• Pop Cult
  • Posts
  • Will Doja Cat give us the song of the summer?

Will Doja Cat give us the song of the summer?

April 30, 2021

The DMs between us this week about everything that was happening in the pop culture universe were almost overwhelming as evidenced by this week’s Too Many Tabs section. As usual, we have a lot going on in our brain but this week Daysia writes about her predictions for song of the summer and Hannah writes about her quest to find her next TV show/film obsession (recommendations welcomed!).

<3

Daysia and Hannah

This Week's Fixations

What’s taking up our brain space this week?

Daysia: I’ve been thinking a lot about what the song of the summer is going to be. While I don’t think we’ve heard the actual song yet, I think we already have a few artists who are likely to make the possible contenders. I imagine that thee song of the summer has to be something in step with the current disco revival we’ve had going on over the past year and a half—something that pushes everyone to dance after the year we’ve had. Couple this trend with the steady popularity of melodic rap, and I think Doja Cat is especially primed to dominate the summer. “Kiss Me More” has proven to be a sticky earworm, and Planet Her, Doja’s upcoming album, is sure to have even more catchy tracks that stay in your head. Below are my picks for the artists who I think will dominate the summer (Note: despite the hot girl summer renaissance, Megan thee Stallion is on a well-deserved hiatus. Will she be back with new music for the summer? Maybe, but in case not, she’s not listed!).

Most Likely to Have A Major Summer: Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X

Will Release Slept On Bangers: Japanese Breakfast, Jessie Ware

Wild Cards: Azealia Banks, Charli XCX, SZA

Pipe Dream: Rihanna (HA!)

I will be pissed if J*stin B*eber has the soundtrack of the summer (“Peaches” is not good???).

Speaking of Azealia Banks, I just want to show y’all this. She just made a TikTok to thank everyone for supporting her music on the app (“212” and “Luxury” recently blew up on the platform) and just LOOK at the comments, y’all 😭 Methinks things are about to get even more chaotic on the app.

Hannah: I feel like despite the overwhelming amount of content that is being released (I mean Netflix is releasing a new movie every week this year), it’s been a while since I have been so sucked into a television show. I, like most of the world, fell in love with Bridgerton earlier this year and watched the entire first season in a day (maybe a day and a half). My family and I are struggling through Falcon and the Winter Soldier (as much as I love both Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, the show leaves a lot to be desired) and other than that there’s not much else that has captured my attention. (Okay, that’s not 100% true: I’m really looking forward to bingeing Shadow and Bone but other than there’s nothing.) I miss falling in love so fast with a TV show or movie that it becomes the majority of my personality for several weeks. I watched both seasons of Fleabag in one night two summers ago and found myself sobbing at the last episode (as quietly as possible to avoid waking up Daysia, one of my roommates at the time). Trapped mostly inside last year Normal People allowed me to escape and scream in frustration at two people who just needed to talk to each other in order to be together. And, of course, watching Little Women six times in theaters in three different cities (breaking my record of watching Hidden Figures four times in three different cities). As you can see, I take my obsessions seriously, but more than that I miss finding a new world or characters that are so well-written I have no choice but to binge (and then rewatch) them.

So if there’s something that you love that you think I absolutely need to watch please let me know! (Slide into my DMs @hannahebanks)

Has Lorde Dropped a new album?

No, but she did drop a new onion ring review 😌

In the meantime, listen to Billie Eilish’s new acoustic guitar ballad “Your Power,” WILLOW’s new pop punk banger “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l,” and Little Mix’s remix of “Confetti” featuring Saweetie!

Too Many Tabs

Our fav reads of the week

Allison P. Davis wrote a postmortem on Kimye and their cultural impact for Vulture.

The much-anticipated Shadow and Bone series on Netflix dropped last Friday and Gabe Bergado spoke with one of the lead stars, Jessie Mei, about her role in the show, gender and getting diagnosed with ADHD in W magazine. Additionally, Angie Orellana Hernandez in the LA Times spoke to Leigh Bardugo, author of the books, and showrunner Eric Heisserer on how they adapted the series which blends together characters and storylines from several books.

In the New York Times, Lindsay Crouse wrote about Ava DuVernay’s influence on the industry by creating opportunities for filmmakers from marginalized communities.

And yes, we’re aware “Hollywood’s Biggest Night” (aka the Oscars) happened on Sunday but we both abstained from watching—choosing to instead rely on Twitter takes and articles to catch up like this recap by Jen Chaney in Vulture. And, of course, one of the best parts of the Oscars is getting to make fun of the Oscars: case in point this delightful Insider piece by Moises Mendez II on the TikTok trend of roasting presenters.