Sometimes viral TikTok clips can lead to disappointing songs. Not so for "Coconut Water,” South Carolina ingenue Trim’s mega-viral summer bop that has earned cosigns from Doja Cat, Yseult, and Plaqueboy Max. Trim’s Geechee accent bobs steadily over a synth-pop beat that channels early 2010s Mustard production with a wink towards the girls and gays. Even though its central refrain — “Coconut water / Coco, coconut water” — is the main attraction, lines like “make sure this cookie tea,” and “If you keep talkin' then I'ma act like a moody chick,” have been lodged in my brain. —Tobias Hess

I’ve already seen this song on all of my mutuals’ IG stories and gridposts, beaming next to their bestie. I can’t escape Drake and Iconic Savvy offline either: A few weeks ago at a club packed with Black and brown women, every other DJ on the lineup played this record at least once. Each time, the crowd went up. This ass-shaking juke has set off spring and will most definitely make it through the season’s heat. —Kylah Williams

PinkPantheress built this UKG track from two balmy Basement Jaxx classic(xx), ”Romeo” and “Always Be There.” Upbeat with a melancholic edge, a true song of the summer should seamlessly carry you from bright summer skies to warm sunsets - and this song will absolutely take you there. —Hajin Yoo

Trust, it was hard picking just one song from Chxrry’s debut album U, Me & Ego. But ultimately, I landed on “Main Character.” It wouldn’t be summer without a sultry pop track that not only makes you feel like a star, but affirms it repeatedly like a mantra. This is bound to be the anthem of the season — and one you won’t get sick of — whether you’re commuting to work or getting ready for a night out. —India Roby

If you ask me the best rapper in ØWay, it’s a coinflip between Sk8star and Pz’. The reclusive model-turned-rapper is always poised over woozy instrumentals, and though his discography to date is fairly thin, his starpower is self-evident. His fans go beyond rabid teenagers obsessed with Tezzus and Fazo: include heavyweights like Hedi Slimane and Chxrry, who tapped the rising rapper for a cameo in the “Hall of Fame” video. His New Year’s Day single “Havana” builds on the skyscraping success of last summer’s “Hedi’s Bussin,” but aims for spacier ambience. When Kuru stopped by the FADER offices a couple weeks ago, he told me “Havana” might be his song of the summer, and I’m inclined to agree. —Vivian Medithi

I am six years deep in a relationship but trust me when I say that I will be shouting this aching, yearning, absolute tune while channeling the summer heartbreak of a lifetime. Something about Steve Lacy’s guitar just makes me feel nostalgic and emotionally unruly: essential feelings for enduring the hot months. He did it in summer 2022 with “Bad Habit.” He’ll do it again this year with “the feeling.” —Steffanee Wang

I saw underscores live last month, opening for PinkPantheress in NYC with an enormous fluorescent tubelight strapped across her back like an oversize sword or minimalist angel wings. She’s a consummate performer, ferociously tearing through “Hollywood Forever” and “Do It,” but it was “Music” that seemed to make all of Brooklyn Storehouse lose their minds. We were all feeling the BPM; we all knew how it goes. —VM

Produced by Aaron Maine of Porches, “Jeep” glimmers like a campfire with its warm guitars and crackling drums. In succinct expressive bars, Kim Petras recounts an Americana love affair filled with cinematic detail (“The little two-seater that he got for cheap”) and emotional punch that hits me where it hurts (“'Cause we got history / And history repeats”). The track’s been gaining steam online thanks to its memorable spoken word bridge (“We can just drive around/ Listen to techno / Listen to Eminem”), which has positioned this poppy slow burn as an unlikely SOTS contender for niche pop lovers. —TH

Is this the best song on ICEMAN? There’s no doubt in my mind that “Shabang” will be all over the radio and and in people’s head’s all summer. Sitting on the train and hearing someone next to you mutter shabang, it’s obvious NYC is already in summer mode. — Abie Niedzwiecki

Whether you want to admit it or not, right now TikTok dictates if a song pops off. “U Da Cake” was viral before it was even released thanks to its meme-baiting flip of Hunxho’s catchphrase "you the birthday.” I’m happy African music is no longer being named strictly “afrobeats” and that rhythms like gqom and amapiano are finally getting their shine. South African electronic music screams summer thanks to the heavy sub-bass, so it's no surprise Toronto-DJ BAMBII gave this song a serious cosign. —KW

Summer is hot, fleeting, and, as frontman Elias Rønnenfelt might put it, fun “in an ominous way.” With its bright, frantic punk groove, “Ember” is the standout earworm on the first Iceage album in over a decade, For Love of Grace & the Hereafter. With Elias’s cathartic vocals that chase the restless shuffle of the drums, “Ember” captures the feeling of hazy days that seem to slip away and the hundreds of plans you make that fall through. — Drew Neiman

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Playboi Carti’s 2025 magnum opus I AM MUSIC was how it retooled the omnivorous, ear-to-the-streets ethos of the mixtape era for modern streaming audiences. He’s burrowing into that mindset with on a new remix with fast-rising-but-little-known Atlanta rapper Fatt Smaxk, but don’t get it twisted: as hot as Carti is right now, Smaxk has been on fire since the fall release of Smaxk or Die 2. And Carti clearly knows it, delivering an especially fluid verse over a delirious Rich Kidz flip. If you loved “LIKE WEEZY” last summer, this one’s for you. —VM

Zeus Network might be a CIA plot disguised as a television network, but listen, they’re creating songs that the streets love. Natalie Nunn wouldn’t let her Nicki Minaj mention from a few years ago die down... and now everyone is singing the Baddies CEO’s own bars. —KW

When I was a teenager and nothing mattered, I felt like I was living life to the fullest. Saam Sultan brings me back to that feeling with the very first lyrics of “Locked In Love,” singing, “Live fast, die young, or live a life and conquer.” This track speaks to navigating relationships, a prominent topic as everyone gets outside and meets new people this summer. If you’re a wily loverboy crushing hard, this underground rap song is for you. —Tommy Maidment

If the function this summer isn’t playing the other two Drake songs on this list then they’re definitely playing this one: the rapper’s label-executive diss turned melancholic unc anthem with, I’ll admit it, an ingenious Lykke Li interpolation. It’s no “One Dance” but it’s good enough to get Travis Scott bumping behind the decks at a club in Istanbul. —SW

Chaos. Explosions. Tequila. Homosexuality. BASS — thank God for Slayyyter. The electropop diva and pop queen contender notched new chart highs thanks to the brilliance of WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, but it's undoubtedly the memey, murderous “CRANK” that made her ubiquitous in our feeds and gay clubs alike. CRANK IT! —TH