Will Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” Be 2013’s Song Of The Summer?

Robbie Daw | June 18, 2013 7:00 am

On Monday we kicked off our week-long analysis of the five top contenders competing to be named 2013’s Song Of The Summer with a look at Robin Thicke‘s surprise hit party jam “Blurred Lines.” I mentioned then that it was just one of the big songs vying for the title that features Pharrell Williams. And here now is the other: Daft Punk‘s “Get Lucky,” on which the Neptunes mastermind delivers the bulk of the lyrics.

Over the past few months, Idolator and much of the Internet have feverishly covered the anticipation of new music from Daft Punk, the arrival of “Get Lucky,” the collaborators on the album Random Access Memories (including Giorgio Moroder, who we interviewed) and the LP itself.

Really, there’s not much more we can say about the funky lead single from RAM that hasn’t already been shouted from the mountaintops, but below I’ll state the very obvious case for why “Get Lucky” is here in this roundup of possible Song Of The Summer contenders, all of which you can vote on starting next week.

First, there’s no denying that Daft Punk are, to paraphrase from one of their older songs, in the prime time of their lives. The French duo’s rise to being the current chart-toppers they are today didn’t happen overnight, but the momentum really picked up in 2007 — over a decade into their career — with their groundbreaking live performances and subsequent Grammy-winning album Alive 2007. This coincided with the appearance of Daft Punk (or rather a Daft Punk sample) in Kanye West‘s #1 single “Stronger” that same year.

What followed was a high profile gig scoring Disney’s TRON update in 2010, as well as a five-year stint putting together Random Access Memories. The latter, released in May this year, marked Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo‘s first studio album together since 2005’s poorly-received Human After All. Clearly the pair’s core fans were salivating for some proper original Daft Punk music at the same time that the general public was primed with a now-more-than-ever overall awareness of just who these guys are.

And that brings us to “Get Lucky,” a disco-laden dance-pop jam featuring unmistakeable guitar work by Nile Rodgers and vocals by Pharrell, which has now become Daft Punk’s first breakout smash in the States. Up to this point, the duo only scored two minor hit singles (commercial-wise) here: 1997’s “Around The World’ and 2000’s “One More Time,” both of which scraped their way to #61 on the Billboard Hot 100. By comparison, “Get Lucky” debuted on the chart within the Top 20 this spring, and it currently sits at #3, behind only Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Macklemore‘s descending “Can’t Stop Us.”

“Get Lucky” is still on the rise, and it stands to reason that it could very well be the successor to “Blurred Lines” on the pop chart throne. And with its upbeat mood and feel-good, party-ready vibe, the song is not only perfect fodder for the radio in the hot months ahead, but also for being crowned this year’s Song Of The Summer.

Do you agree that Daft Punk have crafted one of the season’s biggest songs? Let us know if you think “Get Lucky” has what it takes to earn the Song Of The Summer title below!