“Late For The Summer”
This week, Demi Lovato released her sultry, delicious video “Cool For The Summer.”
It’s great! She’s serving us everything and it’s all about love for the summer that’s just starting up for her (and her…love?) But, why was it released on July 23rd?
I’ve noticed over the past few weeks a few examples that indicate a delayed start to the summer. Or at least in how it’s marketed — because usually just as we see Christmas decorations in September, we see early promotions of the impending summer. And last summer’s namesake song by Calvin Harris came out in early April. Here’s a few examples:
- Starbucks kicked off most of its summer menu and marketing in July
- Netflix’s revival of “Wet Hot American Summer” premieres on July 31st.
- NYC is launching its Summer Streets program in August.
- Forbes outed a list of 11 ways to get more from your summer porch, today (and there are numerous listicles with summer tips on sites that have been published this week.)
Conversely, I found a couple pieces that show that summer is, well, actually ending real soon.
- The Wichita Eagle offers 7 ways to squeeze the last juice out of summer (cute hed)
- The News Press in Naples offer the top 10 ways to make the most out of summer before school starts.
- HuffPost Entertainment remarked that the “song of the summer” is dead (and had Demi released her song earlier, might this have changed?)
What defines “Summer,” at least in my mind, is the school calendar. In most cases, Summer ends when school returns (usually the first week of September for most) but some schools (like Naples, FL) begin the fall session in early to mid August, meaning that summer’s not beginning — it’s over.
And, in terms of news headlines, we hit peak summer just over a week ago according to Google Trends, though there is a swift decline right after that.
Socially, we hit peak summer in early July:
So, what gives? Is this just something I noticed randomly or is there truly a late start to the summer this year?
