Macalester is entering the fall semester, and with a community full of music majors, WMCN DJs, and indie music connoisseurs, The Mac Weekly wanted to follow up on the student body’s break by asking about their songs of the summer. We surveyed students via Google form, and received 50 responses including student’s songs and the reasoning behind their picks.
There was both overlap and contrast in our data between class years, genres, artists and reasonings behind the music. Juniors submitted the most songs, making up 40.8% of responses, and first-years submitted the least, totaling 10.2%.
Artists and genres span all the way from pop to country, rock to show tunes, and even include traditional folkloric music from Peru!
While some reasons for picking songs cited the season, whether “it talks about summer” as Gavin Davis ’26 says about “Sandpaper (feat. Bruce Springsteen)” by Zach Bryan, or “it just has summer energy” as Jasalynn Quintanilla ’25 says about “Ballroom Extravaganza” by DPR IAN, most responses fell into three categories: working/ driving, important memories and recent releases.
Several students remembered their summers of driving to work when describing their song choices. Megan Twomey ’25 details how “Purple Hat” by Sophie Tucker made both the drive, and the whole workday, more fun.
“It would hype us up on drives to work early in the morning and celebrate the end of the workday on the drive home,” Twomey wrote. “It also got me through some hard hikes during the workday.”
Colette Lawler ’27* also talks about how “She’s a Jar” by Wilco got her through her internship.
“I’d often listen to it on repeat while doing menial tasks and it made them soooo much better. I made a bet to myself to listen to 150 albums this summer (which I achieved!!!) and that song/album really stuck out to me for some reason.”
Students had more reasons for driving than just work though. Elliot Pearson ’27 mentions how “Pianist” by General Degree got him through his cross-country road trip: “It’s from a CD I got in rural Texas on an adventure and was the soundtrack to many adventures.”
Santiago Cotera ’27 went on a lot of late-night drives during the summer, a common theme in responses, and describes how “Madeline” by Yo La Tengo was the perfect soundtrack for it.
“It’s a very late night drive kind of song…Catching up with friends, going places, doing things, just driving for the fun of it, it all seemed to happen late at night and this was the perfect song to play.”
Beyond driving, several students’ picks represented a milestone in their lives, whether committing to a partner or spending their first summer away from home.
“[It] encapsulates how I felt this summer deciding to fully trust and commit to my girlfriend and do long distance while we both study abroad in different countries,” says Sophia Phillips ’26 about “Nomad” by Clairo. “Whatever heartbreak might happen would be worth the relationship we have now.”
“It kind of represents my first summer away from home, and what that means for my responsibilities and freedoms” says Gavin Davis ’26 about “Sandpaper (feat. Bruce Springsteen)” by Zach Bryan.
Whatever the occasion, Mac students find a common theme in making memories with and relying on their friends. Aidan Reynolds ’25 reflects on his senior year with “Movin’ Right Along” by The Muppets: “As I’m heading into my last year at Mac, I find myself looking to Kermit and Fozzie for their sage advice… Shoutout Ally Hurd (’24) for being the Fozzie to my Kermit and vice versa!”
In addition to friendships, several experiences over the summer stood out to Mac students as they reflected on their songs of the summer and the memories shared with those pieces.
“I got to go to an Orville Peck concert with all of my favorite people– girlfriend, best friends, and sisters,” Zoe Frank ’25, whose song of the summer was “Blush” by Orville Peck, remembered. “During his concerts, Orville Peck brings a bouquet of roses and hands them out to people who catch his eye, and we partied so hard to this song that he noticed us!
We came home with several roses.” Similarly, several songs followed along with Mac students through their travels around the world. Georgia Gayle Kretz ’25 reminisced about their time abroad with Chappell Roan as her soundtrack of the summer: “I listened to this on repeat on train rides through the Moroccan countryside. It was like 85°F and breezy and Chappell Roan really is the star of the summer.”
Summer 2024 marked the releases of several prominent songs and the rise of pop icons like Roan and Sabrina Carpenter. Carpenter’s fan base continues to spike as the artist announced the tour for her August album “Short n’ Sweet,” which featured hits like “Espresso” to the recently released “Taste.” Carpenter fan Skye Raymond ’28 spoke to The Mac Weekly about their choice for song of the summer, “Please Please Please”, from Carpenter’s new album.
“No explanation is even needed for this song. I just had an absolute obsession with the song and the music video right after it came out,” Raymond said. “I played it non-stop just in the background on loop of me doing daily things.”
While Carpenter made a major splash in the music industry this summer, all eyes were equally turned to Chappell Roan, who recently won Best New Artist at the 2024 VMAs. Her song “HOT TO GO!” was one of the only repeats mentioned by multiple Macalester students, matched only by Charli XCX, whose “brat.” summer took the music world by storm. “365,” “Apple” and “Guess” were all named in the survey and the latter’s feature of Billie Eilish highlighted an extremely successful summer for the musician. Her song “Birds of a Feather” topped charts, and the album has been nominated for Best Pop Vocal album at the forthcoming Grammys.
A link to a communal playlist with all songs of the summer can be scanned through the QR code in this article. As Macalester looks ahead to the fall, and as radio shows, campus concerts and choir/ensemble practices begin, the student body’s tastes are bound to change with the seasons, and The Mac Weekly is excited to see how they do as we welcome fall!
*Colette Lawler is the Web Editor for The Mac Weekly
