I don’t know when it was decided that we needed an official “song of the summer,” but some time ago that happened. It’s something we need now. Last summer belonged to “I Love It” by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX, until “Blurred Lines” had stolen it by Labor Day. “Party in the USA” was a song of the summer a few years back.
To be song of the summer, the criteria is simple: It needs to be beyond catchy, everyone needs to know the words, and it has to be played so often that it gets seared into your brain.
This summer has sadly lacked a clear song of summer. “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea (also featuring Charli XCX) held the title for a while, mostly because no one could think to give it to anyone else. “Fancy” was catchy, the words were easy enough to remember, but sadly the song didn’t have the same feeling that previous title holders have held. When “Fancy” comes on, you dance along. When “Party in the USA” came on in the summers of 2009 and 2010, you sprinted to the dance floor. There’s a difference.
It looked like “Fancy” would cling to the title of official song of summer until Taylor Swift charmingly danced her way into the conversation. (“Charmingly” is how you describe when a gorgeous human being tries to act awkwardly while never losing his/her cuteness.) In August, Swift dropped “Shake It Off,” an uptempo pop song with an accompanying music video of Swift dancing charmingly.
The song was also important because it was Swift’s first release of her post-country career as a pop artist. Yes, that was actually a hook with this album. Swift is no longer a country singer. She is now a pop singer. (It doesn’t matter that Swift hasn’t released a country song in years. This was IMPORTANT.)
Nothing in “Shake it Off” is original or all that interesting, not even the “rap breakdown” so many Swift fans were excited about as a big departure, as it really just sounds like an alternate verse off Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl.” (Also like Stefani’s had before, Swift’s music video came with accusations of racism.)
But Swift’s song is a great pop song, catchy and memorable, with an easy-to-remember refrain and an accompanying dance move that anyone could do. Is it the exact same dance move that accompanied Outkast’s “Hey Ya?” Yes. Yes it is. But still!
