Charli's Brat summer brings the joy 

As we approach August I feel it’s time to take stock of the music that is defining the summer so far. What summer, I hear you ask? It’s actually depressing how miserable July has been in Cork, and now that the buoyancy of our All-Ireland run is fading into the rearview, we are left reflecting on dull days that didn’t offer too much on the music side of things. June had Virgin Media Park, the Marquee, the Midsummer and lots more, but Cork’s summer schedule is always top heavy and July has rarely been a buoyant month. In the wider scheme of things, there have still been a few bops though, and this week I’m gonna try and dissect the sound of the summer 2024!

Charli XCX is an artist who played in Cork at the very beginning of her career but the summer of 2024 will be remembered as the time she made it into the big lane. She was warming up for Labrinth back in the Savoy in about 2012 and as I DJ’d that night before her I couldn’t help but notice that she had something unique about her. Already being touted as the next big thing, her initial career rose accordingly, but in the post lockdown era she has moved into the mainstream in a bigger way. Charli is quite a prolific artist with a fairly decent catalogue of music, but it’s been on this summer’s “Brat” that everything clicked better than ever.

“Brat” is quite simply a brilliant pop album, full of absolute bops, and it is currently soundtracking the summer for music fans everywhere. “360”, “Club Classics”, “Apple” and “Girl, So Confusing” are just some of the infectious jams on an album which is also achieving icon status for its outlook too. It’s a Brat summer and we are all enjoying these moments when we can escape from the miserable weather and the depressing news cycle. “Brat” is one of the albums of the year.

Even back in May, there were many inducting “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter as the song of the summer and to be fair, it’s an infectious jam that has been everywhere. Its throwback 80s boogie vibes and catchy lyrics have been impossible to escape, and she has since followed it with the similarly popular “Please Please Please”. Billie Eilish is another pop star having a decent summer, and “Birds of a Feather” is a great tune. Ariana Grande also deserves a mention, while fans of the more poppier rap have also had plenty to go for, including Tommy Richman, Shaboozey and my pal Eminem. The country crossover continues to gather pace, and obviously Beyonce is worth mentioning too.

On the hip-hop side of things there can be only one real tune of the summer though, and 2024 will be remembered by many as the summer of “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar. I’ve written about three columns on the Kendrick Drake beef at this stage so I won’t elaborate much today, but this tune has a stranglehold on hip-hop and will be played forever. I did credit the beef with giving hip-hop a bit of an injection a few months back, but so far there haven’t been too many other big releases stepping up to the plate. Much of the best material comes from the girls (Megan, Ice Spice, Sexyy Red, GloRilla), and all of them were making bangers anyway. There’s room for another big tune or album or two and maybe Central Cee, who is preparing something big, might step into the void.

As ever, lots of the most exciting music happens on the periphery of these big dance and pop and hip-hop scenes, and I want to send a shout out to Ireland’s Jordan Adetunji who has smashed it worldwide with the jersey flavoured “Kehlani”. Surely, Kehlani is gonna hop on a remix? She’s also brought out “After Hours” this summer while Tinashe is another great singer who has brought an anthem with the ubiquitous “Nasty”. Lots of the best music for me continues to be in the left of centre genres like jersey, baile funk and amapiano.

Which leads me to Tems and her anthems such as “Wickedest”, “Burning” and “Love me Jeje”. For many years lots of the best music has come from Africa, and this summer Tems is one of many bringing the heat every time!