The summer hits reveal some complicated vibes

It's Been a Minute

NPR

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🗓️ 9 August 2024

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

Now that we're in the dog days of summer, host Brittany Luse wants to know - do we have a song of the summer this year? According to NPR Music reporter Sidney Madden and NPR Music host, writer and editor Stephen Thompson, there isn't one song - but many songs.

"We are more disparate than ever, that's why it's hard to chart a single song right now," said Sidney. "It's more like choose your own adventure."

So - we're choosing our own adventure today and discussing the many contenders for song of the summer - and hearing why each song tells us something a little different about our cultural moment.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Christian Nationalists want to turn America into a theocracy, a government under biblical rule.
0:08.0	If they gain more power, it could mean fewer rights for you.
0:12.0	I'm Heath Drusen and on the new season of Extremely American,
0:16.0	I'll take you inside the movement.
0:18.0	Listen to Extremely American, from Boise State Public Radio,
0:22.0	part of the NPR Network.
0:25.0	Hello, hello, I'm Brittany Loose and you're listening to It's been a minute from NPR,
0:32.0	a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen
0:36.1	by accident. Now that we're in the dog days of summer and there's only about a month left I
0:49.9	wanted to know have we established a song of the summer?
0:54.0	You know, the kind of Bob you suddenly start hearing everywhere.
0:58.0	It's what's on the wind, it's universal, it's playing from every club, barber shop, barbecue.
1:06.7	That's Sidney Madden, reporter for NPR music.
1:09.6	Over the years, there have been so many songs
1:12.0	at the summer.
1:12.6	Who can forget when Lil Wayne came out with Amili in 2008?
1:16.2	Des Basito in 2017. Despacito in 2017.
1:28.0	Well, according to Sydney, it's not so clear cut anymore. We are more disparate and spread out than ever.
1:31.0	That's why it's hard to chart a single song right now, you know?
1:36.0	It's kind of like choose your own adventure more than ever.
1:39.0	When we talked about the song of the summer last year, we concluded that there wasn't one that didn't mean the
1:44.7	monoculture was dead Taylor Swift and Beyoncé dominated with their tours but not
	...

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