20 Best Summer Songs of 2016, Ranked

3 – Afraid of Heights – Billy Talent

I’m an alt-rock kind of girl. In 2016, this usually means I’m relegated to 90s and 2000s stations to find my favorite jams. I was surprised to happen upon Billy Talent’s new album, four long years after Dead Silence and sadly still minus Aaron Solowoniuk on drums, though Jordan Hastings is jamming admirably.

“Afraid of Heights” is one of those songs where the lyrics flow one after the other in a wonderfully natural way that speaks to the talent of the writing. Instrumentally, it’s largely bog-standard alt-rock, but that’s okay! There’s currently a gaping hole in mainstream music for new releases like that to play at full blast while you’re driving down an empty highway to a destination with too many unknowns. Billy Talent fills that gap. “Afraid of Heights” is my favorite, but I highly recommend listening to the entire album (titled the same) to close out the summer with a punch.

Next: 2 - Can't Stop the Feeling! - Justin Timberlake