What to Consume Between Bad Decisions This Summer

Alvaro Anegon

13 hours ago

4 min read

In Spain, there is a famous song called ‘Yo quiero bailar’, which translates to ‘I want to dance’. In the lyrics lies the phrase ‘cuando llega el calor los chicos se enamoran’: when the heat comes, the boys fall in love. As it happens, the summer heat is the key ingredient for the ephemeral act of falling in love and/or indulging in one’s desires. This experience has been coined by TikTok users as having a ‘hot girl summer’: the experience of enjoying oneself during the summertime, embracing liberty, self-determination, and shameless pleasure, whatever that looks like for you.

A time to fall in love with strangers, with the liberty of time; a time to drink, eat, relax, and enjoy what your body asks of you. A hot girl summer can mean anything, whether that is enjoying casual sex with strangers on nights out, a romantic date on your Euro Summer trip with an Italian who says he has fallen in love with you, although you know it will fade by the end of the week, a weekend getaway lying under the sun reading thrillers by the pool, nights out you won’t remember, waking up the next morning and texting the group chat asking what happened last night, or the summer when you learn to make sangria.

Whether you just went through your hot girl summer experience, you are in the middle of it, or you are hoping for the summer to bring it upon you, I want to help by recommending some content that will help you indulge in the sweet spot of the heatwave.

Nothing helps to set the mood like music. If you need background music while you swipe through Tinder profiles, a tune to add to your Instagram Stories, or something to sing along to on a car ride with your friends, Jace Cameron’s album Sun Child is just the right dose of Lana Del Rey’s Americana and Olivia Rodrigo’s youthful desire to match the summer heat.

Jace Cameron’s music is sensual, but we can do better. If you need something more explicit, look no further than Chloe Qisha. If you have a fantasy for this summer, Qisha is sure to charge your energy; you will be sending that DM after listening to ‘YDH’ and pining and climbing the walls of your flat.

If you are wondering how others deal with a heatwave, Oisín McKenna’s novel Evenings and Weekends navigates a cast of characters’ dilemmas during a heatwave in the city of London. From relationships to family drama, the novel illustrates the rollercoaster of personal crises exacerbated by the warming temperatures.

On the contrary, you might want to find some escapism in other people’s problems that look nothing like your current affairs. For this, I would recommend In the Absence of Men, set in France during the summer of 1916. Our young queer protagonist develops a couple of electrifying relationships which are predestined to crash. This novel is quite short, but I assure you, its impact will be long-lasting.

If what you need is a book that, with a dash of dark humour, encourages you to reset and make some changes in your life, The Wedding People by Alison Espach is sure to scratch that spot. Phoebe makes a decision: it’s time to end her life. When Lila, a future bride celebrating her wedding at the hotel where Phoebe is planning to do the deed, finds out about Phoebe’s plans, she makes it her personal mission to ensure that Phoebe does not follow through. Nothing is getting between Lila and her perfect wedding.

For the film fanatics, there is one clear answer: Summer of 85, a French film directed by François Ozon. This queer romance will fill your heart and tear it down just as fast as the changing tides along the coast of Normandy. It is the French Call Me by Your Name, without the inappropriate age gap.

Now, not everyone wants to get their heart broken over the summer; some just need a distraction: no lust, no family drama, just action. And for that, the solution is a good adventure movie. Nothing helps you forget your existing problems like watching someone about to die. Some might recommend the obvious movie: Jaws. I’m terrified of sharks, but being chased by animals with sharp teeth does the trick. Hence, I prefer Jurassic World. I’m sure the Jurassic Park fans will disown me for not recommending the first Jurassic Park film, but that movie has more nighttime Gothic vibes; it’s more autumn. Jurassic World is definitely the better choice for summer.

Keeping in line with the ‘hot girl summer’, the experience of enjoying oneself during the summertime, embracing liberty, self-determination, and shameless pleasure, whatever that looks like for you, there is no other movie that better encapsulates the variety of ways young people navigate dating than How to Be Single, directed by Christian Ditter and starring Dakota Johnson. The female characters, whose personalities differ greatly, portray the struggles of finding a partner and, in some cases, oneself, at a time when life seems to pass rapidly and yet you can’t help but feel stuck.

So, no matter where you are or how you are surviving the heatwaves, I hope you find comfort in these recommendations and that you, at the very least, get to enjoy your own version of a hot girl summer. And remember, there is nothing hotter than taking care of yourself and the people around you. So put on sunscreen when you walk out the door, and make sure to check up on the people around you.