The summer is a good time to remind ourselves how easily we can fall in love. It is a simple time to find happiness in the outrageous. It can often times mean leaving someone or bringing someone new along for the four-month rollercoaster. For Calvin Harris, “Heatstroke” aligns the feelings we can’t say when the words don’t always come together. A triumphant team that fuses electronic funk on pop radio repeat, Young Thug, Pharrell Williams and Ariana Grande take us on a transparent journey through the late summer nights.
Freedom feels better at 5 a.m. It is a heavy bass and falsetto chorus that makes Young Thug’s verse that much more brilliant. Thug opens the feel-good single with a heart first instinct. Leaping through the sensation of new love, he states “Won’t you please / Slow it down / I’m tryna talk to you, darlin’/ Tryna walk with you, darlin’ / Do you hear me? / And no-no-no-nobody can stop it / The love you got from me.”
Happiness has never gone too mainstream to be repetitive. It can jump higher than any thrill ride, and the front row looks a lot like moving bodies. Before the drop, the anticipation builds hundreds of feet in the air. A timeless Pharrell chimes in behind Thug as they both glide on the dancefloor beat and capture the adrenaline of love, “Release, let go and have a good time.”
Inspiration is a good way to know the body is still just as present. Knowing what touch can do and how vital communication stands within our own body is a skill that allows us to receive someone’s energy. Ariana fills the piano production on a rebound reflection as she sings “When you do things like this / And you set me free / How can anyone get tired?” Thug returns on a second verse as he revives his latest album, Jeffery, and opens a new world of pop rap—“Brand new chapter of real you / She got every red bottom like a baboon / Hunnid’ bottles in the club, real one room / Girl you gotta keep up with a boss move.”
“Heatstroke” is the spark of love on the first date. The dance floor infused beat is a warm feeling of lost and found. Harris takes us on the unleveled playing field of love and the sacrifices we are willing to make for someone we truly care about. It is the times that are good and the moments we cherish, over and over. A collaboration united by three completely different artists, Scottish DJ producer Calvin Harris is sharing the value in love, the significance of impulse and the urgency of letting go. Harris is scheduled to release 10 singles before the end of 2017. The year may be fleeing into the humid sunsets of the summer, but the good times are just beginning.
