
|
NIGHTSPOTS
|
|
|
DANCING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE: We're SO into songs of summer
by Marc 'Moose' Moder 2016-06-08
|
|
|
|
Sweetest Day, Record Store Day, Small Business Saturday and the Summer Movie splurge are all made-up events produced by industries to get you to spend money. While all seem silly at first, after as much pummeling, we all eventually buy into them, somehow making them legit. Much like the UK's "Christmas #1," documented in the legendary Love Actually, we seemed to have been conned/coerced into believing "The Summer Single" is a thing. In the past five years or so, debate arises annually in radio and print music press over what will be the song that best defines summer with hopes of being iconic. Past examples include "California Girls" by Katy Perry, Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" or LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem." All are cemented into our noggins as summer jams that will be spun at every wedding until long after you're gone, which means ongoing cash for labels and artists. 2016's cropwith many pop stars going sultrier and down-temposeems a bit shallow, but not without its charms.
A song doesn't have to be released in summeror even springto be a song of the summer. "Uptown Funk" by Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson came out in November 2014, but stayed in the top 10 for a staggering 31 weeks, finally dropping below 10 in July 2015. So it's not an impossibility that DNCE's "Cake By the Ocean," released in November of last year, and to radio in January, could do it. Try to get through a day where his ode to getting ass at sea isn't misplayed on the Food Network or Today Show in reference to cake or oceans. It's still ubiquitous and in the Top 20, right above Jonas Brother Nick's "Close" ( with Tove Lo ), which, while a bit too sexy, also has legs.
When it hit the web a few weeks ago, Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling" lit up the world and was crowned immediately, but now, languishing at #3, the song already feels overly simplistic and tired, if you ask the general population. Blocking JT from the top of the singles chart is Panda's "Designer" ( every summer has one oddball hip hop/reggae novelty that shouldn't be taken seriously: Harlem Shake; Cheerleader; etc. ) and Drake's "One Dance." While not as catchy as "Hotline Bling," "One Dance" is undeniably great and catchy. I wouldn't say no to this one, or to Drake in a bath towel at my front door, right ladies?!
But my pick for the summer is Ariana Grande's single ( that's not even a single, per se ), "Into You." With the dull "Dangerous Woman" still being worked for radio, the far catchier "Into You" has been making the rounds as her second offering off the new album, with a super sexy concept video in tow. If you'd asked me a month ago about what was the ladies' best bet, I'd have said the "Work From Home" earworm by Fifth Harmony or Britney's new ( now delayed ) new single. "Work From Home" can't hold up to the pop hooks of "Into You" and Britney pushed her single back until summer itself, so that's out. That leaves one pony-tailed Disney brat to take the summer song crown. We're so, so into it. |
 |
|
 |
|
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
| 
|  | Jeannie Tanner releases inspirational song, art-inclusive video
2020-10-17 - Local singer-songwriter Jeannie Tanner has released her new single and video, "I Wanna Be the Change." According to a press release, the song was inspired by many of the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ...
| 
|  | Queen + Adam Lambert release first live album 2020-10-15 - Queen + Adam Lambert have released their first-ever live album, Queen + Adam Lambert: Live Around the World. The release is in CD, CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray and vinyl formats. The set presents a compilation of concert highlights ...
| 
|  | Linda Ronstadt, Danny Glover, Beto O' Rourke in 'All Souls to the Polls'
2020-10-14 - More than 50 artists, social justice and grassroots activists from across the country have created two nights of concerts to spur national voter turnout, with "All Souls to the Polls" on Oct. 17-18 at 7 p.m. ...
| 
|  | 50-50 All Souls to the Polls benefit concert to get out the vote 2020-10-13 --From a press release - Oct. 13, 2020-(Chicago, IL) - A coalition of the nation's top arts presenters have joined forces to create a 6 hour "People's Benefit Concert" to spur Get Out The Vote action in all fifty states. More ...
| 
|  | Sarah Brightman in Chicago in Dec. 2021 2020-10-13 - Soprano Sarah Brightman will bring "HYMN: Sarah Brightman In Concert" to the historic Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr., on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021 at 8 p.m. CDT. To enhance her world of enchantment, ...
| 
|  | Philharmonic orchestra's free virtual concert Oct. 24
2020-10-13 - Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO), named 2020 Professional Orchestra of the Year by Illinois Council of Orchestras, announced its virtual opening night concert, "IPO Reimagined," featuring 30 IPO string players performing ...
| 
|  | Collaborate Arts Institute to mark 10th anniversary 2020-10-12 - Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago (CAIC), 7409 N. Greenview Ave., is celebrating its 10th-anniversary season with fall offerings that include the annual Collaborative Works Festival, two recitals as part of the Lieder Lounge series and the ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ Diversity report, Zachary Quinto, 'Schitt's Creek,' Mariah Carey 2020-10-12 - In a new report from the UCLA-based Center for Scholars and Storytellers titled "Beyond Checking A Box: A Lack of Authentically Inclusive Representation Has Costs at the Box Office," researchers found that bringing authentic diversity to ...
| 
|  | "All Souls to the Polls" concerts to help fund GOTV efforts 2020-10-11 --From a press release - Chicago, ILAdding art to the urgency of ensuring a robust voter turnout for what all consider to be 'the most important election of our lifetimes, more than 50 artists and activists from 50 states have created ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ Whitney Houston, all-trans 'Brokeback,' Sam Smith, 'Chicago Med' 2020-10-05 - A hologram of the late Whitney Houston was used in a livestream showallegedly without permission from her estate, NME.com reported. Hologram USA founder Alki David had originally worked on Houston's likeness in 2016. The hologram appeared ...
| 
|  | Around the World in 80 Minutes, Chicago Gay Men's Chorus virtual cabaret in October 2020-10-01 --From a press release - CHICAGO, October 1, 2020 Chicago Gay Men's Chorus kicks off Season 37 with Around the World in 80 Minutes, a virtual cabaret featuring a small cast of 24 virtual performers that will take you on ...
| 
|  | Feminist icon/singer Helen Reddy dies at 78
2020-09-30 - Helen Reddythe Australian-born singer whose 1972 hit song "I Am Woman" made her a feminist icondied Sept. 29 in Los Angeles. She was 78. According to The New York Times, Reddy suffered for decades from Addison's ...
| 
|  |
MUSIC Davis Mallory name-drops Jane Fonda with new song 2020-09-29 - Openly gay singer Davis Mallory has debuted a new pop song called "Jane Fonda" for the masses. The track was written in Stockholm, Sweden and the video was directed by Cooper Smith in Nashville, Tennessee. Many ...
| 
|  | Artist-led "Retreat" to provide platform for creatives in food, music, art 2020-09-27 --From a press release - CHICAGO — Rebuild Foundation, the arts, education and cultural development organization founded by artist Theaster Gates, and Dorchester Industries today announced the opening of "RETREAT," an artist-led activation aimed at ...
| 
|  | Legacy Walk to honor Freddie Mercury, Sylvester Oct. 11 2020-09-27 - The Legacy Project will honor the late music superstars Freddie Mercury and Sylvester in a virtual event Sunday, Oct. 11, 3-5 p.m., featuring multimedia, historians, tribute performances and a ceremony revealing their bronze memorials at the ...
| |
|
|
|
|