RCRD LBL

SONG OF THE SUMMER 2008: Estelle feat. Kanye West - "American Boy"

Posted 6/17/2008 10:41 AM by Cameron Cook

Tags: pop, song of the summer, r and b

We’re super excited that it’s summer and everything, but one tiny anomaly (other than you know, global warming tornadoes and stuff) has us kind of concerned: as far as we can tell, there hasn’t been a Song of the Summer yet. That one, genre-busting crossover pop hit that everyone undeniably loves. A SOTS gets bumped incessantly at BBQ’s, blasted from car windows, is covered “ironically” by at least three major indie bands, and somehow, you never get sick of it. 2007 had “Umbrella”, 2006 had “Crazy”, and so on so forth. But today is June 17th, 2008, and we ain’t got a SOTS for jack. So, RCRD LBL readers, together, let’s make this happen. We want YOUR comments and suggestions on which songs should be this year's SOTS. The only rule is that the song had to have charted in some format in America. Until some amazing song comes along, we’re going to nominate recent mainstream tunes in hopes that, by putting positive vibes into the Internet ether, we’ll save summer 2008 from total SOTS-lessness.

Estelle has finally broken America, it seems almost accidentally, after years and years of being kind of under the radar in her native Britain. “American Boy” is cute and all, and has a guest spot by one of the hottest rappers in the country (just ask Bonnaroo. Yikes). Let’s review the probability of “American Boy” being this year’s SOTS.

Pros:

• Estelle is a fresh face on the music scene in the US, thus an American audience has no expectations or preconceived notions of her work. 
• Kanye is featured on it prominently.
• We’re pretty sure there’s a heavy ‘80s soul/R&R sample up in there somewhere.

Cons:

• The Kanye rap is ridiculously sub-par and kind of takes over the song. Rhyming "UK" with "You 'K?" No.
• Having a fresh face also means no one know who the hell you are. 

Probability of “American Boy” being a SOTS: 70%.

While the probability is (possibly prematurely) high, the quest continues. Leave your suggestions in the comments and we’ll review their eligibility. Only you can save 2008 from being that summer where people just had to play old Michael Jackson songs over and over.

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