“Super Shy” by NewJeans, Thursday, September 14, 2023
As the music industry changes, many vestiges from when pop music was based on radio mono-culture don’t make sense anymore. Still, every pop critic feels the need to discuss “The Song of the Summer,” a made-up title given to often a high-energy pop song that usually peaks in popularity during the summer months. Billboard started tracking the song of the summer from 2010, naming Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg ’s “ California Gurls ” for that year and retroactively dubbing a hit from each proceeding year until 1985. Later, they went back to 1975 and even listed the top tens from every summer since the chart's inception in 1958 . YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW MY NAME. “California Gurls” made sense as a song of summer. It was about sex on the beach, girls in bikinis, and all things summer. “ Call Me Maybe ,” “ Despecito ,” and “ Old Town Road ” were all listed as songs of the summer for the year they peaked in popularity. Psy ’s “ Gangnam Style ” wasn’t a contender because it didn’t chart because B