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| Summer jams: Guardian critics pick the songs that will soundtrack your holidays | Summer jams: Guardian critics pick the songs that will soundtrack your holidays |
| (about 14 hours later) | |
| David Guetta ft Nicki Minaj – Hey Mama | David Guetta ft Nicki Minaj – Hey Mama |
| If there was a song that sounds tailor-made for the summer, it’s Hey Mama. Even though you can’t understand the lyrics in about 25% of it (the nonsensical guy yelling is actually a sample from an obscure 1940s recording of prisoners by folk archivist Alan Lomax), the track’s tropical vibes come courtesy of David Guetta and make it the perfect complement to a day at the beach. While Hey Mama was originally released as part of Guetta’s album Listen in November, it smartly wasn’t given traction as a single until the weather started to heat up. There’s no telling if it’ll have the legs to be considered the song of the summer, but one person who’ll be watching closely is pop songstress Bebe Rexha. While her vocals sound indistinguishable from Minaj’s, Rexha is actually the one belting out the chorus (“Banging the drum like dum-diddy-day, I like the dirty rhythm you play”), but perplexingly went uncredited. Dirty rhythm, indeed! RLD | If there was a song that sounds tailor-made for the summer, it’s Hey Mama. Even though you can’t understand the lyrics in about 25% of it (the nonsensical guy yelling is actually a sample from an obscure 1940s recording of prisoners by folk archivist Alan Lomax), the track’s tropical vibes come courtesy of David Guetta and make it the perfect complement to a day at the beach. While Hey Mama was originally released as part of Guetta’s album Listen in November, it smartly wasn’t given traction as a single until the weather started to heat up. There’s no telling if it’ll have the legs to be considered the song of the summer, but one person who’ll be watching closely is pop songstress Bebe Rexha. While her vocals sound indistinguishable from Minaj’s, Rexha is actually the one belting out the chorus (“Banging the drum like dum-diddy-day, I like the dirty rhythm you play”), but perplexingly went uncredited. Dirty rhythm, indeed! RLD |
| Mood: Discovering your favourite brand of sausage roll has just been “woops” at Asda | Mood: Discovering your favourite brand of sausage roll has just been “woops” at Asda |
| If you like this try: Rihanna – Bitch Better Have My Money, Jason Derulo – Want To Want Me | If you like this try: Rihanna – Bitch Better Have My Money, Jason Derulo – Want To Want Me |
| Laura Marling – Gurdjieff’s Daughter | |
| The summer is such an amazing time. Sun (for at least a couple weeks), trips to the outdoor swimming pool, endless reminiscing about that summer in 1995 when it was actually hot. Pogs! But now and then it’s not all jokes, and you might want some sage advice from a pal on how to keep it all together when the excitement gets a bit too much. Enter Laura Marling with her whimsical belter that pairs aforementioned advice with a kind-of country Bob Dylan voice and a strangely catchy chorus. The video will make you want to move to LA and hang out with cool friends like Marika Hackman as well. LB | |
| Mood: Running through a field (shoeless) while trying to forget you’ve gone over your overdraft limit. AGAIN. | Mood: Running through a field (shoeless) while trying to forget you’ve gone over your overdraft limit. AGAIN. |
| If you like this try: Courtney Barnett – Depreston, Chastity Belt – Time To Go Home | If you like this try: Courtney Barnett – Depreston, Chastity Belt – Time To Go Home |
| Janelle Monáe ft Jidenna – Yoga | Janelle Monáe ft Jidenna – Yoga |
| I’m somewhere between two and three on the flexibility scale so when I first heard Janelle Monáe’s Bikram banger, my first thought was fear. How the hell are you supposed to do a crow pose on the dancefloor? Yoga ditches Monáe skippy funk and sounds like something Mike Will Made It and Calvin Harris hatched on an ashram retreat, all low-end wobbles and a euphoric, electro-charged chorus. But it’s not really about downward dogs, is it? Her new protege, Jidenna, gets a neat guest rap but otherwise it’s Queen Monáe in a crown singing about flexing how she wants to, being her “own private dancer” and slipping words never before heard in club tunes into club tunes. Basically, it should win everything for the line “You cannot police me so get off my areola”. And you can dance to it however you like. KH | I’m somewhere between two and three on the flexibility scale so when I first heard Janelle Monáe’s Bikram banger, my first thought was fear. How the hell are you supposed to do a crow pose on the dancefloor? Yoga ditches Monáe skippy funk and sounds like something Mike Will Made It and Calvin Harris hatched on an ashram retreat, all low-end wobbles and a euphoric, electro-charged chorus. But it’s not really about downward dogs, is it? Her new protege, Jidenna, gets a neat guest rap but otherwise it’s Queen Monáe in a crown singing about flexing how she wants to, being her “own private dancer” and slipping words never before heard in club tunes into club tunes. Basically, it should win everything for the line “You cannot police me so get off my areola”. And you can dance to it however you like. KH |
| Mood: The girls night out equivalent of Beyoncé’s 7/11 girls night in | Mood: The girls night out equivalent of Beyoncé’s 7/11 girls night in |
| If you like this try: Nicki Minaj & Beyoncé – Feeling Myself, Britney Spears ft Iggy Azalea – Pretty Girls | If you like this try: Nicki Minaj & Beyoncé – Feeling Myself, Britney Spears ft Iggy Azalea – Pretty Girls |
| Yung - Blanket | Yung - Blanket |
| OK, so Danish punk might seem an unlikely source for summer vibez, but hear me out: Yung are a snotty lot from the arty, anti-nuclear Scandi-city of Aarhus who usually deal in stiff Joy Division-style post-punk, but here they’ve gone all nostalgic. Blanket is three minutes of warm and giddy fuzz concerning a half-remembered beach trip, which builds to the most euphoric refrain Japandroids never wrote. “I still remember that freckled faaaaace,” howls singer Mikkel Holm, and for a moment you’re right there reminiscing with him. GM | OK, so Danish punk might seem an unlikely source for summer vibez, but hear me out: Yung are a snotty lot from the arty, anti-nuclear Scandi-city of Aarhus who usually deal in stiff Joy Division-style post-punk, but here they’ve gone all nostalgic. Blanket is three minutes of warm and giddy fuzz concerning a half-remembered beach trip, which builds to the most euphoric refrain Japandroids never wrote. “I still remember that freckled faaaaace,” howls singer Mikkel Holm, and for a moment you’re right there reminiscing with him. GM |
| Mood: Kicking sand about on the beach while catching the distant call of an orca pod | Mood: Kicking sand about on the beach while catching the distant call of an orca pod |
| If you liked this try: Japandroids – Younger Us, Hüsker Dü – Celebrated Summer | If you liked this try: Japandroids – Younger Us, Hüsker Dü – Celebrated Summer |
| Major Lazer and DJ Snake – Lean On | Major Lazer and DJ Snake – Lean On |
| There’s no better way to cool down after a blistering summer day than with Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s perfect chill-out track, Lean On. A powerhouse dance ditty without being overpowering, Lean On has many of the hallmarks for song of the summer status – from sultry lyrics you can sing along to provided by Danish singer MØ to a catchy hook. The genius of Lean On is similar to its success on the charts which caught many by surprise. After reaching the No 1 spot in a majority of the world, Lean On may have peaked too soon to be considered song of the summer, but perhaps it’ll find a way to break through. It’s done so before. RLD | There’s no better way to cool down after a blistering summer day than with Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s perfect chill-out track, Lean On. A powerhouse dance ditty without being overpowering, Lean On has many of the hallmarks for song of the summer status – from sultry lyrics you can sing along to provided by Danish singer MØ to a catchy hook. The genius of Lean On is similar to its success on the charts which caught many by surprise. After reaching the No 1 spot in a majority of the world, Lean On may have peaked too soon to be considered song of the summer, but perhaps it’ll find a way to break through. It’s done so before. RLD |
| Mood: Beast mode | Mood: Beast mode |
| If you like this try: Sitting down for a while | If you like this try: Sitting down for a while |
| Rihanna – Bitch Better Have My Money | Rihanna – Bitch Better Have My Money |
| One of the biggest differences between the UK and the US is the way people communicate. Instead of the slightly roundabout, ambiguous, veiled instructions we excel at in Britain, in America people like to go the route one approach. Just like Rihanna, who proves she wouldn’t be someone you’d want to borrow money from. Ever. Forget dodging her phone calls and walking a different route to the gym in order to avoid confrontations, she wants her moolah back and will turn your mum’s house into the final scene from Scarface if it doesn’t happen, pronto. This track raises the question: what happened to the acoustic, almost folkie RiRi of months past? Loan shark Rihanna probably killed her when she was late on repayments. Four, five seconds … to pay me back. LB | One of the biggest differences between the UK and the US is the way people communicate. Instead of the slightly roundabout, ambiguous, veiled instructions we excel at in Britain, in America people like to go the route one approach. Just like Rihanna, who proves she wouldn’t be someone you’d want to borrow money from. Ever. Forget dodging her phone calls and walking a different route to the gym in order to avoid confrontations, she wants her moolah back and will turn your mum’s house into the final scene from Scarface if it doesn’t happen, pronto. This track raises the question: what happened to the acoustic, almost folkie RiRi of months past? Loan shark Rihanna probably killed her when she was late on repayments. Four, five seconds … to pay me back. LB |
| Mood: Scared and full of regret | Mood: Scared and full of regret |
| If you like this try: Rae Sremmurd – No Type, Dornik – Drive | If you like this try: Rae Sremmurd – No Type, Dornik – Drive |
| Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Can’t Keep Checking My Phone | Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Can’t Keep Checking My Phone |
| Along with getting dumped, calling in sick, and ruing the day you decided to start watching Lost, the constant urge to check your phone is something we can all relate to. Portland’s Unknown Mortal Orchestra have then written the most modern of disco mantras, deepened by the revelation that the blurry lyrics are actually about UMO Ruban Nielson and his wife’s polyamorous relationship with a girl he met on tour, and waiting to hear from her once she moved away. Beyond its cosmic longing, though, what Can’t Keep Checking My Phone has is lithe, lip-curling, falsetto-funk groove (yeah, I said it, groove). It’s giving someone in a wraparound bandana the eye at a festival. It’s tripping in the woods and rolling around on a Pendleton blanket. It’s Get Lucky, if Get Lucky was made by three acid-spangled guys with illuminati tattoos and tribal necklaces with a thing for Syd Barrett records. In other words, it’s brilliant. KH | Along with getting dumped, calling in sick, and ruing the day you decided to start watching Lost, the constant urge to check your phone is something we can all relate to. Portland’s Unknown Mortal Orchestra have then written the most modern of disco mantras, deepened by the revelation that the blurry lyrics are actually about UMO Ruban Nielson and his wife’s polyamorous relationship with a girl he met on tour, and waiting to hear from her once she moved away. Beyond its cosmic longing, though, what Can’t Keep Checking My Phone has is lithe, lip-curling, falsetto-funk groove (yeah, I said it, groove). It’s giving someone in a wraparound bandana the eye at a festival. It’s tripping in the woods and rolling around on a Pendleton blanket. It’s Get Lucky, if Get Lucky was made by three acid-spangled guys with illuminati tattoos and tribal necklaces with a thing for Syd Barrett records. In other words, it’s brilliant. KH |
| Mood: Groovy drunk dialling | Mood: Groovy drunk dialling |
| If you like this try: Tame Impala – Let It Happen, Toro Y Moi – Buffalo | If you like this try: Tame Impala – Let It Happen, Toro Y Moi – Buffalo |
| Busy Signal – Whatsapp | Busy Signal – Whatsapp |
| Phone-based songs are clearly a thing in summer 2015 and dancehall’s own telecommunications king provides his own with a reference to the social media app du jour. There are quite a few competitors for summer anthems from the dancehall fraternity this year with the Jamie xx, Popcaan and Young Thug track I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times), plus Vybz Kartel’s Grand Theft Auto inspired Fast Life (which is like the anti-Wiz Khalifa) providing alternatives, but the sheer nonsense nature of Whatsapp sees Busy Signal edge it. Never has someone made lyrics about “hot spots” and “all night wining” sound so utterly wholesome, and it follows his similarly mobile-happy track Text Message, during which he berates a potential partner’s terrible spelling. Whatsapp is that happy it makes Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s ridiculously joyous song about a polyamorous relationship sound like a Throbbing Gristle track. LB | Phone-based songs are clearly a thing in summer 2015 and dancehall’s own telecommunications king provides his own with a reference to the social media app du jour. There are quite a few competitors for summer anthems from the dancehall fraternity this year with the Jamie xx, Popcaan and Young Thug track I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times), plus Vybz Kartel’s Grand Theft Auto inspired Fast Life (which is like the anti-Wiz Khalifa) providing alternatives, but the sheer nonsense nature of Whatsapp sees Busy Signal edge it. Never has someone made lyrics about “hot spots” and “all night wining” sound so utterly wholesome, and it follows his similarly mobile-happy track Text Message, during which he berates a potential partner’s terrible spelling. Whatsapp is that happy it makes Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s ridiculously joyous song about a polyamorous relationship sound like a Throbbing Gristle track. LB |
| Mood: Just received this Vine via Whatsapp | Mood: Just received this Vine via Whatsapp |
| If you like this try: Konshens – Physically Fit, Popcaan & Freddie Gibbs – Born Bad | If you like this try: Konshens – Physically Fit, Popcaan & Freddie Gibbs – Born Bad |
| Shamir – Call It Off | Shamir – Call It Off |
| Ever since Pharrell, Robin Thicke and Daft Punk collectively bludgeoned our eardrums into submission with the endless airplay of Get Lucky and Blurred Lines in 2013, I’ve flinched at the mere mention of the words “summer anthem”. Luckily, Shamir’s swooped in to undo the damage. The 20-year-old pop artist appeared seemingly out of nowhere last year – though is actually from Las Vegas suburbia – and released this candy-coloured, effervescently joyous single in April. His shimmery falsetto, an undulating synth hook and a thudding house beat combine to turn Call It Off into the perfect post-breakup soundtrack to newfound, unbridled freedom (and the word “call” in the title keeps this tenuous “phone theme” alive). TM | Ever since Pharrell, Robin Thicke and Daft Punk collectively bludgeoned our eardrums into submission with the endless airplay of Get Lucky and Blurred Lines in 2013, I’ve flinched at the mere mention of the words “summer anthem”. Luckily, Shamir’s swooped in to undo the damage. The 20-year-old pop artist appeared seemingly out of nowhere last year – though is actually from Las Vegas suburbia – and released this candy-coloured, effervescently joyous single in April. His shimmery falsetto, an undulating synth hook and a thudding house beat combine to turn Call It Off into the perfect post-breakup soundtrack to newfound, unbridled freedom (and the word “call” in the title keeps this tenuous “phone theme” alive). TM |
| Mood: Finding a sweaty, unexpected second wind in a festival tent at 6am | Mood: Finding a sweaty, unexpected second wind in a festival tent at 6am |
| If you like this try: Disclosure – Bang That, Roisin Murphy – Exploitation (Single Edit) | If you like this try: Disclosure – Bang That, Roisin Murphy – Exploitation (Single Edit) |
| Iggy Azalea ft Britney – Pretty Girls | Iggy Azalea ft Britney – Pretty Girls |
| Pretty Girls defies its name by barging its way through the summer like a bitter, boozed-up bachelorette. Featuring tinny, tacky production from the Invisible Men, the Aussie rapper aims to replicate the success of her mega-hit Fancy by enlisting comeback queen Britney Spears for this neon-lit pop-rap headache. As camp and crass it is catchy, the song is a homage to the superpowers of the superficial. “Is it true that men are from Mars?” sings Brit during her highly Auto-Tuned cameo. “Is that why they be acting bizarre?” Go home pop music, you’re drunk. HG | Pretty Girls defies its name by barging its way through the summer like a bitter, boozed-up bachelorette. Featuring tinny, tacky production from the Invisible Men, the Aussie rapper aims to replicate the success of her mega-hit Fancy by enlisting comeback queen Britney Spears for this neon-lit pop-rap headache. As camp and crass it is catchy, the song is a homage to the superpowers of the superficial. “Is it true that men are from Mars?” sings Brit during her highly Auto-Tuned cameo. “Is that why they be acting bizarre?” Go home pop music, you’re drunk. HG |
| Mood: Feeling sassy in the club, right before feeling sicky in the toilets | Mood: Feeling sassy in the club, right before feeling sicky in the toilets |
| If you liked this try: Ty Dolla $ign ft Charli XCX and Tinashe – Drop That Kitty, KStewart – Keeping You Up | If you liked this try: Ty Dolla $ign ft Charli XCX and Tinashe – Drop That Kitty, KStewart – Keeping You Up |
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