Song of the Summer 2013 Contender: "Angel, Please"

All of the songs in contention so far this year were submitted to the Too Beautiful To Live podcast. The listeners and hosts are usually pretty adept at bringing worthy tunes to my attention, but they dropped the ball on this one. I only discovered this entry ("Angel, Please" by Ra Ra Riot) when my friend Joe sent out his own compilation of summer jams.

I've been hitting "repeat" on this one a shameful number of times. It's got all the hallmarks of a Song of the Summer: It's peppy and catchy and your body will soon be infected with its rhythm. I mean, it's about a man begging a woman not to leave him, but we all know that given a good enough backbeat, a song's lyrics can be about pretty much anything.

The only thing holding this one back is the slow section in the middle. I get what they were going for, but interrupting a jam, even intentionally, can kill a song's momentum. Luckily, "Angel, Please" bounces right back.

Song of the Summer Odds: 3:1