From now until something displaces last year’s “Umbrella” from the top of our iTunes most-played list, Vulture will be judging the contenders for this year’s Song of the Summer.
Of course New Kids on the Block’s comeback single “Summertime” probably won’t be the song of the summer, but it’s certainly in the race and it has a few things going for it: (1) It’s called “Summertime,” for God’s sake, (2) the fact that there are still people willing to stand outside in the rain to see these guys indicates that there’s a demand, inexplicable though that may be, (3) it’s actually pretty catchy. Blame it on generational bias; there’s a part of us that wants to believe that our late-eighties lab-created pop figments — and even their geriatric bid for a profitable afterlife — are still way more interesting than the Disney Channel holograms the kids are listening these days (admit it: Danny is way too funny-looking to have been a Jonas Brother). And the relative non-lameness of this track makes us feel kinda right, which we totally like. In your face, teenagers!
