No 'Song of Summer?' Here are our picks
There was no Fancy. There was no Rude. There was no Am I Wrong. In fact, there was no song that defined Summer 2015.
And, as the last few weeks of the season wind down, we find ourselves wondering what happened to the Song of Summer?! Sure, there were a few hits that we heard ad nauseum on the radio, but there was no single anthem that united us in love -- or divided us in sonic hate -- this summer.
Undaunted, we at Entertain This! are making a case for the tunes that coulda shoulda woulda been contenders. (Be warned, many of these videos are NSFW.)
Trap Queen, Fetty Wap
This drug-laced rap ballad is the most likely candidate for default SOS, but the fact that it was released when it was still cold outside chilled us on the idea of it being a summer song. That said, however, plenty of non-purists still cruised around town with the windows down yelling, "Yaaaaaah-ahhhh!" this summer. Even Taylor Swift couldn't resist the siren song of getting fly with her baby. In a moment that was thisclose to being a jump-the-shark event, she invited Fetty Wap to join her onstage recently during her 1989 tour. Now, is that pop-culture perfection, or what?—Arienne Thompson
See You Again, Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth
Yes, the Furious 7-themed music video for the emotional Wiz Khalifa/Charlie Puth collaboration has over 800 million views on YouTube, and the single topped the radio charts for months. But somehow, that didn't make it the summer hit of 2015. Perhaps the tribute to Paul Walker is too much of a tearjerker, and has been out for too long, to be considered summer's No. 1 single. See You Again is more like the song of the year.—Carly Mallenbaum
Bad Blood, Taylor Swift
Whether or not it's about a friendship with Katy Perry gone wrong is anyone's guess, but the message is clear: don't mess with Swift, because she's got quite the power posse to back it up. Packed full of her famous girlfriends, the video came pulsing onto the scene in mid-May, and we're still turning up the kiss-off anthem when it comes on the radio—a song of the summer contender if we've ever heard one.—Cindy Clark
BBHMM, Rihanna
Rihanna’s BBHMM had all the makings of a song of the summer: high anticipation, a melody you kind-of-like getting stuck in your head and a music video with enough shocking moments to get people talking. So what went wrong? Maybe it went too far -- with profanity in the title and violence and nudity in the video, BBHMM might have been too adult to appeal to the wide audience a "song of summer" needs. Hopefully her new album, likely due this fall, will make up for it. (Video above is very much NSFW)—Kelly Lawler
Lean On, Major Lazer and DJ Snake featuring MØ
We really thought this one had song of summer in the bag. After all, how can you peak at No. 5 on our Top 40 airplay charts and cross 400 million YouTube views, and still feel like an underdog? Maybe with a few more weeks, this infectious dancehall banger could’ve reached the summit, but for now, we’ll just hold out hope that the Danish MØ crosses over stateside sooner rather than later.—Patrick Ryan
Watch Me, Silento
From grandmas at weddings to entire graduating classes, summertime revelers couldn’t stop dancing to Watch Me (and then posting it all over the internet). The song bursts with youthful exuberance—maybe it’s because the 17-year-old Silento is 2015’s youngest breakout star. Watch Me may not have been the undisputed song of the summer, but you better believe you’ll hear it at every bar mitzvah and block party for years to come.—Maeve McDermott
Want To Want Me, Jason Derulo
Yes, we do want to hear Jason Derulo’s smooth falsetto on Want To Want Me all summer. The fact that the song debuted in March and was hot ahead of the summer may have put it out of contention, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been grooving to its sexy hook in the car, in the club and at the beach all summer long. Not even Derulo’s actual summer single, Cheyenne, can touch its success.—Carly Mallenbaum
Cheerleader, OMI
Gimme an O! Gimme an M! Gimme an I! What’s that spell? The artist of this year’s (almost) song of the summer. Although Cheerleader was released in 2014, it was all over the radio these past few months and could’ve potentially dominated, if there wasn’t so much other competition. Thanks to OMI’s Jamaican roots, the song even has a similar sound to a past song of the summer: 2014's Rude, by reggae-fusion band Magic.—Sara Moniuszko
Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh), Rich Homie Quan
Unlike its songs-of-summer competitors, Flex isn’t attached to a mega-star name, a viral dance craze or a Fast & Furious movie. But what it does have is one of 2015’s most memorable melodies that struts all over the DJ Mustard-soundalike production from Nitti Beatz and DJ Spinz. And besides, Rich Homie Quan couldn’t care less about the “song of summer” ratrace; he’s happy to spend the whole song luxuriating in the club, making millions made off mixtapes and doing both parts of his call-and-response raps.—Maeve McDermott