This summer, our ears were blessed with fun, upbeat songs, but which of these masterpieces deserves the official title for song of the summer 2024? Even with two hits from rising star Sabrina Carpenter: “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” which quickly went viral across all platforms, we also heard a beautiful new album by Billie Eilish “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” which had songs that could be contenders — including “WILDFLOWER”, “LUNCH”, and “CHIHIRO.” However, one of my personal favorite songs of all time takes the cake for the song of summer 2024 – “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan.
Unsurprisingly, Roan won a VMA this week for best new artist and her talent shows in her music. Roan rose to fame when she opened for Olivia Rodrigo during the “GUTS” tour.
Roan’s album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” has great hits like “Feminomenon,” “My Kink is Karma,” and most notably, “Good Luck Babe,” which has been trending on Instagram and TikTok for months. My favorite song of hers is “Good Luck Babe” because it has great energy and the lyrics are beautifully written. When she sings “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling,” it can be interpreted as experiencing thrill, joy or anxiety. The applicability of her lyrics to such a wide range of human emotions speaks to her talent as a musician and makes her music more enjoyable because different people can easily relate to and interpret her music.
I love Roan’s music because it’s fun in a new, refreshing way. You can listen to her music in any context. For example, I listen to Roan when I get ready, drive or take a walk. Music created in the post-COVID era tended to be more simple and mundane, and Roan is a refreshing antithesis to that. Even the titles of popular songs during the pandemic were somewhat depressing. For example, songs like “As the World Caves In” and “Deathbed” foreshadow a negative vibe before the song is even played. However, with a new rise in upbeat music from artists like Roan and Rodrigo, there’s a new universal joyful vibe of music.
In particular, “HOT TO GO!” was accompanied by a trendy dance that aided in the song’s circulation. Aside from TikTok dances, which were somewhat complex to begin with, a popular song hasn’t been accompanied by its own dance in a long time, which made the song-dance combination even more refreshing. The dance is easy to pick up, making the music fun and aiding in Roan’s superstar status. Despite my favorite release of hers still being “Good Luck Babe”, a dance simply can’t be beat. Therefore, the official title song of the summer 2024 must go to “HOT TO GO!”
