You can count on at least one widespread debate happening every summer: what will be the song of the summer? Recently, Billboard put an end to the speculation and announced that the song of the summer would go to artist Alex Warren for his single, “Ordinary”, which was released in February of this year.
To be honest, I hadn’t listened to “Ordinary” until earlier this month. Throughout the summer, I only heard it a few times on the radio, in stores and on random playlists at work. I didn’t think that much about it, because to put it simply, I didn’t think that much about Alex Warren at all.
After listening to it again, I can easily acknowledge that “Ordinary” is not a bad song. Some people might even call it beautiful, and the lyrics can be considered well-written. It’s not impossible to see why many people would often listen to this song.
However, it holds a different “vibe” than the past award-winning songs. It feels more indie than a regular pop song, which explains the controversy of it being titled the song of the summer.
Artists such as Lord Huron, Bon Iver, Gregory Alan Isakov and Fleet Foxes tend to write songs with intimate and melancholic tones, which is the norm for the indie-folk genre. They – along with many other indie artists – have a special ability to storytell through their songs, and somehow write about personal experiences in a songwriting language that allows them to be indirectly authentic. It makes you listen not once, but twice, to understand how their lyrics and production go hand-in-hand with the storytelling itself. Now, it’s debatable whether indie-folk music should begin to be more prominent in the song of the summer category, or if pop music should keep its place.
Over the years, people’s ideas about what makes a great song change, and there’s always a debate on which song should be given titles such as this one. I firmly believe it varies and depends on the type of person you are, your personal preferences of music taste and what season of life you’re in – because this has been true in my life.
My music taste has always reflected the kind of people I’m around, the situations I experience, what I wish for and what kinds of trends I’m following. Music has always been my way of expressing my thoughts and feelings when I struggled to put them into words myself. I know this to be the case for my friends and from what I’ve seen in the media. As a matter of fact, that seems to be the pattern for most, if not all, people in newer generations.
So that brings me back to the question of why “Ordinary” now owns the title of “song of the summer”. Like I mentioned before, my music taste has always reflected what I wanted out of life, and one of the things I wished for was a romantic relationship.
Alex Warren’s song is pretty much a rallying cry for hopeless romantics, considering that it was written in honor of his wife – hence why so many people enjoyed this song. This song reflects what younger generations want, and romance has seemed to become one of Gen Z’s sole focuses. Being in love is trendy.
The aspect of love displays an authentic connection between two people, and that is something that younger people desire. “Ordinary” transparently displays Alex Warren’s love for his wife. Naturally, those who desire that kind of connection gravitate towards music that has the combination of love and skilled songwriting, and indie-folk music happens to frequently fall into that category.
This brings me back to my previous point. Indie-folk artists tell stories through their songs by writing in riddles and complex vocabulary, so that they are able to be authentic in their lyrics without being obvious on the first listen. Good storytelling is found in good songwriting, and Gen Z believes that those who write in that fashion deserve higher recognition.
Unfortunately, recently it feels harder to find people who still avidly listen to pop artists on the wavelengths of Lizzo, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Beyoncé… the list goes on. Maybe the trends have changed.
Before, people were attracted to what made you want to have a dance party, or maybe even encouraged you to not think about what you’re feeling in the moment and to use songs to escape and de-stress your brain. What about now, though?
To most young adults now, if it doesn’t sound like it came from Noah Kahan or Laufey and doesn’t make you stare at your ceiling from your bed and contemplate your existence, why even listen? It all goes back to relating to songs and being able to be vulnerable without having to say it yourself.
Ultimately, being emotionally authentic and raw has become the goal for newer generations, and that shift is starting to manifest in today’s popular songs. It’s what’s started to crawl its way to the top of charts more than light-hearted songs like “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles or “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars.
Pop artists such as Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Tate McRae have had recognition for their work, but not enough to have pushed them high enough in charts to receive the song of the summer title. It’s beyond me how that did not come to fruition for them. It can be put as frankly as this: their music didn’t fit the melancholy and intimate genre that Gen Z has started to gravitate toward. That is not to say that they do not have sadder songs, but they do not fit the same “vibe” as songs like “The View Between Villages” by Noah Kahan, or “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron.
Now, I don’t think pop is a genre that will ever fully burn out. In fact, it’s still a go-to genre for younger and older people alike. It is, however, up to us as listeners to decide what kind of role it plays in our listening and how we’ll continue to branch out in our music tastes.
