Mmmm bop. Tween edition.

August 10, 2016 2:42 PM

What are your tween's recommendations for Essential Pop Music Tracks for Summer 2016? My second-grade daughter is a nerd (apple, tree, hi) but her buddies seem to know all the latest songs. I'd love to build out a mix/playlist for them all to rock out to. But what goes on it? Taylor Swift? Is Adele too grownup? Is One Direction still a thing? Specific tracks recommended by actual kids (or grownups who know these things) would be very appreciated!
posted by nkknkk to Media & Arts (20 answers total)

I'd start with looking at the latest Kidz Bop (Volume 32 came out in July!) You don't have to play the actual album but rather hear the Top 40 pop songs that kids like; you can listen to the original versions and see if they feel appropriate or not. Extra points if you can set it up for karaoke! Sure, Kids Bop is cheesy but I teach teens and most have a certain nostalgia for the Kidz Bop albums of their (younger) youth.

If you have Spotify, you can also check out the charts there, which are conveniently already in party playlist form.
posted by smorgasbord at 2:49 PM on August 10, 2016

Best answer: My 10 year old says, "NOT One Direction; everyone hates One Direction."

A couple songs he recommends that are currently on the Billboard Hot 100:

7 Years - Lukas Graham
Just Like Fire - Pink

Are you only interested in current hits or also slightly older songs?
posted by Redstart at 2:52 PM on August 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Cake by the Ocean appears to be the big one with my 9 and 11 year old nieces (the big party dance Gangnam Style thing).
posted by threetwentytwo at 2:54 PM on August 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Second graders are tweens now? What? Anyhow it's not a new song, but my going into third grader still loves "Shut Up And Dance With Me" (probably because he gets to yell SHUT UP and no one can stop him)
posted by Mchelly at 3:19 PM on August 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

Response by poster: She's not a tween, obviously! But many of her friends have older siblings that are the main music-exposers. Since she has no older sibling, I'm outsourcing to MeFi. I have tried out the Amazon Prime playlists, Pandora and Spotify and even Kidzbop but I can't separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were. Please keep the suggestions coming. Great so far.
posted by nkknkk at 4:01 PM on August 10, 2016

My sister and her kids (ages 6 -11) regularly buy the "Now That's What I Call Music" compilation CD. I think they are up to the 59th CD release now. It features clean versions of popular songs. She picks them up at places like Target. That might be a place to get an idea of popular songs/artists. Sorry I don't have any specific artists to recommend.
posted by megancita at 4:35 PM on August 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

My 10 year old also loves "Shut Up and Dance." He says it's one of his favorite songs.
posted by Redstart at 4:35 PM on August 10, 2016

My tween cousin loves Katy Perry, especially that "Roar" song that is big at the Hillary rallies (she is also obsessed with Hillary, so I'm not sure which way the causal arrow goes there).
posted by rainbowbrite at 4:38 PM on August 10, 2016

Can't stop the feeling Justin Timberlake
posted by Ftsqg at 5:11 PM on August 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: My boss' 14-15 yr old daughters have been totally obsessed with Troye Sivan the past couple years. We're in Australia, but he just completed a world tour so...? He's a YouTube sensation, which I think is increasingly the thing these days.
posted by jrobin276 at 6:01 PM on August 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

My 10-year-old says it's "My House," by Flo Rida, and 150m YouTube views since September 2015 suggests he's onto something.
posted by escabeche at 6:41 PM on August 10, 2016

Best answer: My 8yo agrees with My House, Shut up and Dance, and Just Like Fire, and she adds Katy Perry's Rise, twenty one pilots' Ride, Selena Gomez's Kill Them With Kindness, Justin Beiber's Love Yourself, Calvin Harris's This is What You Came For, The Chainsmokers' Don't Let Me Down, Zara Larrson's Lish Life, Jonas Blue's Fast Car, Megan Trainer's No, Charlie Puth's We Don't Talk Anymore.

A lot of top 40 at gymnastics class.
posted by Cuke at 7:18 PM on August 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

The kids I know listen to top 40 radio hits. Here's the local Playlist.
posted by crazycanuck at 7:30 PM on August 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

The kids I know listen to top 40 radio hits. Here's the local Playlist.

Wow, that's a lot of Canadian content! (Although I suppose Drake, Justin Bieber and the Weeknd are popular everywhere.)
posted by Umami Dearest at 7:51 PM on August 10, 2016

Best answer: Ruth B.'s Lost Boy is more melancholy but the kids dig it.
posted by hot_monster at 8:13 PM on August 10, 2016

Rachel Platten, who wrote "Fight Song", is someone my tweens knew about before Hillary Clinton's campaign adopted that as a theme song.
posted by padraigin at 9:20 PM on August 10, 2016

Best answer: Here are some more my 10 year old says are favorites of his:

Bad Blood - Taylor Swift
Demons - Imagine Dragons
Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
Pompeii - Bastille
Blank Space - Taylor Swift
Cheerleader - OMI
Photograph - Ed Sheeran
Style - Taylor Swift
The Nights - Avicii
posted by Redstart at 5:34 AM on August 11, 2016

Best answer: My daughters (12 and 13) are crazy about pop music. If you're looking for essential summer 2016, most of the above (while popular with this set when they came out) are not it anymore. This summer, my kids are/were loving:

Treat You Better - Shawn Mendes
We Don't Talk Anymore - Charlie Puth ft. Selena Gomez
Into You - Ariana Grande
Just Like Fire - Pink
Me Too - Meghan Trainor
My House - Flo Rida
Work From Home - Fifth Harmony (slightly older but huge hit)
Too Good - Drake
One Dance - Drake
This is What You Came For - Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna
Don't Let Me Down - Chainsmokers ft. Daya
Toothbrush - DNCE
Sit Still, Look Pretty - Daya
posted by yawper at 8:48 AM on August 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

"Shut Up And Dance" is one of MY favorite songs...
posted by lhauser at 4:31 PM on August 11, 2016

This radio station, Power 93.3 in Seattle, is exactly what you're looking for, and you can listen on-line.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:29 AM on August 12, 2016