“Summer”

Album Review

For a fickle, taunting moment, it looks as if love might be in the air for Scottish DJ/producer/singer Calvin Harris. “When I met you in the summer,” he begins hopefully, “To my heartbeat sound/We fell in love/As the leaves turned brown.”

But I suppose those dying leaves should be our first hint that things aren’t going to go so well. Harris confirms that ominous portent in the next (and final, it turns out) verse: “And we could be together, baby/As long as skies are blue/You act so innocent now/But you lied so soon/When I met you in the summer.”

And … that’s it.

Both verses are repeated, but there’s no further information in this short, sad, summery (and summary) story that begins with love and ends in a lie.

I guess I should say that’s it … for the lyrics. Because the song’s video plunges right past love and lies, straight into leering lust.

On a long, straight desert road, pairs of hotrods (one is driven by actor Jason Statham) take turns drag racing … while the camera spends an inordinate amount of time ogling the short shorts worn by so many of the women who are watching. Spliced in between are sensual shots of several women wearing quite a bit less—gauzy, nearly see-through lingerie or barely there swimsuits.

One of these women is ostensibly the one who broke Calvin’s heart. But there’s no heartbreak to be seen anywhere. Just lusty looks at loveless ladies all too willing to put their bodies on display in the name of “Summer.”