Photos by Tommy Maidment
Picking a song of the summer is an art, not a science. Music journalists tend to debate the exact formula for what makes the defining song of the sunny season, but for most people their SOTS is simply their favorite track that's soundtracking these party-filled months.
The FADER asked some of our favorite artists, who we caught at Primavera Sound in Barcelona and New York City's Gov Ball, to put us on to what they're listening to. Ahead, check out their picks, which range from classical to club pop.
Rose Gray, “Club To Your Arms” (Picked by JADE)
“I'm such a Rose Gray stan. She's got a new song. I've not even heard the whole song; I've only heard the snippet on TikTok and I can already feel it tingling in my bones that this is going to be my song of the summer.” - JADE
Yung Miami, “Spend Dat” (Picked by Mariah The Scientist)
“The song of my summer at least, is [sings] where all my scamming ass n****s at? by Caresha, please.” - Mariah The Scientist
Ravyn Lenae, “Handle” (Picked by Ravyn Lenae)
“Sorry I had to do it.” - Ravyn Lenae
Iceage, “Ember”(Picked by The Dare)
“[It’s] basically a love song and I don't know if I've heard them as a band do a love song before. Maybe Elias, the frontman, has done some under his solo project, but it's just beautiful. The image of catching someone like an Ember is like, it's hot, it's summery, you know, but it's very unhinged. I want this summer to have all those qualities so I listen to it all the time.” - The Dare
Movements, “Daylily” (Picked by Wisp)
Tears for Fears, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” (Picked by Del Water Gap)
“It's an all-timer. I like driving to it, and it's a true message. Everybody does want to rule the world.” - Del Water Gap
Weezer, “Hash Pipe” (Picked by Hemlocke Springs)
“I don't know what happened this summer, but I am going through a Weezer kind of phase, and I've been really digging into Pinkerton, really digging into the green album. Like, is it called? No, the Pink Album? Is that Pinkerton? You can tell I don't know what I'm talking about, but I've been really digging Weezer this summer and I've been really listening to Hash Pipe. So that is my song of the summer. I like how white guy, lazy it sounds. When I listen to it, I'm like, yeah, what happened to this type of music guys?” - Hemlocke Springs
PinkPantheress, “Girl Like Me” (Picked by Rachel Chinouriri)
“I feel like she’s having a legendary run. She is the culture and the moment, and she's just smashed this whole campaign.” - Rachel Chinouriri
The Beatles, “A Day In The Life” (Picked by Arcy Drive’s Patrick Helrigel)
“[I’ve been] on a Beatles kick lately.” - Patrick Helrigel
Balu Brigada, “Golden Gate Girl” (Picked by Arcy Drive’s Brooke Tuozzo)
Kurt Vile, “Blackberry Song” (Picked by Arcy Drive’s Nick Mateyunas)
“Fucking Kurt vile is all over my Instagram right now. I don’t fucking know. It’s really good. It’s been on.” - Nick Mateyunas
Jack Kerouac, Blues and Haikus (Picked by Arcy Drive’s Austin Jones)
“I’ve been really vibing to that.”- Austin Jones
AZIEDOESNTEXIST, “Everglades” (Picked by DJ Joe)
“This is my favorite song right now with the Jesus and Mary Chain sample. It’s really good.”- DJ Joe
Elvis Manuel, “Dejala” (Picked by Bad Gyal)
“It's been my song since December so it's super strong on me. It's a Reparto Cubano song that now went super viral in a lot of Latin and Spanish speaking countries. It's just a reparto song to enjoy yourself, have a nice party, shake your booty. It always gives me the energy that I need and it puts me on a super nice vibe.” - Bad Gyal
Bad Gyal, “Más Cara” (Picked by Malibu)
Debussy, “Clair de Lune” (Picked by Six Sex)
Bad Gyal, “Te Daré” (Picked by Safety Trance)
underscores, “Do It” (Picked by Chanpan’s Lance Tran)
“I fuck with that.” - Lance Tran
Great Solar Stance, “Jesus in China” (Picked by Chanpan’s Matthew Tran)
Zara Larsson, “Midnight Sun” (Picked by Chanpan’s Grace Dumdaw)
“Literally anything by Zara Larsson.”- Grace Dumdaw
Slayyyter, “BEAT UP CHANEL$” (Picked by Hannah Jadagu)
“It just feels really good. I think it's going to be great for when I'm riding the train, when I'm in an Uber, when I'm coming home from a night out in transit. I feel like it's just so freeing. It's like, ‘oh, we up, we're living.’" - Hannah Jadagu
Fcukers, “L.U.C.K.Y” (Picked by Radio Free Alice’s Lochie Dowd)
“My name's Lochie but everyone, when I introduce myself, just assumes that I'm called Lucky. I might just have to start going by that in America because no one really knows the name. And it's a banger, as is the whole album.” - Lochie Dowd
The Melodrones, “Bad News From Berlin” (Picked by Radio Free Alice’s Jules Paradiso)
“It's a ridiculously amazing song. I highly recommend you listen to it." - Jules Paradiso
Stuart Townend, “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us” sung by Mormon choir ((Picked by Picked by Radio Free Alice’s Noah Learmonth)
“I've been going really hard on this YouTube video of a Mormon community singing ‘How Deep the Father's Love For Us.’” - Noah Learmonth