Carly Rae Jepsen • Kiss

Was listening to some pop for kids with my kid today, and first came across Rachel Platton's "Fight Song," which couldn't be more of a rip of nu-Taylor style. Then I heard "Dumb" by Heydaze, which I'm about to post to the worst songs thread. But then I heard Demi Lovato's "Cool for the Summer," and that song is dope.

then I heard Demi Lovato's "Cool for the Summer," and that song is dope.

At this point, I feel like the only person left who thinks this song is nbd.

I think it's because the first time the guitar faded in it really caught me by surprise, and added a sonic component I hadn't heard in one of these summer pop songs in some time.

Was listening to some pop for kids with my kid today, and first came across Rachel Platton's "Fight Song," which couldn't be more of a rip of nu-Taylor style.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, August 3, 2015 1:31 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

uh what

Did I miss something? I just thought it sounded a lot like the singles from the latest Taylor. Is that inaccurate? I'd never heard it or heard of her before.

Huh, so I guess they're buddies?

inaccurate in the sense that it sounds nothing like any of the taylor singles (accurate in the sense that apparently they're touring together, though)

At this point, I feel like the only person left who thinks this song is nbd.

I agree tbh

I suspect artists are telling producers and writers they want a song "like Taylor Swift" w/out pinning down what the hell this means.

xpost I thought it echoed a vibe, not that I would actually confuse it with the singles. Though it would fit right on one of her recent records regardless, imo.

it sounds more like "A Hundred Years" than anything taylor's ever released

or snow patrol, etc. even something like "Roar"

Hmm. I guess I'm thinking less of the tinkling piano bits and more when it gets rousing? The chorus? I'm not sure what A Hundred Years is, but didn't think Snow Patrol sounded like this. Aren't they more Coldplay?

maybe you weren't in high school when this came out but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR-qQcNT_fY

this shit was in every talent show, homecoming show, musical revue, a cappella repertoire, etc.

Ha ha, no, I was 10 (or 100) years out out of high school. So, yeah, I guess I have heard that M20/proto-Train crud, but that never pops out of Vanessa Carlton (100 Years/1000 Miles) MOR mode like that "Fight Song" does. "Fight Song" is pretty tailored (pun intended?) for top 40, or at least this type of top 40. I find it a funny coincidence that the song I thought was a Taylor rip (right or wrong) was sung by a freshly minted Swift BFF.

the recent echosmith song is sung exactly like an older taylor swift song, however it is v mediocre lyrically

Haha I first head "cool kids" on the radio right before the new Taylor album dropped and I was like "ohhhhh girl has gone downhill".

also unpopular opinion: "cool kids" is great and I preferred the saving jane single to the taylor anyway >:)

Oh Katherine no

Cool Kids is an okay song imo.

So is "Bright" and I don't see how it's worse lyrically than any of the recent T. Swift hits but I realize people have different opinions about astrology.

"bright" unforgivable for the "you/moon/neptune" rhyme.

the song sorta sounds like og taylor but the chorus is overstuffed, like it's trying to communicate an understated feeling in fifteen different ways.

of course taylor's choruses are also crowded but the velocity of words tends to match the feelings she's trying to communicate, so they never feel as interminable or like an exercise

"cool kids" is hideous ofc, it sounds so empty

was listening to 'making the most of the night' today and realised i'd never once considered it could be read as neutral friendship jam, like every time before i'd just thought it was some sort of revoltingly calculated sad boy fantasy (ie as the song before 'your type' rather than the one after 'boy problems' iykwim)

Cool For The Summer is better than anything on the CRJ album imo

I just died. I am dead now.

for the record, also not a "cool for the summer" fan

Cool For The Summer is better than anything on the CRJ album imo

i love "cool for the summer" and no. "cool for the summer" is like nearly as overcooked as "i really like you"

I just listened to Cool For The Summer for the first time. It sucks. Really quite obnoxious

CRJ well on her way to winning that robyn fanbase of ppl who find actual pop obnoxious then!

http://res.cloudinary.com/thefader/image/upload/s--TdJktfx---/w_720,c_limit/re8nqblwabkex8adxbl0.gif

i do like cool for the summer but I can also easily see the obnoxious knock, its not far from the return of Justice † (Cross)

I just listened to Cool For The Summer for the first time. It sucks. Really quite obnoxious

― Number None, Tuesday, August 4, 2015 4:57 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd buy that if the people saying they didn't care for it weren't also fans of other "actual pop", but it's more likely that they just don't like the song and/or just disagreed with your somewhat trolling statement.

I don't even think Cool for the Summer is obnoxious. I just think it's completely ordinary, and when people started calling it the song of the summer or one of the best singles of the year I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT WHY! As Max Martin jams go, it's completely unremarkable and the amount that people claim to love it is entirely disproportionate to what it deserves.

CRJ well on her way to winning that robyn fanbase of ppl who find actual pop obnoxious then!

"actual pop" seems to be an awfully mobile goalpost here

"cool for the summer" is near-perfect and how you respond to 0:44 may well be a good litmus test of how you feel about pop in general

is it normal for people to have the exact same arguments about chart pop that my friends used to have in high school about what was real goth and what wasn't, or is this that newfangled poptimism stuff i'm always hearing the kids talk about

Second time I heard Cool for the Summer is was def. more obnoxious. Still cool song though, once I divorce it from any context.

It's a little late to be song of the summer, though, just as Uptown Funk was too early. Maybe because last summer had two songs of the summer we're due for an off year.

I've been listening to it on a loop for the last 30 minutes and I'm liking it more than before, but I also agree with johnny crunch's assertion that "its not far from the return of Justice † (Cross)". If it had been released by someone on Ed Banger four years ago instead of by a Demi Lovato type in 2015, nobody would've given a care.

the instrumental of "summer" is nicely propulsive, and the vocal has some nice detail work, it's the try-hard lyrics that grate for me

and yes it def has some Justice qualities but I also hear that in "Boy Problems" (I think?), that hypercompressed bass sound

Cool For The Summer is the sort of thing I would like if it weren't for the gay baiting same-sex hookups as fun temporary summer diversion theme it has going on, which is pretty much the exact reason I didn't like I Kissed A Girl back in '08. Though Cool For The Summer is a better song than that one, I'll admit.

"cool for the summer" is legit

if it weren't for the gay baiting same-sex hookups as fun temporary summer diversion theme it has going on

Songwriters are obvs still grasping at straws about how to properly write about post-hetero/homo/bisexual themes in pop music (probably the same way a lot of listeners are). imo fuck who you want every day of the week.

simon h otm, especially the way that hyper-compressed bass is chopped up as a fill.

the †ey aspects of "cool for the summer" sound more like post-† "bloghouse" 07-09 imo, at best mstrkfrt or electro-era boys noize...mixed with early katy perry or maybe a little jessie j

imo the little woodwind-y synth trill before she starts singing the chorus takes it beyond a mere justice-style bludgeoning

how you respond to 0:44 may well be a good litmus test of how you feel about pop in general

This is interesting to me. Maybe you're right, but it's interesting that a heavy blues guitar lick would be a current litmus test. I guess licks like this suggest an electronic music lineage too now.

maybe there should be a demi thread huh

meant more the burst leading into the chorus