All this week, The FADER is exploring the Songs of the Summer, from massive global hits to the most exciting tracks from emerging artists. We’ve broken our list of contenders into a March Madness-style bracket, with four regionals, each representing a different type of summer song. The FADER staff will fight the tracks off against each other and come out with a winner from each regional before finally picking our ultimate Song of the Summer on Friday. Follow along wherever you listen to podcasts.
Today, we’re looking at the Slacker Regional. This is your soundtrack for waking up at noon, throwing on a shirt you haven’t washed in two weeks, and avoiding getting a summer job.
Listen to the Slacker episode of The FADER’s Songs of the Summer series wherever you get your podcasts, or embedded below.
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Winner: MJ Lenderman: "She's Leaving You"
MJ Lenderman’s “She’s Leaving You” is the slacker anthem of the summer, a no-frills indie rock banger with shades of Built to Spill and Pavement that’s melancholy in tone, but with hooks that are stadium-ready. — Cady Siregar. Read the full blog here
Porter Robinson: "Cheerleader"
Though it dropped in the first days of spring, “Cheerleader” is designed to soundtrack the sunniest, most ephemeral moments of our lives. Casting aside the contemplative EDM-pop of his 2021 album Nurture, Robinson creates a new strain of blog-era electronic rock festooned with rapturous chiptune flourishes and promises that love is possible, even if it’s an unhealthy infatuation. — Jordan Darville
Bladee: "Don't Wanna Hang Out"
Summer is the season of hedonism, but it can be a difficult time for introverts. Even for 24-hour party people, a monthslong bender can drain the social battery. As the de facto leader of Drain Gang, an evolution of the Stockholm scene that produced Sad Boys, bladee makes music that’s simultaneously turnt and misanthropic; even his most immediately pleasurable tracks are tinged with melancholic themes and an undercurrent of sadistic irony. On “DONT WANNA HANG OUT,” he plainly lays out his desire to spend the Swedish summer in wintery isolation, venting his frustrations with fake friends and clout chasers over a F1LTHY instrumental that crescendos as triumphantly as a Lex Luger beat. — Raphael Helfand
Hovvdy: "Meant"
Hovvdy’s “Meant” is a slow and sultry pop song, evoking the feel of sweat on your skin on a long and humid summer night when the days never seem to end. Summer is romantic and unpredictable, the time for momentary crushes that you think will last a lifetime, deep romances, and passionate flings. “I wanted you to know how much it meant,” Will Taylor sings, his voice full of longing, and maybe even desperation. — CS
The Softies: "I Said What I Said"
The Softies’ return after 24 years follows a subtle yet pointed timeline: 9 p.m. nail painting at the sleepover to 3 a.m. existential crisis. “I Said What I Said” is a familiar confessional for the ‘90s twee duo, with epiphanies that only come with decades of friendship, like looking for “more to love than discontent” and “more to life than paying rent.” — Hannah Sung
Peggy Gou: "Lobster Telephone"
Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí explored the subconscious through dreamlike curiosities like the “Lobster Telephone” sculpture. Peggy Gou’s own “Lobster Telephone” exudes laid-back summertime joy, a ‘90s house-style production perfect for a BBQ with a beer in hand. Gou’s version is playful, flirty, and liberating, with upbeat synths and retro-futurist basslines. It’s sonic euphoria, capturing carefree summer bliss and sunny pleasure. — Sandra Song
Dehd: "Dog Days"
Dehd’s “Dog Days” is an uptempo ode to summer hedonism and debauchery, a joyous anthem celebrating the messiness and adventure of life’s unknown. “Everyone I know is breaking hearts tonight / Everyone I know is bleeding, but I know we'll be alright,” goes the opening of the song, because misery is better when it’s shared, and under the sun. — CS
Clairo: "Sexy to Someone"
Clairo is bringing summer 2024 some much-needed whimsy in "Sexy to Someone." It’s the kind of playfulness in Paul McCartney and Wings’ “She’s My Baby," and the type that El Michels Affair carries over from “Enfant” in Adult Themes. Leon Michels’ production and Clairo’s voice dance around each other, where the fluttering of a flute is akin to the batting of an eyelash, while instrumentation via mellotron and slide guitar bolsters the singer’s pining. — Hannah Sung