Summer Vacation

Winter’s dead! Long live summer and those precious months when sunny days and heat waves mean nothing less than freedom and fun. When your summer vacation rolls around, it practically begs for the right recreational tunes: we’re thinkin’ Usher’s “OMG (feat. will.i.am)” to complement the movement of hips unencumbered by winter layers, or Zac Brown Band’s life-is-good “Toes” to accompany your best beach-bum impersonations. Ke$ha may be counting down the minutes to summer’s end on her get-crazy party starter “Tik Tok,” but with everything from Jack Johnson’s laid-back “You and Your Heart” to Nickelback’s rowdy, all-hours anthem “This Afternoon,” the music doesn’t stop until you do.

It’s not over by a long shot — find more swell Summer Vacation songs in Next Steps.

Katy Perry may be battling occasional rain on “Hot N Cold,” but for your scorching summer vacation, we’ve got nothing but sonic sunshine. Sure, there may be a “Shark In the Water,” but if VV Brown’s big-beat pop bounce is any indication, she’s not worrying, so why should we? Especially when we’ve got it made in the musical shade with Rihanna’s clubtastic dance machine “Don’t Stop the Music,” Travie McCoy’s island-spiced moneymaker “Billionaire (feat. Bruno Mars),” and Will Smith’s mellow rap cruiser “Summertime.”

“How You Like Me Now,” ask the Heavy on their road-trip-ready rocker, and we like it so much we’re heading to Deep Cuts for more.

If a hook-happy Natasha Bedingfield can carry around her very own “Pocketful of Sunshine,” then why not do the same with your eternal summer vacation? We make it easy to download Shaggy’s portable Dancehall groover “Boombastic,” and get a hit of Jamaican-style heat whenever you like. Press play on “Island in the Sun” and let Weezer lead you on a bright and bubbly, alterna-pop getaway. And when the nights grow cooler and the leaves begin to fall, turn up the “Temperature” with Sean Paul, and you’ve got summer in a playlist to get you through to next year.

Whether you’re waiting on the weekend or that last school bell to ring, you’ve got a whole season to get your summer daze on, and there’s no excuse not to live it up. Hit the beach or check the clubs, fire up the grill or grab some serious hammock time — we’ve got the tunes to go with it all, from the sizzle and swagger of Katy Perry’s popsicle-melter “California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg)” to the combustible beats of Sean Kingston’s “Fire Burning.” Sunshine statesman Flo Rida brings the instant dance party with his hip-hop head-spinner “Right Round,” and Kelly Clarkson belts out what’s on all our minds with her summer vacation declaration “My Life Would Suck Without You.” The best part? With the ultimate Summer Vacation soundtrack, it never has to end.