These are the songs we had on repeat this summer

It’s been a heck of a summer to be the mother of a 16-year-old because everything she’s playing, I like hearing. Car rides and errands have been fight-free, at least when it comes to the music we crank, thanks largely to a wildly talented group of female artists putting hit after beautiful hit, bop after bop, into the world. Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish — if you’re listening, so are we. Thanks for the many hours of pure pop joy. We have had so much fun with you this summer, we don’t want it to end. (More on that later.)

If I had to pick just one song of the many in heavy rotation these last few months, it’s Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” which is a perfect pop song. Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” and Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” are right behind it, so funny, smart, and singalong-able. And I can’t get enough of Beyoncé’s rendition of “Blackbird.” If there’s a more perfect cover (or voice) in the world, I don’t know it. In the quieter moments, it’s what I want to hear, on repeat.