From Kylie Minogue to Jorja Smith, Guardian writers have picked the song they will be playing on repeat for the summer
This summer’s Barbie movie/marketing campaign has been at once fun and sinister. It’s hot pink, tongue-in-cheek frivolity; it’s the tip of a wave of revisionist IP. Speed Drive, the pop chameleon Charli XCX’s contribution to the soundtrack, follows suit. A hyperpop banger “about just being hot” with its foot on the gas for all of one minute, 58 seconds, it feels potentially designed for TikTok virality – short, endlessly loopable, the soundtrack to a hot girl summer. It’s also addictive, playful fun, the sonic equivalent of barreling down the highway with your friends, late-night adrenaline, temporarily impenetrable confidence, uppers. No thoughts, just frenetic vibes on loop, thanks in part to a version of Toni Basil’s Mickey reprocessed for screen-addled brains. Once you’ve rewired to the song’s relentless 174bpm, it’s difficult to come back down. (Do not try to parallel park to this song.) Am I getting steamrolled by the commerce machine? Maybe, but Speed Drive is a high I’ll keep chasing all summer long. Adrian Horton
