Pop music thrives in the summer. Better weather and more free time means more parties, and more parties means more bangers. But once the leaves begin to fall and the grindstone starts turning once again, only the songs of the summer will remain, incongruously bouncing around our heads and thwarting our attempts to shake our minds out of summer mode. Here are a few of the songs you’ll likely be sick of by the time school starts.
1. Disclosure — Latch. One word: “da-daaaa.”
2. Iggy Azalea — Fancy. Vulture’s Amanda Dobbins was right — we deserved a better song of the summer. We also deserved a better pop star of the summer than Iggy, whose main contribution to the charts as of this moment seems to be giving white pop stars the a-OK to act like cartoon “gangsta” caricatures in their videos (see Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off, Katy Perry’s This Is How We Do.)  Once Lady Gaga starts prancing around in oversize gold chains, we can all collectively curse Iggy and exorcise her from our memories of summer 2014.
3. Sam Smith — Stay With Me. Another appearance from Latch guest vocalist Sam Smith. I admired Smith at first for his submissive persona, which struck a refreshing contrast with 2013’s obnoxious trend of alpha-male pop stars. But the more I listened to the song, the more disingenuous it sounded — from the churchy sex-as-religion chorus to his obviously James Blake-aping vocals to the fact that he’s probably gonna chuckle to himself once his puppy-dog schtick gets the object of his affections back in bed.
4. KONGOS — Come With Me Now. One of 2014’s weirder hits, Come With Me Now comes on strong, mashing up post-grunge muscle with influences from African pop and Western folk music. But once you’ve gotten over the initial shock of hearing it, the only thing you’ll likely retain is the chorus, which is as lunkheaded as anything their frequent tourmates Linkin Park ever crafted.
5. Ariana Grande — Problem. Featuring two of the most irritating pop trends of this year — an annoying sax loop and an Iggy Azalea feature — Problem is a song you won’t want stuck in your head after September. Keep an eye on Grande, though. She’s got a great voice and a great ear for production, and I have no doubt she’ll produce hits in the future a lot better than this one.