This week, Heave asked its staff: What’s your favorite summer jam?

Chris Osterndorf

Okay, so I’m probably going to mercilessly get made fun of for this, but my main summer jam is, and will always be, Rihanna’s 2007 smash, “Umbrella.” It came out in April, but didn’t really catch on till that summer, which was right before my senior year. I can still remember driving around with friends, and going buckwild when that song came on. Is it pretty shameful for a group of 17 year old boys to be that excited about a Rihanna tune? Probably, yes. Did we give a shit? No. And every time there was an acoustic guitar around, you can bet that me and someone else were busting out a cover of it. John Mayer songs? Yeah right, that shit’s for pussies, I was all about rainy R&B jams when I was strummin’ out.

Looking back now, I still legitimately think it’s one of the best pop songs of the last decade. It’s got a hard, rocky edge to it, and while the lyrics aren’t particularly deep, there’s something innately sweet to them. It’s also got the always hard-as-fuck production of Terius “The-Dream” Nash behind it, and a typically dope verse from Jay-Z. It’s still Rihanna’s best song, and while I’ve liked a lot of her material since, “Umbrella” is the gold standard by which I judge it (and many other good pop songs) by. In short, “Umbrella” is just awesome. It’s my summer jam, and I’m not afraid to admit it.

Dominick Mayer

“Sexy Results” by Death From Above 1979. This is the official song of filthy summertime trysting, in the best way. The samba drums, the Spanish whispering and the lecherous come-ons that saturate every lyric with an uncomfortable eroticism form a perfect summertime jam, for when the mood strikes. Also, seriously, even the beating bassline sounds like an action-packed rendition of somebody thrusting.

Wes Soltis

I’ve always appreciated the winter jam more than the summer jam, but if you are putting a gun to my head (and that’s exactly what Dominick did), then I’m going to go with “7/4 (Shoreline)” by Broken Social Scene. Most of their stuff feels “wintery” or “fallish” to me, but “7/4 Shoreline” makes me think I’m going to win a surfing contest with a cursed Tiki God around my neck. Which may or may not be a stolen storyline from “The Brady Bunch.”