What I'm Listening to: Summer 2017


For the first month and a half or so of summer, I listened to a lot of the same music I've been listening to for months ― some of it even since December and January. But this month I finally started consistently listening to some new music that it'll probably be playing for the rest of the summer. As usual, you can check out all of the music in the playlist at the very bottom of this post, but since I really like some of these songs' music videos, I decided to include those as well.

Why - Sabrina Carpenter

When Sabrina's sophomore album came out earlier this year, I listened to it on repeat for months. Then she announced she would be releasing a new single ― off the album ― right near the start of her summer tour. I was definitely excited for it as I was really enjoying her new music.

I actually got to listen to it a few hours before it was supposed to be released because the lyric video was released earlier on one site. I don't remember my initial reaction to it, but I liked the message immediately.  It doesn't really matter if you like different things. You can be different and still have a good relationship with someone.

Plus the music video has Casey Cott from Riverdale, which is probably my new favorite show, so that's cool. This is one of the music videos I really like even though I feel like Sabrina looks a little too young to be with Casey in the video. I love the photography aspect of it, though!




Most Girls - Hailee Steinfeld

Ever since I first heard Hailee sing in Pitch Perfect 2, I've thought she has a really great voice. While I'd prefer her to sing more acoustic songs, I do enjoy some of the songs she's released so far. I especially like Most Girls because it's all about girl power. I know there's an acoustic version of this song that's supposed to come out (I don't know when), so I'm excited and intrigued for that.

My favorite part of this music video is probably the part where Hailee and a bunch of other women wear shirts with different empowering adjectives on them.



At My Best - Machine Gun Kelly feat. Hailee Steinfeld

I'm not much of a rap or hip-hop person, but I do listen to those genres from time to time. That's especially true when it comes to collaborations. I found this song when looking at Hailee Steinfeld's music on Spotify and gave this a listen. I loved it right away. MGK and Hailee's vocals provide a nice contrast but still go well together. The message of the song itself is also a great one as it communicates that only those who are there for you when it's rough deserve to be there when it's great.



Attention - Charlie Puth

The first time I heard this song was actually a cover, and I didn't know it was a Charlie Puth song at the time. When Sabrina Carpenter announced she would be going on tour with Alex Aiono, they released a video of them doing a cover of Attention together. (I like the cover but hate the duck sounds Alex added!)

So when I first heard the Charlie Puth version, I was like, 'Hey, I know this song from somewhere.' Its message isn't as deep or anything as the previous two songs, but I still enjoy it. 



Work the Middle - Alex Aiono

I don't remember how I ended up listening to Alex Aiono's music. I just remember going on YouTube and deciding to check out his original music after listening to some covers. Before this, I'd never really listened to Alex Aiono other than the covers of his I'd find on Facebook.

Then I found a video of him performing with dancer Jade Chynoweth at a show. I love Jade and think she's one of the best hip-hop dancers I've ever seen, so I decided to watch the video. He was singing this song during the performance but the sound quality wasn't great, so I didn't get a good listen at the song. So I looked up the music video, and voila! Jade is in the music video! Suddenly it made sense to me why she was dancing on stage with him at that show.

Unlike the most of the songs in this post, I didn't care much for this song after I listened to it for the first time, but it got stuck in my head once I was done watching the music video, so I had to keep listening to it. It took me quite a few listens for it to grow on me. I will admit it's got a good beat, which makes it great for dancing, which is my favorite part of this music video. Jade is awesome and hits so hard, and Willdabeast is a great choreographer. Done.



Thief - Ansel Elgort

This popped up on my Spotify suggestions one day, so I listened to it. I'd heard Ansel Elgort sing a few times ― mostly just in videos on talk shows and stuff ― but I'd never heard this song before. I really like his voice and think this song shows it off really well. He has such a strong and unique voice that I really enjoyed listening to.

In terms of the song, I like that it's about a guy being honest ― even if he is a jerk. He knows what he did was wrong and admits his actions deserve consequences.

The music video features Ansel himself and his real-life girlfriend Violetta Komyshan. I think it's adorable that he put her in the music video, and they (obviously) have great chemistry.



One More Light EP - Linkin Park

I listened to this album a lot at the start of the summer in mid-May and June because my sister is a big Linkin Park fan but didn't listen to it much again until I found out Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington died by suicide. So of course I started listening to Linkin Park again when that news was announced.

The most popular song from this album is Heavy feat. Kiiara. I remember when it first came out. A lot of Linkin Park fans didn't like it because it was "too pop." While I could definitely see where those fans were coming from, I didn't dislike it. Sure, I would like to hear a more stripped down, raw version, but this is what they gave us. The song went deeper than its "pop" sound. It's about someone who's hurting, struggling to live, to survive. It's a truly emotional and heartfelt song.

After news of his death spread everywhere, I only hoped people could realize why that song was on the album, regardless of its sound. Who cares if it sounded like popular music? It's not about that and clearly never was. So that's the first song from the EP I listened to on repeat for a while. Then I moved onto the whole album.

I've been listening to Linkin Park since I was a kid, so it's definitely never going to be the same listening to any of their songs.









Which song(s) or artist did you enjoy listening to most?

No comments

Comments are moderated and must be approved before publication. Profanity, hate speech nor any offensive speech will be approved.

Words have power. Don't abuse them.