A Songs of the Summer Playlist, Curated by Memories, Vibes and Good Times
Click play while enjoying the sunshine.
I’m not sure about anyone else, but the weirdly overcast weather we’ve been experiencing in New York City meant that I only recently realized Memorial Day weekend is just days away! And if even if the weather won’t cooperate, I still wanted to find a way to get into an easy, breezy headspace.
Which is why I sent out a very last-minute email asking my family and friends to share their picks. Here was what I requested:
I'd love to know your song of the summer. You can interpret this any way you wish, but to me it can be:
-the first song the comes to mind when you think "song of the summer"
-the song you want to listen to on repeat while driving or walking on a beautiful sunny day
-a song you listen to while on vacation, either to amp yourself up or to bliss out and relax
It doesn't have to be a current song either, just any song that puts in you a summer vibe or headspace.
Let me just add that if you’d like to create some instant free happiness, send out an email like this one:
It was a quick hit of joy each time a new response hit my inbox.
And now, without further ado, here is the 2024 Hello Summer playlist.
If you have a song that you’d like included here, let me know in the comments! It’s an ever-evolving playlist.1
Also, I asked if anyone wanted to share the reasons for their song selection, and a few people kindly said yes! I found this to be such a fun read, and maybe you will too.
Alle Connell, @helloalle
“Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter
“For me, the song of the summer is always a song that recalls a SPECIFIC summer, so for 2024 it’s gotta be “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. It’s SUCH a fun bop, the only two things a song of the summer needs to be; it makes me want to put on extravagant sunglasses and push boys into a pool.
Plus, it’s given us all a perfect excuse for some mild summer misbehaving. Your honour, that’s that me espresso.”
Naheed Phiroze Patel, author of Mirror Made of Rain
“5 am in Paris” by Saint Levant
“I love that he switches seamlessly between French, Arabic and English in his lyrics—the hypertextuality of these songs adds layers of meanings and somatic resonances that’s hard to accomplish in a monolingual context.
Since his music centers Gaza and the global south—it puts me in the headspace of warm climates and cold glasses of sweet lime soda (with salt). Critically, his music speaks to the moment we are living in, and achieves that elusive goal of being revolutionary without being strident.”2
Saul Austerlitz, author of Kind of a Big Deal and the Hope in the Dark newsletter
“Alibi” by Hurray for the Riff Raff
“Alynda Segarra's is the voice I need right now, and this whole album is a real triumph from a distinctive New York singer-songwriter.”
My friend Sairam
“Shooting Stars,” by Bag Raiders
“Reminds me of summer afternoons in Los Angeles just after getting married and moving into our first home together.”
My cousin Bhargava
“So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings,” Caroline Polachek
“This was the song of the pandemic summer for me. It's catchy and wistful, and the video is just Caroline square dancing by herself in hell, which was extra relatable - big pandemic MOOD.”
My friend Joel
“Break My Soul,” Beyoncé
“It screams summer to me for three reasons: 1) It demands you "release ya job" and, indirectly, take that much-needed vacation, 2) I associate it with Pride season in June and the resilience of the LGBTQIA+ community, and 3) It's anthemic and evokes the spirit of freedom and liberty, which feels appropriate during Juneteenth and Fourth of July.
A bonus reason: Its bass and beats are nice throwbacks to the '90s era house divas who always deserve a little more time on the speakers.”
For more upbeat playlists:
Pop culture recs
I’m going to crib from one of my recent Instagram stories, because it was true then and holds true now.
In case you can’t read the above image, here’s what I wrote about Hacks (Max), Elsbeth (CBS) and The Idea of You (Amazon Prime):
My most recent TV and movie watches have been about over-40 women having interesting second acts, either personally or professionally. And they are all ~great~. Not a coincidence, I think!
I’ve also been putting together a summer TBR pile to accompany the summer playlist, which I plan to share in a future edition of this newsletter!
This week’s fun fact
Since this week we’re celebrating songs of the summer, I thought I’d share a related fun fact, according to Billboard:
The artist with the longest span of Song of the Summer hits is Mariah Carey. Her chart-topping status spans 15 years, from “Vision of Love” (1990) to “We Belong Together” (2005).
We already know Mariah owns the Christmas season thanks to this enduring smash hit, but I think this fact means she also can make a strong bid for being Pop Star of the Summer too.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and I hope you a wonderful week and kickoff to the summer season!
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I kind of pride myself on organizing a playlist for good flow, but I really didn’t have time in this case. This one might be better to play on shuffle.
(NOTE: Operation Olive Branch is a direct and impactful way to help Gaza families in need.)