[2026] Focus on the Lyrics! — Recommended Western Songs for Summer, Summer Anthems

Levitating Featuring DaBabyDua Lipa

Dua Lipa – Levitating Featuring DaBaby (Official Music Video)

Dua Lipa juggles dual roles as a model and singer-songwriter.

With her characteristically deep, distinctive voice—so emblematic of British singers—she captivates vocal music fans around the world.

Her signature track “Levitating” is a breezy funk number perfect for midsummer.

It’s a romantic song that frames love with someone special as a journey through the cosmos.

Ideal for making summer memories with fun-loving friends or a significant other.

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SummerGood Kid

Good Kid – Summer (Official Video)

Good Kid, an indie rock band based in Toronto, Canada, released the song “Summer” in March 2024.

Leaders of the recent alternative scene, the band sings about the strength to keep hope alive in the face of adversity on this track from Good Kid 4.

Set to a brisk, catchy melody, the protagonist’s stance against life’s uncertainties is striking.

Despite the title “Summer,” the song reflects deeper emotions beyond just the fun of the season.

It’s an energizing, empowering track that seems perfect for getting a crowd going at summer festivals.

Summer GirlHaim

HAIM – Summer Girl

HAIM are a trio of sisters born under the Los Angeles, California sun.

Renowned worldwide for performance chops honed as a house band and for a superb musicality that spans from roots music to contemporary R&B and indie rock, they’ve been drawing fresh attention among those who saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, which opened in Japan in July 2022.

The film’s lead, Alana Haim, is in fact a member of HAIM and the middle sister.

Anderson also directed the music video for HAIM’s 2019 hit Summer Girl, and if you’ve seen the film, you might enjoy the clip—in which the three sisters simply walk through the streets of L.A.—in a new light.

Summer Girl is a classic with an easy-to-remember melody and a laid-back, mellow sound that’s perfect for summer twilight.

But it was actually written after it was discovered that Danielle Haim, the group’s lead vocalist,’s partner had cancer; its lyrics, meant to be a beacon of hope for someone dear, leave a quiet, moving impression.

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Sun Is UpINNA

Inna – Sun is up (Official Music Video)

This is a summer classic by INNA, an artist whose distinctive sensibility shines through in her music and who is expected to lead the next generation of the vocal scene.

Its hallmark is a sophisticated mood, with deep lyrics that comfortably build excitement.

Baby PowderJenevieve

Jenevieve – Baby Powder (Official Video)

The Weeknd’s 2022 track “Out of Time,” which samples Tomoko Aran’s “Midnight Pretenders,” a classic in Japan’s city pop scene, became a huge talking point.

But I wish there were more recognition for the fact that in 2020, when she was still largely unknown, R&B singer Genevieve released “Baby Powder,” a song that interpolates Anri’s “Last Summer Whisper.” Much of Anri’s music centers on the theme of summer, and “Last Summer Whisper” itself is about a romance that ends as summer fades.

In contrast, “Baby Powder” portrays the protagonist’s shifting feelings and complicated emotions toward a lover.

Its nostalgic, mellow sound—cool even on a sweltering midsummer night—combined with Genevieve’s beautiful voice, leaves you with a wonderfully bittersweet feeling.

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Summer 2020Jhené Aiko

Jhené Aiko – Summer 2020 (Official Video)

When listening to this song, many people may be reminded of the summer of 2020, when the turmoil that still lingers today spread across the world.

Summer 2020 is a track released in that very summer by Jhené Aiko, an R&B singer-songwriter from Los Angeles of Japanese-American descent.

It first appeared on the deluxe edition of her third album, Chilombo—which was released the same year and peaked at No.

2 on the U.S.

charts—and it’s a chill, mellow number that boldly samples the classic Summer Madness by the world-famous soul-funk group Kool & the Gang.

Including its music video, which shows Aiko with a serene expression in a plastic pool, it’s possible that decades from now, when memories of COVID have faded, people who hear this song may not immediately grasp what was happening in the background.

The lyrics convey the confusion born from confronting an unprecedented situation, along with a positive message of taking it easy regardless.

I encourage you to listen to the song with an understanding of its lyrics.

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That Summer FeelinJonathan Richman

Jonathan Richman – That Summer Feeling

Jonathan Richman is an American singer-songwriter and the leader of the proto-punk band The Modern Lovers.

The song released in 1984 portrays the free, innocent joys of summer, expressing the liberating feeling of acting on pure desire and the wonder of running toward love for no particular reason.

It strings together various summer experiences—like the coolness of a cold pond, the scent of freshly cut grass, and teenage adventures—singing about cherishing each moment.

Included on his 1992 solo album I, Jonathan and featured across various media, its nostalgic melody continues to be loved.

It’s a classic that celebrates summer’s joy and sentimentality, carrying precious memories into the future.