The state of the song of the summer race in 2025 is pretty underwhelming.

There’s no denying it’s been a good year for pop music. There’s Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” and even the surprise hit “Golden” from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack.

But none have dominated the monoculture like Charli XCX’s brat album did last year. Nor did anything capture the fervour and intensity around Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” And we’re far removed from the days when you couldn’t open Spotify without being fed Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” or Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe.”

Following last year’s battle of the pop girlies, music critic (and Xtra contributor!) Russ Martin says this year’s competition feels more like a hangover. Maybe a somewhat disappointing winner like Alex Warren’s chart-topper “Ordinary” is what we get while we recoup from partying so much last summer.

We look into what makes a song of the summer as well as the alternative summer pop picks widely embraced by queer people.