Like it or not, ‘Fancy’ is the song of summer
Just as the season’s winding down, there’s finally a definitive pick for Song of the Summer: Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.â€
The surprise of few (and to the chagrin of many), Billboard Magazine has tracked the single’s collective rankings on its Hot 100 chart, which it led for seven weeks. The song remained in the top five of that chart for an additional six weeks.
Billboard’s Song of the Summer ranking tracks a song’s performance on that chart between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
“Fancy,†written with the young British pop mastermind Charli XCX, is a divisive pick. Azalea, the white Australian rapper, is a controversial figure in hip-hop, where she first made her reputation before shifting into pop.
The song, while indisputably an immediate sensation on radio, was openly obnoxious and didn’t earn the universal acclaim and appeal that other songs of summer -- say, “Call Me Maybe†or “Crazy In Love†-- earned in previous years. It caps a breakout year for Azalea, however: she also shows up on the number three track for the summer, Ariana Grande’s “Problem,†where she guests.
But at least “Fancy†slayed an even more fearsome creature of a single for the title. Its only competition was the Canadian pop-reggae quartet Magic!’s “Rude,†which knocked “Fancy†from the top spot and claimed it for six weeks this summer.
It’s the first time that two Hot 100 debut singles have held the top two Song of the Summer spots since 1999. Hopefully “Rude’s†success has yet to popularize the wedding beanie as formal attire this fall.
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