It's official - 2015's song of the summer is "Cheerleader" by OMI. So nowthathorse race is over, what about an anthem for Autumn? And how do you even make that choice?
If a summer song needs to be fun, upbeat, and sound good blasting from car windows atHampton Beach, what qualities define a memorable fall tune? Pumpkin-related lyrics? Wistful melodies, and acoustic guitars? We asked three music industry insiders to tell us whattheythink 2015's (Unofficial) Song of the Fall should be and why - and here's what they had to say.
Listen to the radio version of this Word of Mouth segment, "The Song Of The Fall"
Alex Gale, Senior Editor at Billboard
"It’s not my personal favorite necessarily, but I think the obvious pick is Justin Beiber,What Do You Mean. It’s already #1 and it has a little bit of a “going back to work” vibe, and it’s a little more serious than some summer songs. My pick would be a song by Chvrches called “Never Ending Circles”. They’re from Glasgow, they have a sort of windy, windswept, sad fall sound, but there’s a little bit of hope and drive to it. When I look at the fall I might be a little sad that summer is over, but I’m also focused and I’m know I’m going to get down to work."
https://youtu.be/AU9_0pxiDjY
Carl Wilson, Music Critic at Slate
"I think partly, just as a person and also to some extent as a music critic, there’s a feeling of retreat and regret and the end of summer – a sense that there’s something closing down. I think I tend to retreat to more singer-songwritery material in the fall. The new album from Destroyer, Poison Season, is almost a perfect title for a fall album - there’s a song that appears on that album called “Time Square” which really calls up that sense of looking around wistfully… You can almost hear the leaves blowing around and there’s this sense that all the characters are looking before them and behind them and wondering where they’re headed."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krpcRnxVCmA
"There’s kind of a Bruce Springsteen, early ‘80s kind of feeling with the saxophones and the guitar solos that is kind of deliberately unfashionable. That also seems to me to speak to a more interior sense, which is kind of ironic given the broad sounds of that time. "
Maura Johnston, music/pop culture critic and Editor of Maura Magazine
"For me, fall is all about a new start. You get a new book bag, you get a new pair of boots. You buckle down and get serious about learning German, or whatever you want to do as a project. It’s baseball too – anything you can glom on to the pennant race works as a fall song, for me."
"The pop song that I really like for this fall is from a record that many people said was a really good summer album, but one song really encapsulates how fall can be a time of transition, with life getting a little tougher and a little colder. It’s “Making the Most of the Night” by Carly Rae Jepsen. There’s a sense of moodiness... Even though it does reference the ocean, it’s in a context where you get the feeling they’re driving there while the beach is empty and they have to sneak on."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC9aceFjhd4
So, what's YOUR pick for 2015's "Song Of The Fall"? Leave a comment in the space below, or join the conversation already happening on our Facebook page.
Oh, and one more quick video worth sharing - a very seasonal tribute to the music of Eva Cassidy created using Second Life.
https://youtu.be/ltKfVgm1hJg
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