The Rob’s Top Five Summer Songs 2013

OK, I know summer isn't TECHNICALLY over yet.  But kids here in the Tri-State have already gone back to school!  So I figured now would be as good a time as any to take a look back at 2013's best summer songs.

First of all, I want to make it very clear what a "summer song" is.  It's not just a song that came out this summer, or a song that I happened to listen to a lot this summer...  The song has to SOUND LIKE SUMMER.  I can't exactly elaborate on that or further explain what summer "sounds" like, except you just know it when you hear it.  For example, maybe my favorite song that came out this summer was Labrinth and Emeli Sande's "Beneath Your Beautiful," but that song doesn't at all sound like summer, so it's not on the list.

Here is what I feel are 2013's best summer songs!

#5: AVRIL LEVIGNE - HERE'S TO NEVER GROWING UP: To be honest, this is not a GREAT song by my definition.  It's a GOOD song, and I probably like it as much as I could possibly like a song from Avril Levigne...  But I feel this song has an unmistakable "summer sound."  It inspires heavy nostalgia, has lyrical content based on living in the moment and being young and dumb, and a video that is based on the last day of school.

#4: MAJOR LAZER FEAT. BRUNO MARS, TYGA, 2 CHAINZ & MYSTIC - BUBBLE BUTT: This song is incredibly stupid, which can be said for many great summer songs.  This was THE song you would hear while on the beach, or along a boardwalk, or in a nightclub.  This joint was everywhere this summer, and it probably wouldn't have been a hit in the winter months.  For content reasons, I opted for this clean version of the video, instead of the true music video.  If you want to see all that, look it up for yourself...  I don't recommend it.

#3: MARIAH CAREY FEAT. MIGUEL - #BEAUTIFUL: The video for this song debuted in the final weeks of "American Idol," and it rode a short wave of success for the beginning of the summer.  However, I would very often catch myself singing this song or humming its melody long after radio stopped playing it.  It has that unique "summer sound" that I think of, and it's title starts with a hashtag...  If that's not summer, then I don't know what is!

#2: FLORIDA-GEORGIA LINE FEAT. NELLY - CRUISE (REMIX): Yup, The Rob just put a country song on a list of songs he likes.  To be honest, I do like this song.  I like this song a lot.  It's not even because of Nelly.  This song found a way to break through and reach me as one of only three country songs I've ever heard that I like.  This song epitomizes summer.  It literally makes you think of rolling your windows down with one arm out of the window, and its lyrical content is uniquely summer.

#1: ROBIN THICKE FEAT. T.I. & PHARRELL - BLURRED LINES: This was it...  THIS was the definitive song of the summer to me.  From a radio standpoint, it spent more time on the top of the charts than any other song this summer, breaking all kinds of records and completely launching Robin Thicke's career into the stratosphere.  When people think of the summer of 2013, this is the song they will hear!