INDIO, Calif. — It’s still spring, but Coachella attendees are already dreaming about what the so-called song of the summer will be.
This honor, admittedly somewhat arbitrary, is given to songs that dominate airwaves and playlists between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Billboard, which tracks the most potent tracks weekly, typically announces the winners in September based on songs streamed, purchased, and played on the radio over the summer, but frankly, the winners are also determined in part based on vibe. Historically, the songs chosen have been upbeat, danceable, and inescapable, blasting out of speakers through open windows and crowded beaches during the warmer months, to the point that come fall, you’ll never hear this song again.
Past summer songs include earworms like Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Mighty” and Morgan Wallen and Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help.” But things changed for the soulful crowd last year when Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” triumphed. This chart-topping song, which belongs to a genre we’ve dubbed “secular praise music,” was unusually difficult to dance to for a summer song. Morgan Wallen’s two-year streak came to an end, but his duet with Tate McRae, “What I Want,” took second place.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t debates and disagreements about the national anthems of each season that define a culture. For example, Charli XCX didn’t top the charts in 2024, but who can deny the existence of a Brat Summer?During the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, I spoke with dozens of fans about their predictions. They may all have vastly different streaming service algorithms and relationships with radio (RIP monoculture), but they certainly know a lot about music. Here’s what they told us:
Everyone really hopes it’s 2016 again
There’s no shadow of Alex Warren, but when I reminded the Coachella attendees that he won song title last summer, I was almost greeted with groans. They wanted bangers and were especially nostalgic for the music of 2016.
“We need Drake,” Hailey, a 28-year-old from Los Angeles, says earnestly. She explains that when “One Dance,” which debuted just before Coachella 2016, was the biggest song in the country, the world seemed like a simpler place. Drake’s new album Iceman is reportedly set to be released on May 15th, but will it hit just as hard now that Kendrick Lamar eviscerated him in their legendary beef?
“Literally anything with Justin Bieber,” was the prediction I heard from multiple influencers at Revolve Festival, the annual merchandising and content production festival held in parallel with Coachella. It’s not a surprising sentiment, considering we spoke on the day of Biberchella, when conversations about the pop star were a staple of daily small talk.
According to data shared with Yahoo, streams on Spotify increased by 165% over the weekend following Justin Bieber’s performance. This includes songs from her 2025 albums “Swag” and “Swag II,” as well as hits from 10 years ago, such as 2012’s “Beauty And A Beat.” DJ Snake and Justin Bieber’s “Let Me Love You” also re-entered the global top 50 earlier this year, according to Spotify, when a random wave of 2016 nostalgia hit.
Bieber isn’t the only artist to capitalize on culture’s retro mood this year. After wisely leveraging memes, rebranding her style, and gaining popularity with a catchy new dance, Zara Larsson experienced an astronomical rise with her 2016 song “Lush Life,” which peaked on the charts in 2026. Before her surprise appearance on stage with the Pink Panthers, several people mentioned her name as a potential song of the summer, including 21-year-old Veronica, who attended Coachella from Sweden. She predicted that Larson’s 2025 bop “Midnight Sun” (as unrelentingly summery as its name) would soon make a comeback and hit the charts.
Key pop girls and aspiring girls
The months leading up to Coachella 2024 marked a turning point for two of the biggest pop stars to perform in front of huge crowds that year. Sabrina Carpenter, who released “Espresso” ahead of the set, and Chapel Lawn, who released “Good Luck Babe” just a week earlier. The work marked a 180 on Carpenter’s career, and “her espresso” became shorthand for her breakout moment, or, as pop fans say, “her ticket out of exile.” Carpenter’s moment proved to be long-lasting: As I stood waiting for Carpenter’s headlining set at Coachella, multiple people approached me and said, “House tour.” Bling Ring--themed music video could elevate its status as the song of the summer.
But a new class of emerging pop girls is still in the works. Slayyyter attracts large crowds with their club-friendly sound that combines belt buckles and trucker hats, capturing the atmosphere and aesthetic that music is all about today. “She really is that girl,” Jayvon, a 28-year-old Dallas resident, told me before shouting “Crank it!” — A line from a Slayyyter song that became a call-and-response to fans. Is she having her own Brat Summer?
K-pop girl group Katseye’s performance also made headlines, but people weren’t talking about their music. Just before Coachella, and just before the song “Pinky Up” was released, the group announced that member Manon Bannerman would be taking a hiatus. Her signature cheers echoed throughout the desert between songs. What is the crowd’s verdict on Catsiai? I’ve heard from many fans that although they put on a great show visually, they haven’t yet found their greatest hits. Sorry, “pinky up.”
I left Coachella before Olivia Rodrigo released her first single in years, “Drop Dead,” so I wasn’t able to check out the vibe. The following weekend, she debuted the song on stage during Addison Rae’s set, and was most criticized for missing the performance when I went home.
Anything other than the country
I mentioned earlier that country artist Morgan Wallen won two of the last three songs of the summer, but he narrowly missed out on winning at Coachella last year, and people were fed up with it.
“We don’t have a country. We’ve had enough of countries,” Jessica, a 29-year-old from Orange County, told me. “No Morgan Wallen,” admitted another person listening in on our conversation. (The atmosphere at Stagecoach, Coachella’s country music sister festival, will be very different next weekend.) I could feel Warren strumming a new hit song as we talked.
If the charts say anything about it, country haters may be out of luck again this summer. While Coachella catapulted artists like Bieber and Carpenter to the upper echelons of the cultural conversation, up-and-coming country artist Ella Langley topped the charts with her new album “Dandelion” and single “Choosin’ Texas,” earning her seventh week at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
But the artist whose name was mentioned more than anyone else at Coachella (besides Bieber) was Don Toliver, who performed at Revolve Festival. Especially men – including TJ Palma. Love Island — the singer exclaimed. The summer song he chose is “E85,” which is extremely popular on TikTok. Palma was there with his girlfriend and pals love islandWell, Iris Kendall pulls out her phone to check the name of her favorite artist of the moment, Sienna Spiro. “She’s going to be big,” Kendall told me. Spiro’s song “Die on This Hill” is also popular on TikTok.
There are other dark horses in this race. I heard a lot of love for EDM and house music, especially DJ John Summitt, who performed a surprise set at Coachella, and Anima, the Coachella headliner who had to cancel his performance that weekend because high winds made their set unsafe (if you’ve ever seen Anima’s set, you know that the scary robot humans that appear behind him on screen are kind of a big part of the charm). My husband keeps telling me to listen to Nine Inch Noise, a collaboration between rock band Nine Inch Nails and EDM producer Boyz Noise, after it’s livestreamed from home.
It would be remiss of us not to mention how Taylor Swift resonated with many people, even though she hasn’t released any new music this year and is rumored to be getting married this summer. That suggests she might be a little busy doing Summer Circuit songs, but I know I’d better not underestimate her.
Overall, the vibe among festival goers was one of an almost desperate hunger for something upbeat to shake your ass off in the summer, something that can only be described as knock-on-wood, recessional pop. People are turning back to Bieber’s catalog for escapist bangers and overlooking their longstanding dislike for Drake. They’re scrolling through their social media feeds in hopes of crowning a new pop princess. Pop stars, rappers, R&B singers, and EDM dudes, hear us cry. People need danceable bops. Submit your assignments and sing summer songs before Memorial Day.
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