Entertainment

Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” Is The Unapologetic Anthem You’ve Always Needed

by Jessica Wang
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Hot Girl Summer continues with a new anthem from its creator. Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” with Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign is the unapologetic anthem you need for the season. The rapper — who created the Hot Girl Summer phenomenon that has taken the internet by storm — unveiled the highly-anticipated track on Aug. 8 with an audio video. In the track’s artwork, Meg is donned in a cowgirl get-up that invokes the ever-thriving Black Yeehaw Agenda alongside Minaj.

“Hot Girl Summer” comes on the heels of Meg’s debut mixtape Fever, released on May 17. The lyrics for “Hot Girl Summer” appropriately recall the themes put forth in the social media phenomenon created by the rapper earlier this summer. But first, if you missed what Hot Girl Summer is all about, Meg explained the hot girl phenomenon to The Root back in June. "It's about women and men being unapologetically them, just having a good-ass time, hyping up their friends, doing you,” she said in the interview. “You definitely have to be a person who can be the life of the party and just a bad b*tch."

The theme is prevalent in her track with collaborators Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign. In the pre-chorus of “Hot Girl Summer,” Meg croons the following lyrics that should be embroidered on a throw pillow: “I can't read your mind, gotta say that sh*t / Should I take your love? Should I take that d*ck? / Got a whole lot of options 'cause you know a b*tch poppin' / I'm a hot girl, so you know ain't sh*t stoppin’.”

In a later verse, she invokes the joys of having fun during Hot Girl Summer. She raps, “Look, college girl, but a freak on the weekend (On the weekend) / Eat that d*ck up even when I'm going vegan / He be trippin' on me and I know the reason." She continues: "Real hot girl sh*t, ayy, I got one or two baes / If you seen it last night, don't say shit the next day / Let me drive the boat, ayy, kiss me in a Rolls, ayy / It go down on that brown, now we goin' both ways, ah.”

As per Refinery29, hot girl summer first stemmed from Meg’s lyrics “Real hot girl sh*t” in her track “Cash Shit” from her album, Fever. At the time, the rapper elaborated on its meaning in a July 17 tweet: “Being a Hot Girl is about being unapologetically YOU, having fun, being confident,living YOUR truth , being the life of the party etc.” In turn, the movement has been lauded and adapted by celebrities (Miley Cyrus and Kylie Jenner) and brands (Maybelline and Forever 21) alike. The movement even invoked the playful hot boy summer — although hot girl summer has been established as a non-gendered movement.

In a recent interview with Paper, Megan addressed the silly competition. "I don't know what made it a competition. It was the stupid boys. It just turned into a whole big ol' thing,” she told Paper. "Now if it was a competition, I would definitely say that the Hot Girls have been in the lead. The Hot Boys is acting up... they showing some very ratchet behavior that has not been that cute. They talking about they wins and they doing grimy stuff. I'm like, 'No baby, that's not how you get points.'"

There is simply no competition, as hot girl summer is a cosmic state of mind — one that requires repeated listens of "Hot Girl Summer" itself.