With the start of the fall semester, the student body has finally returned to the Macalester campus. To catch up with our peers, learn about their respective summers and get some awesome music recs, The Mac Weekly sent out a survey to collect students’ songs of the summer. We received 63 responses — this is what they had to say.
What exactly is a “song of the summer?” Some of our respondents seemed to classify this as having an exact summer “vibe” of their pick in mind; from Alex Brinkman ’27’s* definition of “Someday” by Sugar Ray as “summer as hell,” to Erik Lindell ’28’s pick of “She Will” by Lil Wayne because “it just encapsulates the summer,” multiple students picked a song that, to them, generally fit the overall emotions of the season.
Macalester students always wish to connect with each other, even through music. Cade Klein ’27’s answer encourages students to listen to “Expressions On Your Face” by Ecco2k, Bladee, and FakeMink because, simply, “brooo like listen to it they sound so angelical and it’s catchy af.”
Vi Danahy ’27 also shares the joy of showing friends new music, citing “Alright” by Kitty Craft as their song of the summer because “I enjoyed sharing this song with friends and family. I love its lofi sound and cryptic lyrics.”
For other students though, their answers fell into more defined categories. Multiple people chose their song based on the actual time of the song’s release. Anya Armentrout ’27*, when referring to “new david bowie” by Jim Legxcy, claimed that the song belongs to an album that is “the drop of the summer,” and when describing “Ok As I Am” by Chinchilla, Iris Fokam ’26 said “This song came out during the summer, at almost the same time as other songs from my fav artists, so it was like a non ending release of good songs for my summer, which was a blast.”
Others focused on cultural popularity, including Elliot Pearson ’27, who said that Lady Gaga’s “Summerboy” was “everywhere and it was perfect.” We even had a few students give two songs based on personal versus cultural popularity— Josh Guillou ’26 cited “Love Attack” by Small Axe as his personal pick, and “Illegal” by PinkPantheress as the “official song of the summer.”
Popularity didn’t always have to originate from the song itself. Emma Gonzalez-Cueto ’26 chose “Oh Okay xxl freestyle” by ian as her song because “lots of memes and dance trends that will be reminiscent of the summer of 2025 when we look back on it were based off of it.”
Emelia Brinkley ’26 also chose their song “Punkrocker” (feat. Iggy Pop) by the Teddybears based on a popular summer blockbuster: “I had this song on REPEATTTTT after watching the Superman movie. Being kind IS the real punk rock,” they cited.
There was one major pop-culture reference that stood out amongst responses though: KPop Demon Hunters. The animated, summer movie-musical – and the virality that ensued – influenced multiple people’s choices and brought a level of uniqueness to mainstream media that responders appreciated, including Macalester’s Vice President of Student Affairs Kathryn Kay Coquemont, who said that “Golden” by the movie’s fictional band called HUNTR/X was a “catchy song that got me pumped to start a new academic year, and I love the representation of KPop (demon hunters).”
Lucy Wing ’26* also reflected on the film, with the same song as her pick: “This whole album was on repeat. KPop Demon Hunters was a great watch and an even better listen. [It’s] so fun to have KPop in mainstream arenas, sitting high on mainstream charts, and getting the recognition it deserves. I went home at the end of the summer and it was the first song I played when I was driving alone on my rural hometown roads, windows rolled down and screaming the lyrics; the epitome of a song of the summer.”
Besides pop-culture, many students summarized their summer break (and choices of song) through how they spent their time: which heavily consisted of driving. Responses varied in length, like Sadie Kyle ’28’s one-word justification of “Megaman” by Tay-K -– “highway,” compared with Sam Kennedy ’27’s* paragraph elaborating on his memories with Alanis Morrisette’s “Ironic,” “I had the pleasure of introducing this song to my brother, who found it as delightfully absurd and catchy as I did when I first heard it years ago. We must’ve played it on every single car ride we took together. I listened to Jagged Little Pill a lot in high school, and it was fun to re-experience those songs alongside a fresh pair of ears;” multiple people cited driving as a common space for listening to music this summer.
The final category that we saw responses fall into was location-based – Macalester students were all across the world this summer.
Some of the picks landed close to home, like Sam Stephen ’28: “My sister and I listened to [“Emergence” by Sleep Token] a lot as we were both back home from our respective colleges. I have fun memories of singing this in our kitchen,” and Edgar Orellana Reyes ’26: “I was back home in Texas, in the car with my siblings. We blared [‘Verano Rosa’ by KAROL G and Feid] while speeding down some country road and my sister goes ‘Edgar this is our song of the summer.’”
Other responses came from a bit further away. One junior talked about her time in Ecuador: “every time the weather was nice we (my cohort and the kids in the community we were staying in) would go pile into the back of a pickup truck and go down the gravel road to the river to swim and play. [“VITAMINA” by Jombriel] was the “river song” they would blast from the truck to let everyone know it was time to go,” and Ella Erdem ’26 was travelling listening to “Celia Inside” by The Cardigans: “I traveled the world and fell in love and this was my anthem!”
Some students even expressed their appreciation for other countries through their music taste. One first-year’s song choice demonstrated her attachment to the Dominican Republic: “[‘Ojalá Que llueva Café’ by Juan Luis Guerra] just brings the smell of coconut and saltiness of the Cabarete beach to my memories.” Another student, Vik Spurna ’27*, explained her love of Canada through her pick of the country’s national anthem, stating simply: “[I] love leafs.”
No matter the reason Macalester students chose their songs of the summer, every response held something special inside every note: memories of the time spent with family, friends, or even just by themselves. Although summertime may be over, the time for continuing to make memories, and discovering new music, has only just begun. Welcome back, Macalester! Interested in listening to any of the songs we mentioned? Students’ songs, along with a few faculty members’, have been compiled into a playlist. Take a listen!
*Works or has worked for The Mac Weekly.
