Category Archives: song of the day

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Song of the Day #6,289: ‘Daisies’ – Justin Bieber

Men have seemingly surrendered the pop music landscape to women in recent years, but I do have one male artist among my personal picks for an alternate universe Song of the Summer.

Justin Bieber released his seventh studio album, Swag, on July 11 with no advance notice. His first full-length release in four years debuted at #2 on the albums chart while first single ‘Daisies’ mirrored that feat, debuting at #2 on the Hot 100. Nine weeks later it’s still in the top ten (just), but that wasn’t enough to land it on the official Songs of the Summer chart.

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Song of the Day #6,288: ‘The Subway’ – Chappell Roan

My #1 pick for the alternate universe Song of the Summer is Chappell Roan’s ‘The Subway.’ Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!‘ was in a tight race with Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ as my personal pick for last year’s top summer song, and this year she claims the title.

Roan has been performing ‘The Subway’ live for more than a year but resisted releasing a recorded version at first because she had other singles on the runway and later because she thought it wouldn’t live up to the concert experience. She finally relented and dropped a studio recording on July 31.

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Song of the Day #6,287: ‘Hold My Hand’ – Jess Glynne

Before I get to my alternate universe candidates for Song of the Summer, I want to share the song TikTok crowned with that title for both the U.S. and worldwide.

The winner is a 10-year-old dance pop track by English singer-songwriter Jess Glynne. ‘Hold My Hand’ was a #1 hit in the UK in 2015 while peaking at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. So how did this seemingly forgotten song dominate this summer on TikTok?

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Song of the Day #6,286: ‘Hang On Sloopy’ – The McCoys

Barry McGuire’s ‘Eve of Destruction‘ returned to the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of September 21, 1965. At #2 was The McCoys’ recording of ‘Hang On Sloopy,’ a song that would reach the top spot the following week.

This song was originally released a year earlier as ‘My Girl Sloopy’ by the R&B group The Vibrations. It was written by Bert Berns and Wes Farrell. Berns is also a co-writer of ‘Twist and Shout,’ and you can hear echoes of that song in this one.

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Song of the Day #6,285: ‘Autumn Leaves’ – Roger Williams

Throwing back to the week of September 20, 1955, we find a trio of usual suspects atop the singles chart: Mitch Miller’s ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas,’ The Four Aces’ ‘Love is a Many Splendored Thing,’ and Pat Boone’s ‘Ain’t That a Shame.’

In the fourth spot that week was ‘Autumn Leaves,’ an instrumental track by pianist Roger Williams. The song was composed a decade earlier by Joseph Kosma, a Hungarian who immigrated to France, with lyrics penned by Jacques Prévert. Johnny Mercer adapted the song to English.

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