"Summer Girl" is a song by American band Haim, released as a single on July 31, 2019. It premiered as

Annie Mac Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...

's "Hottest Record" on BBC Radio 1. The song musically references " Walk on the Wild Side" by

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

, who is credited as a songwriter.

Background and writing

In a post to social media on July 30, Danielle Haim revealed that the track started as a

GarageBand GarageBand is a line of digital audio workstations developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or podcasts. GarageBand is developed by Apple for macOS, and was once part of the iLife software s ...

demo on her phone. The lyrics were inspired by producer and Danielle's partner Ariel Rechtshaid's cancer diagnosis during the making of their second album, '' Something to Tell You''; Danielle said that during the band's time off from touring, she wanted to be Rechtshaid's "hope when he was feeling hopeless" and a "light that shined on him when he was feeling very dark", which led to her singing "I'm your summer girl" over the demo's bass line. She asked friend and musician

Rostam Batmanglij Rostam Batmanglij ( fa, رستم باتمانقلیچ, ; born November 28, 1983), known mononymously as Rostam, is an American record producer, musician, singer, songwriter, and composer. He was a founding member of the band Vampire Weekend, whos ...

for help, and he wrote a saxophone part for the song. The saxophone part was adapted from the 1969 song ''Sing Me a Song That I Know'' by

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. After he and Haim thought the melody sounded like " Walk on the Wild Side" by

, he added bass guitar effects that mimicked the sound of the track. Haim then brought the song to Rechtshaid, who added final effects to the song.

Critical reception

'' Pitchfork'' named the song the Best New Track, with staff writer Michelle Kim describing it as having a "jazzier palette than Haim's usual guitar-forward

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pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

", calling it "sweetly plaintive" and saying that with the lines "You walk beside me, not behind me/Feel my unconditional love", "Danielle positions herself as a rock for her partner and invokes the age-old belief: Love has the power to heal." Tyler Damara Kelly of The Line of Best Fit called it an "amalgamation of an experimental

jazz-fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyb ...

which permeates the record".

Promotion

Haim debuted the track at a concert at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on July 17. After performing the track live, the group shared a snippet of the song being played in the studio on social media. They later posted that it would be released later in the week.

Music video

The music video premiered on YouTube on July 31, 2019. It marks the band once again collaborating with director Paul Thomas Anderson, and features the group walking the streets of Los Angeles, the band's hometown. The video presents a slightly longer mix of the song, running at a total time of 3 minutes and 52 seconds.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians * Danielle Haim – vocals, drums, bass programming * Alana Haim – guitar, background vocals * Este Haim – upright bass *

– acoustic guitar, slide guitar, organ, synthesizer, shaker, drum programming * Ariel Rechtshaid – drums, tambourine * Henry Solomon – saxophone Technical * Ariel Rechtshaid – recording, mixing * Rostam Batmanglij – recording, mixing * Chris Kasych – recording * Grace Banks – recording * John DeBold – recording * Michael Harris – recording * Nate Head – recording * Shawn Everett – mixing

Charts

References

{{Haim 2019 singles 2019 songs Haim (band) songs Songs written by Rostam Batmanglij Songs written by Ariel Rechtshaid Songs written by Lou Reed Songs written by Alana Haim Songs written by Danielle Haim Songs written by Este Haim