Summer ends on many high notes.
Remember when it was easy to label the middle of the year with a ubiquitous pop culture product?
I do.
Last year, we had the summer of “Despacito.” 2016 was the summer of “Pokemon Go.” 2015 was, regrettably, the summer of “Jurassic World.”
But now? With almost no such thing as universality anymore, with dozens of movie studios, streaming video sites, record companies, YouTubers, app developers and book publishers competing for consumers’ collective attentions, it’s impossible to pin one down.
Let’s give it a try, shall we?
Marvel wins, Star Wars doesn’t
In film, franchises are going strong. Marvel Studios in particular stood out, having kicked off the summer proper with the fourth highest grossing film of all time, the epic crossover “Avengers: Infinity War.” Marvel kept up its success with July’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” Fellow superhero sequels “Incredibles 2” and “Deadpool 2” shared in this success.
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout” also saw high earnings, rare for a sixth film in a franchise. This may show that even after the failure of “The Mummy” last year, the public still has a soft spot for Tom Cruise.
Still, the cinema was not without its disappointments. Comedies especially struggled, with vehicles for Melissa McCarthy and Amy Schumer (“Life of the Party” and “I Feel Pretty,” respectively) failing to spark interest. Positive reviews couldn’t even save some projects: the Sandra Bullock-led “Ocean’s 8” couldn’t double its budget and “The Death of Stalin” faltered with only $8 million in America.
But the biggest underperformer was the prequel/spin-off “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which saw its May release hampered by fan backlash, eventually becoming the only film in the last five years of its franchise not to cross $500 million
Netflix and reality shows continue to reign
At least we still have the Kardashians? The biggest draws on network TV continue to be reality competition shows, with “America’s Got Talent” topping this most recent summer’s ratings list, accompanied by “Big Brother,” “The Bachelorette” and the only scripted show in the top ten, “Fear the Walking Dead.”
Netflix, meanwhile, saw massive success with the second season of its ensemble period piece “GLOW,” and released a number of popular comedy specials, including contributions from Steve Martin and Martin Short, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman and Ali Wong. The standout of the bunch, Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette,” won raves as one of the most funny and poignant specials in the history of the platform.
Hail the return of the music video
Video may have killed the radio star, but, try as some might, nothing can kill the power of the music video.
Even with MTV no longer running videos all day, artists are still creating buzz for their songs with eye-catching visuals, star cameos and most importantly, catchy and meaningful tunes. This was best shown in Maroon 5’s star-studded video for their #2 Billboard hit “Girls Like You,” featuring appearances from prominent women in culture like Ellen DeGeneres, Gal Gadot, Lilly Singh and Cardi B, who sings a verse for the song’s conclusion. Childish Gambino also got in on this action, with the video for his politically charged #1 hit “This is America” garnering over 300 million views on YouTube.
The king of the video this year, though and probably the king of 2018 to boot, was Drake, who scored three #1 singles this year, each with a video to go along with it. “God’s Plan” ended the spring, accompanied by a six-minute epic whose titles indicated that Drake and his producers had given the video’s budget to residents and students in Miami. The song’s reign was interrupted by another Drake track, “Nice for What,” and a visual component that featured cameos from Issa Rae, Tiffany Haddish and Zoe Saldana, among others. August saw Drake’s latest #1, “In My Feelings,” whose video inspired a viral challenge, replicating dance moves from comedian Shiggy.
So, no one thing defined this summer. But that’s perfectly fine, because our culture is becoming more and more diversified in terms of taste and thank goodness for it.
