Anthem of the Summer

When I was 15 years old, I noticed that all of my elders were still in love with the songs of their youth (much like those of us in our 40s now will always have a special place in our heart for music from the 1980s)... and only a very few older folks were truly "open" to the new music of younger generations ("it's too loud", "it's too synthetic", "there's too much swearing")... and I made a solemn vow to myself in 1987 to "work extra hard to stay current with popular music", which I've held onto for 30 years now.

This vow has resulted in some strange musical fascinations in my life that I haven't admitted (until now).

1. I really like Taylor Swift. She really is *that* good and I'm proud that she's my daughter Amelia's favorite artist.
2. I'm kind of "scary good" at predicting #1 and Top 40 songs after a single listen (for example, even though I really don't like Rae Sremmumd's Black Beatles, I could tell that it was destined for #1 because it's sound is very attractive to this generation's vibe. If you're over 50 you probably don't even recognize this song that was #1 for 7 weeks earlier this year, and I'll admit I only "get" the appeal as an intellectual curiosity. I really don't think it's a very good song, personally).
3. Even though many people my age are bemoaning the death of music in this generation ("it all sounds the same", "it's too much rap", "it's too poppy"), personally I feel like music today is more varied and interesting than ever -- artists like Bruno Mars, The Chainsmokers, Zac Brown Band, Shawn Mendes, James Arthur, Katy Perry, Liam Payne, Thomas Rhett and Flo Rida are recording multiple great songs year after year -- across multiple genres.
4. This lifetime effort to stay current with popular music has helped me become very good at predicting the "Anthem of the Summer" -- that extremely catchy, usually very poppy, upbeat, happy, energetic song that ends up being the most played (and ultimately overplayed) song of the summer. The song that wins this title each year is usually launched in June or July, but in the last 24 hours I've heard a brand new song that I think may win this year's title. Take a listen to this song, its guaranteed to make it to #1 -- and may possibly stay in the top 20 all summer -- even though you probably haven't heard it at all until now -- https://youtu.be/Qlsu7RhOnsQ

(If you're over 40 you probably will think this song is "too poppy", but if you're 15-25 years old you will love it and want to play it all summer ... and it will remind you of 2017 thirty years later in 2047)...