SUNIFY PLAYLIST #7: Song of the Summer 2012 Contenders

The song of the summer is one of the most prestigious honors in the pop music industry. Each year, tons of artists compete for the Number 1 song that every single kid on summer vacation will be singing. It is always infectious, catchy and fun, and all your friends and their moms will be jamming to it. Last year, the song of the summer came down to a four-way tournament between LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem,” Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything,” Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” and Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.” LMFAO eventually took the cake with its huge sales and radio airplay, but once again, every pop artist is competing to claim the top seasonal spot.

The summer song cannot just be good, it has to encapsulate what it feels like to be young in the summer. It is almost as if the song could be a soundtrack to drinking a cold beer on a hot summer day, hanging in the pool with your best friends, or dancing on top of a bar when those warm summer nights come alive. The classic summer pop song is usually released as a single in April, picks up around May, plays everywhere throughout June, July and August at every bar and beach party. Sadly, it is later despised for being overplayed by September.

Now that the summer is drawing near, it is time to place some bets on what song will reign victorious in the battle of fun poolside jams. We have an interesting selection with recent champions Katy Perry and Rihanna in the mix, newcomers One Direction and Rita Ora hoping to break out with a big song, and old schoolers like Nelly Furtado and Jennifer Lopez yearning to make a comeback. I predict recent hits like “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Starships” to be dead in the water by the time the heat hits, so I’ve chosen a lot of these artists’ projected next singles. Here is a playlist of my personal predictions of what songs will be fighting for the top of the charts and the top of your drunk, summer-filled hearts.

Note: Most likely, in a whirlwind of glitter, tequila and body odor, Ke$ha will come out of nowhere with a terrible pop anthem that everyone will be embarrassed to love. It will undermine this entire list and become the undisputed song of the summer.

Here’s the link to the Spotify playlist:

Sunify Playlist #7: Song of Summer 2012 Contenders [5] 

1. “Titanium” – David Guetta feat. Sia

2. “Naked” – DEV & Enrique Iglesias

3. “Let It Go” – Dragonette

4. “Somebody That I Used To Know (Tiesto Remix) – Gotye feat. Kimbra

5. “Dance Again” – Jennifer Lopez

6. “Dressin’ Up” – Katy Perry

7. “Dark Side” – Kelly Clarkson

8. “Payphone” – Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa

9. “Big Hoops (The Bigger the Better)” – Nelly Furtado

10. “Pound the Alarm” – Nicki Minaj

11. “One Thing” – One Direction

12, “Where Have You Been” – Rihanna

13. “How We Do (Party)” – Rita Ora

Jason Goldberg is a sophomore in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. He can be reached at jgg57@cornell.edu [6] . Sunify Playlist appears on Mondays this semester.