"Summer" is a song by Scottish DJ

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who has released six studio albums. His debut studio album, '' I Created Disco'', was released in June ...

, released on 14 March 2014 as the second single from his fourth studio album, ''

Motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...

'' (2014). Like his earlier single "

Feel So Close "Feel So Close" is a song by Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, released as the second single from his third studio album, ''18 Months'' (2012). In order to have lyrics and be standalone, Harris had to return to singing on this song, after previously s ...

" and his later single "

My Way "My Way" is a song popularized in 1969 by Frank Sinatra set to the music of the French song " Comme d'habitude" composed by Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Gilles Thibaut and Claude François and first performed in 1967 by Claude François. Its ...

", Harris returns as a vocalist on "Summer". The accompanying music video was directed by

Emil Nava Emil William Capper Nava (born 29 March 1985) is a British music video director. After leaving school at 16, Emil started his career as a chef. He shot to fame after directing Jessie J's song " Do It Like A Dude". He has since directed over ...

and premiered on 6 April 2014. The song debuted at number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, becoming Harris's sixth UK number-one single. It peaked at number seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming his second top ten hit as a lead artist and third overall, and had sold over a million copies in the United States as of July 2014. "Summer" has received nominations for British Single and British Artist Video of the Year at the

2015 Brit Awards Brit Awards 2015 was held on 25 February 2015. This was the 35th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The awards ceremony was held at The O2 Arena in London, presented by Ant & Dec. This was their second ti ...

Background

On 11 March 2014, Harris posted fifteen-second clips of the song on

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up until 14 March, when it was released digitally in certain territories and made its radio debut on

Capital FM Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capitals, List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the dura ...

. "Summer" is composed in the key of

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable com ...

and has a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 128

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

. It follows the

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

C–Em–D–Am–G/B–C. Harris's

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of st ...

spans from G₂ to D₄.

Critical reception

The song received generally positive reviews. Lewis Corner of

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

rated "Summer" three-and-a-half out of five stars, calling it "a bright and vibrant banger destined to soundtrack the warmer months". Jamieson Cox of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' magazine felt that the song "doesn't have much lyrical meat on its bones, but coming on the heels of one of the most severe winters in recent memory, listeners are likely hungry for anything that suggests a warmer, sunnier season. One of Harris' trademark gigantic synth hooks doesn't hurt its digestibility, either." Robbie Daw of

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

viewed the track as "a shameless bid at nabbing an '

Umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally u ...

'/'

California Gurls "California Gurls" is a song recorded by American singer Katy Perry. It served as the lead single for her third studio album, ''Teenage Dream (Katy Perry album), Teenage Dream'' (2010). The song features verses from rapper Snoop Dogg. The arti ...

'/'

Blurred Lines "Blurred Lines" is a song by American singer Robin Thicke featuring American rappers T.I. and Pharrell Williams from the former's sixth studio album of the same name (2013). Solely produced by Williams, it was released as the album's lead si ...

'-like Song Of The Summer anthem". In September 2014, "Summer" was named the song of the summer by

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

; it was the most listened track since June 2014 with more than 160 million plays. ''Time'' listed "Summer" as the fourth worst song of 2014. In 2022, the song received a resurgence in popularity due to an

Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

from the previous year about the misheard lyrics, replacing "When I met you in the summer" with "Wenomechainsama" usually in a speech bubble next to an animal or character.

Music video

The music video for "Summer" was directed by Emil Nava and premiered on 6 April 2014, with a cameo appearance by English actor

Jason Statham Jason Statham (; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, hardboiled, gritty, or violent. Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickbox ...

. As of June 2022, the music video has received over 1.5 billion views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Calvin Harris songs Columbia Records singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Russia Number-one singles in Scotland Songs written by Calvin Harris UK Singles Chart number-one singles Electronic dance music songs