My Quest for the Ultimate Summer Anthem of 2017

Karl Snyder
Aug 23, 2017 · 2 min read

The summer anthem is an important and deeply personal part of the human experience. It moves us through the environments that define our summer, refreshes us from the heat, and, for many, symbolizes a time of greater freedom and mobility. The mystical power of the summer anthem lies in its ability to make us feel cool, understood, even invincible. It defines a time or era for years to come: “the summer when I met my first girlfriend,” “the college summer when I lived in Pool House and didn’t go home,” “the summer when I realized I was a genius at euphonium,” — the list goes on and on.

In thinking about the last three months, there are eight songs that stand out as potential summer anthems for 2017. Because summer anthems are deeply personal, there is no way to avoid hurting people’s feelings when you’re choosing the One True Jam. Keep in mind this is my personal list. There are a lot of Really Good Songs that will inevitably be left off the list. Sometimes, this is because I haven’t heard them; other times, it is because I believe these are actually Just Okay Songs. In any case, rest assured that a lot goes into my thought process for what makes a great summer anthem, and I’ll be elaborating on that over the next couple weeks or so as I choose winners from each section and identify the one anthem to rule them all.

In the meantime, feast your eyes upon the nominees in convenient bracket format. Leave your outraged comments, enlightened soliloquies, or lists of grievances. I want this to be a dialogue.

In the Quarter-Finals:

Homemade Dynamite beats Wild Thoughts

Want You Back beats Everything Now

Big Fish beats Kill Jill

HUMBLE. beats 4AM

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