On this last day of summer, here are a list of my 2024 songs of summer. These are songs that I heard a lot on commercial radio. My affection for them varies.
Themes: sad men (Noah Kahan influence). Trending country (see also: Noah Kahan influence)
“Wondering Why” Red Clay Strays
Hitting both themes, “Wondering Why” included a nice arpeggio throughout. There is some good writing with these lyrics: She comes from silver spoon, golden rule, private school, never miss Sunday church / And I come from blue-collar, low-dollar, out here where concrete meets old red dirt
“I Remember Everything” Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves
A duet in the mold of “Leather and Lace” where one person takes a verse, and then the other one does. This also fits both categories. I like the chorus especially. Some good writing here: You’re like concrete feet in the summer heat / It burns like hell when two souls meet.
Also, an 88 Ford is not a very old truck, in my mind.
“Austin” Dasha
A great jilted/breakup/I’m-better-off song. Unlike the video, the radio version doesn’t overly linger on the physical attributes of Ms. Dasha.
Nice line: In 40 years you’ll still be here, drunk, washed up in Austin.
I guess “Austin” would fall into the category of sad men a woman doesn’t have to deal with anymore.
“Save Me” Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson
This is a very sad man song. It also is the song that really gets stuck in my head.
Chorus: I’m a lost cause
Baby, don’t waste your time on me
I’m so damaged beyond repair
Life has shattered my hopes and my dreams
“Beautiful Things” Benson Boon
In the category of songs I probably would have liked more had they not been played ad nauseum on the majority of stations I flip through is Benson Boon, with his worry about god taking away/losing “you” aka the “girl my parents love” that god “sent my way.”
Benson Boon is Pacific-Northwest born, according to many radio promos. Monroe, Washington, apparently. He’s currently 22, which is crazy.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” Shaboozie
This was also a song that played a lot that I grew tired of. It’s fairly plodding and weary, which fits the lyrics, but rankles when repeated.
Songs by women I liked that don’t fall into the country bucket, but do concern men.
“Please please please” Sabrina Carpenter
The chorus has a great dip into the low region that I’ve just discovered has a radio edit. Heartbreak is one thing/ My ego’s another/ I beg you don’t embarrass me/
Little sucker ahhh…
“abcdefu” Gayle
This is a very delicious breakup song and I always enjoy when people find something fun to do with the alphabet, musically. It’s quite the list of things to forget. (And yet another song I discovered is quite different in it’s original, non-radio state.)
It also is from 2022, so I’m not sure why the algorithms that program radio airplay played it so much this summer.
A song I did not like that was played a million times “Whisky” by Hozier
And for the second summer in a row, this song was a song of summer:
I guess the tortured poets didn’t produce any breezy summer hits.