As we bemoaned midway through the summer, this was not exactly a stellar year for song of the summer candidates. There was no triumphant “Call Me Maybe” or “Umbrella” that seared its way into the hearts and brains of every breathing human, inescapable and omnipresent, both in “real life” and on the Internet. This year, we were faced with a mélange of candidates, including the reggae pop “Rude” by MAGIC! (the all-caps and exclamation point are how that band name is styled, not meant to reflect any outsized enthusiasm on our part), “Problem” by Ariana Grande (with an assist from Iggy Azalea), and Sam Smith’s soulful “Stay with Me.” But none of these jams were quite able to capture the full-fledged attention of the populace.
Alas, our victor: Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.” Billboard—arbiter of all metrics music-related—has officially declared the song 2014’s song of the summer, as it remained at the top of their weekly Song of the Summer chart for the entire summer, a feat last achieved by Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” in 2010. “Fancy” is a somewhat unusual song of the summer. Iggy was basically unknown before it was released. The choruses are sung by someone else (British songwriter Charli XCX, who had a strong showing of her own this summer with her “Boom Clap”). It never had a pop culture “moment” (i.e. a particularly notable parody, or performance, or controversy). It was just a standard (very strong) pop song—with an excellent music video. Meanwhile, we continue to be irked that “Fancy” arrived too late to ever be featured on Gossip Girl. Seriously, every Gossip Girl episode could have sensibly ended with some slowed-down indie-rock cover of “Fancy” and it would have been great.