Tis the season for tank tops, BBQ grilling, and a whole host of water fights! We all know that there’s no better season for what was aforementioned than the summertime, but music is something to be enjoyed all year round.
Let's recollect some of the summer's hottest hits with this sweet nostalgic ride down memory lane.
Nelly - Hot in Herre
As you may remember, Nelly was riding high off the success of his multi-platinum-selling debut album Country Grammer in 2002. The LP not only made him a household name in hip hop, it also made him a crossover success as well.
That said, the rap icon would soon come face to face with a challenge that most rappers are eventually stuck to deal with: defeating what is known in the hip hop world as the dreaded sophomore slump.
Fortunately for Nelly, he exceeded expectations on Nellyvile with hits like Air Force Ones, Dilemma, and a summer anthem called Hot in Herre.
The latter became Nelly's first number one hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 and has since become a party anthem for future generations following it.
Sugar Ray - Someday
Suger Ray burst on the music scene with their hit single Fly in 1997. Although this is regarded as their breakout single, it should be noted that the band had been up and running as early as 1995.
Flowing the release of their 1997 LP floored, the group was said to have been written as one-hit wonders and a flash-in-the-pan band with no comeback single. Obviously, this isn’t verbatim, but I’m sure you catch the drift, don’t you?
Anyway, Sugar Ray set out to prove their critics and slighters wrong with the release of their follow-up album, 14:59. Seeing as how the album garnered 3 new hit singles, it's safe to say the group made their point.
Someday served as Sugar Ray's 2nd single off the album and instead of debating on what the song was truly intended to stand for, just try to imagine you and your best friend hanging out at a beach resort somewhere without a care in the world. You're blasting this song on a hot summer day and you seem to be A-OK with anything the world has planned for you.
Demi Lovato - Cool for the Summer
If you're one of the many who claim that MTV has sold their soul to reality TV in exchange for no longer playing music, well then you haven't been up early in the wee bit hours of the AM watching the channel, my friend.
In all seriousness, Demi Lovato's Cool for the Summer became a massive hit in 2015. Unless you were living under a rock, this record was sort of unavoidable. Moreover, it got a respectable amount of rotation on MTV's AMtv block for the entirety of the summer that year. That's saying something!
It served as the first single off Demi's critically acclaimed album titled Confident and expertly set the tone for both the summer of 2015 and Lovato's album that year, as well.
As of today, the LP has gone on to sell over one million copies in the US and also earned Lovato a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album.
Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin - I Like It
Unlike the previous entry, this song was technically released a smidge before the summer of 2018. However, the track proved to be a major success all throughout the hottest season of the year, so it's being included anyway.
At first listen, you might get a sense that you've heard a record similar to I Like It before. That probably has to do with the fact that the beat and hook both sample a familiar boogaloo tune called I Like It Like That.
The former boasts over 1 billion video views on YouTube as of now. It was listed as one of the best songs of the year via virtually every credible critics list and Rolling Stone even crowned it the best summer song of all time.
Balvin and Bunny have gone on to release successful albums following the success of I Like It; and while Cardi hasn't released another album since Invasion of Privacy, this hasn't stopped her from recording several chart-topping hits since then.
Honorable Mentions...
PS, If you find yourself with nothing to do and or a care in the world, try listening to Every Summertime by NIKI, Call Me Maybe by Carley Rae Jepsen, Watermelon Suger by Harry Styles, or Feels Like Summer by Childish Gambino.