Three bangers incoming.
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The song of the summer hasn’t materialized. Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” nominally ruled the charts, but let’s be real — who’s playing that at the beach? The fictional girl group from KPop Demon Hunters, Huntr/x, is currently No. 1 on the Billboard charts with “Golden,” but it gained steam a little too late, and, now that it feels dominant, the summer is nearly over. With seemingly every pop artist who hasn’t released an album in the last calendar year (and even some who have) returning this fall, we’re looking ahead instead. O-Rod, if you’re reading this, there’s still time. Below, every pop star attempting to make up for the summer by defining the fall.

Last year’s song-of-the-summer sweepstakes winner with “Espresso,” Carpenter is barely waiting a year before putting out a follow-up to her smash album Short n’ Sweet. Man’s Best Friend already has a No. 1 hit in “Manchild,” plus it’s been embroiled in controversy over the album cover — a good sign for any pop girlie worth her salt since Madonna. Carpenter has had the wind on her back since “Espresso,” and with a new album on the way, as well as a feature on her mentor Taylor Swift’s upcoming record (see below), it doesn’t look like the momentum is slowing down anytime soon.

Song of the Fall potential? 9/10

Sheeran, perhaps the defining pop star of the 2010s, hasn’t had as much luck in the following decade. “Bad Habits” and “Shivers,” both released in 2021, hit the top ten in America, but neither felt even half as defining as “Shape of You,” “Thinking Out Loud,” or even his eternal classic “The A Team.” He hasn’t been back in the top ten since. Singles from Play, including “Azizam” and “Sapphire,” have mostly been nonstarters in the U.S. Still, nobody expected Sheeran to become a pop blockbuster in the first place, so we’d never entirely count him out.

Song of the Fall potential? 3/10

Cardi B has waited so long to release her second studio album that it feels absurd that it’s only her sophomore showing. Her debut, Invasion of Privacy, was released way back in 2018, hit No. 1 on the album charts, and won her the Grammy for Best Rap Album. Since then, she’s released huge, No. 1 songs like 2020’s “WAP” and 2021’s “Up,” both of which will be included on the album. Does it feel a little silly to include your five-year-old hit on your new album? The answer is yes. Does she care? No. While Cardi’s first single off Am I the Drama?, “Outside,” did not match her previous chart highs, her Jay-Z-sampling “Imaginary Playerz,” released August 15, might make up for it.

Song of the Fall potential? 6/10

So far, Lola Young has a song. Her track “Messy” is an international hit, making it to No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it would be a solid launchpad for any young (pun intended) star. She’s got a clear vision on that track (“Remi Wolf but less quirky”) and a great voice. Nothing she’s released since, including the three singles off of her upcoming album, have been able to recapture that level of attention. Still, more people are aware of her than ever, after a summer of festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury, and All Things Go. There’s opportunity.

Song of the Fall potential? 3/10

It’s always a mistake to count out Doja Cat. She may be a troll, and she may piss off her fans, but she also releases hits — and lots of them. Her last album, 2023’s Scarlet, featured gigantic tracks including “Paint the Town Red” and “Agora Hills.” Granted, her most recent track, a collaboration with Jack Harlow called “Just Us,” failed to launch, but that felt like an expression of his falling stock, not hers. We’ll see if that’s true when the first song from Vie, “Jealous Type,” is released on August 25, co-produced by (get this) Jack Antonoff. Yeah, that’s the kind of thing that will rule over Spotify and CVS playlists alike.

Song of the Fall potential? 8/10

Mariah Carey has gotten no less famous since she first burst onto the scene with “Vision of Love” in 1990, but that fame has changed. Ask anyone under 24 today who she is, and they’re more likely to simply say the words “Queen of Christmas” than to know any of her 18 non–“All I Want for Christmas Is You” No. 1 hits. Still, she’s mounted comebacks before (most notably in 2005’s “We Belong Together”), and she has name recognition to spare. 2018’s Caution is better than it has any right to be, and though it didn’t produce any real hits, we’d never fully discount Mimi. Here for It All’s first two singles, “Type Dangerous” and “Sugar Sweet,” are both good, but wouldn’t it be amazing to have a Mariah Carey No. 1 in 2025?

Song of the Fall potential? 4/10

She’s the most popular person on the planet, the biggest pop star of the century, and the defining artist of multiple decades. Taylor Swift is too big to fail. And why should we want her to, anyway? At the very least, no pop star in the world has given both her fans and her haters more to talk about in recent years than Taylor Swift. This album will reunite her with the 21st century’s greatest hitmaker, Max Martin, whom she hasn’t collaborated with since Reputation. The record is aiming to be “12 bangers,” according to Travis Kelce, and the album title is already a meme. She will succeed. She can’t not.

Song of the Fall potential? 10/10

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