Hot Tracks of Summer 2013

Hi everyone!

As Bollywood bombshell and now international pop star Priyanka Chopra sings in "Exotic," her new single featuring the ubiquitous Pitbull: "I'm hotter than the tropics", that's what the temperature here in Chicago is feeling like these days, though it isn't exactly making me feel exotic, just sweaty and lethargic. But no matter. In honor of the dog days of summer, I thought I'd write about the 5 hot summer songs I've got on repeat play in my Summer 2013 playlist...

Starting at number 5:

5) "Vocal" (Pet Shop Boys). This is the first single off of PSB's latest album Electric. Still going strong after 30 years, the Pet Shop Boys have their finger on the pulse of electronic club-friendly dance music. There's not much depth to the lyrics -- nor is there much of a vocal -- but the synthesized beat is infectious and the song is pretty much guaranteed to whip you into a frenzy on the dance floor...so who needs a vocal really? Stuart Price (of Madonna's award-winning epic 2005 release Confessions on a Dance Floor among other pop classics) is at the helm as producer.

2) "Take Back the Night" (Justin Timberlake). This is the first single off of Justin's second new album of the year, due in September: The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2. It's funky, soulful, and unlike the tracks he's been laying down lately, you can dance to it. Close your eyes and you might think you were listening to late-70s "Off the Wall" era Michael Jackson, which is no small compliment. Again, the lyrics aren't particularly memorable and the chorus isn't overly catchy, but it's all about the funk and the horns "And the horns say..." and the more I listen to it, the more I like. I'm also a fan of The 20/20 Experience's Cuban-influenced rhythm track "Let the Groove Get In" if you're looking for more Justin this summer.

3) "Tu Ne Le Dis Pas" (Mylene Farmer). Madame Farmer is the French equivalent of Madonna. She's been courting controversy and dance music in the French-speaking world for as long as the Queen of Pop. I'm only now just discovering her. "Tu Ne Le Dis Pas" (You Don't Say) is the second track on her 2012 album "Monkey Me". The lyrics have something to do with a woman telling her lover that he never tells her he loves her, but you don't need to speak French to get into this song. The beat pulses hypnotically, the vocal sails ethereally, and there's a really heavy electronic bass 'dance break' about halfway through that's pretty darn cool. Vive le musique populaire de France!

2) "Exotic" (Priyanka Chopra featuring Pitbull). Fans of Hindi cinema know Ms. Chopra from her Bollywood box office smashes. The rest of the world is starting to know her for her Desi-tinged English-language pop songs. Her first single "In My City" featured will.i.am and was released earlier this year. As much as I wanted to like it, the song was pretty generic and the lyrics were, well, just kind of stupid. But with "Exotic," Ms. Chopra has teamed up with the Miami-based Cuban rapper/DJ Pitbull and channeled her inner Jennifer Lopez. And the result? Muy caliente. It's classic Pitbull with a masala twist. Yes, all of Pitbull's songs sound the same and the lyrics are pretty much identical but, paired with Ms. Chopra's sultry vocals, the package works. This would be my pick for the song of Summer 2013, if it weren't for...

1) "Get Lucky" (Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams). Yeah, this is probably the most overplayed song of the summer but it never gets old. It's cool, funky, and bounces along like any great summer song should. It's also somewhat misleading. "Get Lucky" is a total anomaly on the album Random Access Memories from which the song comes. I took the song, but passed on the album. If you're only a casual fan of Daft Punk, you might too. Nonetheless, no other song this summer comes close to matching the sexy effortless ease of this track. That's why it's my number one.

Ciao.