Mid-July might be a little late in the game to provide you a playlist for your summer. There’s still enough beach weeks left to make use of these fifty songs spanning decades and genres.
Before I get to that…
It’s an ever-important song to ordain a song of the summer. It’s competitive this year because there hasn’t exactly been a “Call Me Maybe” or “Despacito” this go around. In the playlist below you’ll find the tracks from Drake, Zedd, Calvin Harris and Ella Mai that are contenders, but I knew my pick back in April.
It’s Cardi’s world and we just live in it. “I Like It” isn’t just the song of the summer. It could crack the top ten best songs of the year. A stand out from the eclectic Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B embraces her latin roots with the help of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and Colombian superstar J Balvin. The single is high energy supported by a sample of Pete Rodriguez’ boogaloo classic “I Like It Like That.”
The beauty of “I Like It” is that it continues a trend seen with “Despacito.” Pop music is becoming increasingly global. Cardi dominated the second half of that summer with “Bodak Yellow.” Now, she’s back this time with essentially a combination of “Bodak” and “Despacito.”
While current U.S. foreign policy under the Trump administration rejects globalization, two summers in a row, the U.S. charts embrace it.
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Besides “I Like It,” here are 49 other tracks spanning from classic rock, indie, house, pop, funk and rap to play at your cook-out, pool party or beach day. (See a Spotify playlist here.)
- America – “Sister Golden Hair”
- George Harrison – “My Sweet Lord”
- Bonnie Raitt – “Right Down The Line”
- Courtney Barnett – “City Looks Pretty”
- John Mayer – “New Light”
- Kacey Musgraves – “Lonely Weekend”
- Death Cab for Cutie – “Gold Rush”
- Snail Mail – “Speaking Terms”
- Japanese Breakfast – “12 Steps”
- Father John Misty – “Disappointing Diamonds are The Rarest of Them All”
- Dirty Projectors – “Break Thru”
- Springtime Carnivore – “Name on a Matchbook”
- Miski – “Nobody”
- St. Vincent – “Fast Slow Disco”
- Beach House – “Drunk in LA”
- DJ Koze – “Baby (How Much I LFO You)”
- Disclosure – “Ultimatum (featuring Fatoumata Diawara)”
- Girl Unit – “WYWD (Remix featuring Kelela)”
- Cosha – “Do You Wanna Dance”
- Anemone – “Bout De Toi”
- Zedd, Grey & Maren Morris – “The Middle”
- Charli XCX – “No Angel”
- Izniik – “Paradise”
- Silk City – “Only Can Get Better (featuring Daniel Merriweather)”
- Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – “One Kiss”
- Clairo – “4EVER”
- Jungle – “Happy Man”
- MorMor – “Whatever Comes to Mind”
- Lykke Li – “Sex Money Feelings Die”
- Swae Lee – “Touchscreen Navigation”
- Chromeo – “Must’ve Been (featuring D.R.A.M.)”
- Gorillaz – “Lake Zurich”
- Ella Mai – “Boo’d Up”
- Teyana Taylor – “Rose in Harlem”
- William DeVaughn – “Be Thankful For What You Got”
- The Internet – “Roll (Burbank Funk) [Kaytranada Remix]”
- Goldlink – “Got Friends (featuring Miguel)”
- Anderson .Paak – “Bubblin”
- Janelle Monae – “Screwed (featuring Zoe Kravitz)”
- KYLE – “Playnwitme (featuring Kehlani)”
- Pusha-T – “If You Know You Know”
- Tierra Whack – “Hookers”
- YG – “Big Bank (featuring 2 Chainz, Big Sean & Nicki Minaj)”
- Playboi Carti – “Shoota (featuring Lil Uzi Vert)”
- Beau Young Prince – “Kill Moe”
- A$AP Rocky – “Praise The Lord (Da Shine) [featuring Skepta]”
- The Carters – “APESHIT”
- Octavian – “Little”
- Cardi B – “I Like It (featuring Bad Bunny & J Balvin)”
- Drake – “Nice for What”
Skraphouse 