer of 2020 by?” And because it broke streaming records and because it spent its first week at the top of the charts, it feels like another crazy example of how fragmented the phrase “song of the summer” is this year.
