Comebacks and New Voices to Shape Music in Summer 2025

Every summer has its distinct tone in music. The summer of 2025 might sound similar to the summer of 2024, but it will never be the exact same. Music is always evolving and changing. You can never know what will be the song of the summer, but through past summers, one can predict the next summer of the song. Some songs from the summer of 2024 can hint at what genre or artist will make the next big wave. 

With that, there are many more differences between the summers of 2024 and 2025. The summer of 2025 is predicted to have more R&B, while the summer of 2024 had more of an indie vibe. Frisky by Dominic Fike is one of the best indie songs from 2024. The indie vibe of 2024 also made it feel more nostalgic than 2025. Die Trying by Drake is a good R&B song from this summer. 

While the summer of 2025 still awaits us, many songs have already been hyped as songs of the summer. For example, Lil Tecca’s newest single, “Dark Thoughts”, has been played a lot through social media and is said to be one of the songs of the summer. Die Trying, a new song on Drake’s Album, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, has also gained a lot of recognition. 

Freshman Isa Semis said, “The summer of 2025 has much more R&B than last year with the new Kendrick and SZA albums.” 2025’s summer will contain many songs with Kendrick and SZA collabs like Luther and 30 for 30. 

Along with other big artists like Kendrick and SZA, Zach Bryan has gained a lot of popularity since 2022, and his music continues to be a big part of summer. Another artist of the summer, Fleetwood Mac, is also having a comeback this summer. 

“I predict that Zach Bryan and his recent singles will be a summer hit this year,” said Isa. “Moreover, Zach Bryan's guitar skills and vocal potential combined make for a perfect summer song, and he is such a lyricist who can sing about a versatile variety of topics.”

However, a lot of the summer songs of 2025 will overlap with summer songs of 2024, as there are always summer classics. Sundress, The Spins, and As It Was are played in the summer. Other summer classics include The Thrills, Hell’ n Back, Kids, Electric Feel, Feels, and Slide. Most of these songs were made by MGMT and Calvin Harris. All these songs have an upbeat vibe like pop. Just listening to them can bring up your mood. Summer songs have a higher chance of gaining popularity if they have a happy vibe and more party-type songs. Sad, slow, or quieter songs aren’t featured during the summer. More summer classics are Knocking on Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan and Santeria by Sublime. A lot of these summer classics were also played during the summer of 2024, along with many comebacks from older summer artists.

Calvin Harris also had a comeback in 2024 along with a lot of other 2010 artists during the summer. For example, Maroon 5, Future, and Khalid had a lot of popularity that summer, while songs like Champagne Coast also got a lot of listens.

The summer music of 2024 included many big pop albums like Brat, Short n’ Sweet, and The Secret of Us. With the popularity of Sabrina Carpenter increasing, her songs were played a lot during the summer. 

Ghost Town by Kanye West and PARTYNEXTDOOR was big during the summer of 2024. Sophomore Christopher Ho remembers Ghost Town as the song that brings him back memories of the summer of 2024. “I went on a service trip in Thailand, and listened to Ghost Town a lot. The trip was very influential, and the song just tied it all together.” 

“The summer of 2024 was also part of the Dominic Fike Archive Era, and I am going to miss it,” mentions Isa. With Dominic Fike, last summer had more of a nostalgic vibe and tone because of fewer R&B songs. A specific song that emblematizes this is Pasture Child by Dominic Fike.
The summer of 2024 had many big hits from different genres, like Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter and I Had Some Help by Morgan Wallen and Post Malone. These songs blended country and pop while it gained a lot of popularity through TikTok and Spotify. On the other hand, the summer of 2025 has put the spotlight on many new artists like Sombr. His song, Back to Friends, has started to rise in popularity as summer arrives. There has also been a lot of music from different countries this summer, like Tyla and Jennie from Blackpink. The shift in music could hint at a more global genre-mixing music coming in the next few years. And, summer music never fails to bring joy to our lives.

“Summer music is the best music,” said Isa.