Well, what a summer! This summer, so many events, trends, micro-trends, festivals and more have

happened. Let’s take a look, shall we?

From electrifying music festivals to major pop culture updates, the last few months have been buzzing

with energy. Starting off with the music scene, Lollapalooza once again delivered a massive and diverse

lineup, while Summerfest kept its crown as one of the largest festivals with an endless roster of artists.

Boston Calling lit up the Boston area with its signature mix of big names and rising stars, and EXIT

Festival marked its 25th year by combining music, activism, and culture into one unforgettable

celebration. Meanwhile, Hideout Festival brought the ultimate beach-party vibe with its booming

house music scene, Stagecoach got the country music crowd on their feet, and Ziro Festival in India

offered a unique showcase of indie, alternative, folk, and world music against a breathtaking natural

backdrop.

On the film and television side, fans are buzzing over HBO’s Harry Potter reboot series, which just

revealed its lead cast, while Disney continues its live-action streak with the upcoming Lilo and Stitch

adaptation. Netflix’s Big Mouth is heading into its eighth and final season, closing out its wild run with

one last chapter, and gamers everywhere are counting down the days as the second trailer for Grand

Theft Auto 6 is finally set to drop. Starting on the 16th of July, the famous, our comfort beach escape,

The Summer I Turned Pretty’s season 3 has been airing. Right now, we only have seven episodes, each

as enthralling as the last, while featuring a playlist packed with great hits, ranging from The

Cranberries’ ethereal track ‘Dreams’, to Chappell Roan’s energetically bittersweet track ‘Good Luck,

Babe!’, and her bright, loud and breezy track ‘HOT TO GO!’ to our all too melodious, cosmically

transforming track ‘Halley’s Comet’ by our very own Billie Eilish, while another one of her famous

tracks, ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’ has also made its way to Susannah’s beach house. Surprisingly, Olivia

Rodrigo’s enchantingly relatable track ‘lacy’ had also crawled its way into the show. Truly, it’s been a

season stacked with culture, nostalgia, and excitement.

But let’s talk about our summer song. This year, after being drowned in trend after trend, micro-trend

after micro-trend, entertainment release after entertainment release, it appears that we don’t have the

summer song. In 2024, we had our short queen Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ as the top global summer

song of 2024, while also having the brightest most enigmatic ‘brat summer’, based on Charli XCX’s

album ‘brat’. The year before that, 2023, though we had ‘Seven (feat. Latto)’ as the number 1 top global

summer song of 2023, the release of the Barbie movie featuring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Emma

Mackey, and a sneaky cameo of Dua Lipa, brought forward some hits that stuck all throughout summer,

such as ‘Pink’ by Lizzo, ‘Dance The Night’ by Dua Lipa, and a fun remix of ‘Barbie Girl’ by Aqua,

featuring Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj.

But 2025? It’s different. Music consumption this year has been dominated by micro-trends, and while

they’ve kept us entertained, they’ve also prevented a single track from rising to true “anthem” status.

TikTok culture has sped up the trend cycle to the point where a sound can be everywhere one week,

then gone the next—leaving no room for one defining track to sustain itself across the whole summer.

Add to that the fact that streaming services are pushing algorithm-driven, hyper-personalized playlists,

and you get a world where each person has their own “song of the summer,” but nothing crosses over to

unite everyone. Another big factor? Entertainment overload. With massive events like the Harry Potter

reboot announcement, the Lilo & Stitch live-action buzz, and the endless drip-feed of gaming trailers

(hello GTA 6), audiences are constantly distracted by new cultural “moments.” These big releases split

attention across multiple platforms and trends, leaving no single song with enough breathing space to

dominate the season. Think of fashion trends. The 2000s had beautiful vintage Italian tops with flared

jeans, while 2025 now has oversized jersey-like tees, baggy jeans, etc.. Now think of the same situation

with summer songs.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that the pop stars themselves haven’t really aimed for it this year. In the

past, summer anthems were intentional—artists dropped bright, catchy, danceable tracks built for pool

parties, festivals, and road trips. But 2025’s biggest drops have been more introspective, experimental,

or niche-leaning. Instead of chasing a universal hit, artists are catering to fandoms, aesthetics, and

vibes—great for artistic freedom, but not exactly the recipe for a global summer smash. So while 2023

and 2024 gifted us songs we’ll always attach to those summers, 2025 feels like the year of fractured

playlists and fleeting obsessions, where the real “song of the summer” depends entirely on which

microtrend you fell into.