Well, after weeks of rain and cloud, the sun has finally re-emerged. Another academic year is over. The iced Pimms if flowing. For many, the next few weeks are for lie-ins, relaxation and pretending to care about the Euros now that Grealish won’t be gracing our screens. For others, it’ll be the exact same story – with the added existential dread that follows finishing your uni career on a random Wednesday, soggy with Sainsbury’s cava, gazing up at a sky both irrevocably changed and, strangely, ever the same.

“It’s times like these that you’re overcome with memories”

It’s times like these that you’re overcome with memories. Cycling down Regent Street, you hear the tune that played when you staggered out of ’Spoons, fresh-faced and doe-eyed, after the last exam of first year. Turning on to Jesus Green, the boom of your friend’s speaker jolts back to you through space and time, as if, on that hot June day two years ago, it had never stopped blasting that one, godawful Blink-182 song. This is a playlist for a summer unlike any other – where, for better or worse, things will change. It might as well have a banging soundtrack.

‘See You Again’ – Tyler, The Creator ft. Kali Uchis

Starting off with a classic, Tyler, The Creator’s 2017 masterpiece begs for endless rediscovery. The dreamy intermixing of synth, piano and surrealist sounds, intercut with Kali Uchis’s syrup-y musings, inaugurate a musical reverie that recalls the first, heady days of being in love – or, at least, hoping to be. Perhaps this year’s May Balls conjured a whirlwind romance as the sun came up. Maybe this summer will grant the joy of wistful glances and captured sighs. This track can let us dream.

“Perhaps this year’s May Balls conjured a whirlwind romance as the sun came up”

‘Já Sei Namorar’ – Tribalistas

Two decades ago, Brazilian supergroup Tribalistas released the song of the summer – the trio’s infectious energy and awe-inspiring harmonies make it hard for the song to lose that status. The track’s haunting croonings dance around a gorgeous, wistful melody, evoking the capricious pausing of time that one only truly feels on the road: trips taken to the willow trees by The Plough, to the houseboats and fens to the north; the feeling of your head pressed against the window of a car, a bus, a train – warming your cheek on the glass, watching the world go by.

‘Not Nineteen Forever’ – The Courteeners

It’s December 2022. The Catz Winter Ball is in full swing and the band has just launched into a rendition of this indie sleaze classic. In a blow to the head, the fleeting nature of my youth is laid before me; it turns out you are, indeed, ‘Not Nineteen Forever’, however obvious that sounds when you’re still balanced on the knife edge of your twenties. For those of us on the other side, here’s a song for coming to terms with our existential dread as we trudge through mindless careers fairs – here’s to some of the last emancipated summers of our lives?

“Here’s a song for coming to terms with our existential dread”

‘EIVISSA’ – Mora ft. Danny Ocean

The album cover of Mora’s Paraíso (2022) says it all: a crystalline pool, golden light streaming from the horizon, a sky hued turquoise and grapefruit pink. ‘EIVISSA’ is a track for days like this: your neck craned back on a sandy beach, skin kissed by ecstatic heat, the ebb and flow of the tide seeping into your ears. Mora’s heady production and Danny Ocean’s guest vocals craft a honey-sweet track that lulls you straight into summer fantasy – perfect for the long, reclining days ahead.

‘Remember When’ – Wallows

We’ll tilt back to nostalgia, if only for a moment. Wavy guitar riffs flex and intermingle, set to a backbone of punchy percussion, as dreamy lyrics evoke a past memory – almost in reach yet snagged back by time. Flashes of friends laughing round a dinner table… Of your first love on a beat-up mattress… Of a sunrise after the longest night, as you let the remnant chill of the grass wet your hair. It’s a signature indie classic, now to be enjoyed out of your lockdown bedroom.

‘Quevedo: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52’ – Bizarrap and Quevedo

Let’s end on a high note. Argentine heavyweight Bizarrap’s (you probably know him for that iconic Shakira song about Casios and Rolexes – sorry, Piqué!) collaboration with Gran Canaria-native Quevedo is nothing short of a club classic. Let your hair down, take yourself dancing and pretend you’re a careless Erasmus student on your year abroad – one can’t be academically excellent all the time. In all seriousness, there’s more to life than libraries and peer-reviewed essays, even if you do love them to death.