Every two weeks, The Sunflower’s Culture & Arts Section will bring you a themed playlist curated over a wide range of musical tastes. This week, we take a last glimpse at summer jams as the temperature slowly falls into autumn.

Pamela Dominguez, Reporter and Photographer

I spent way too many hours in airports, Ubers, and small cars to reach every corner of the country this summer. My tunes were the only thing that kept me sane when I was 11 hours into a 17-hour road trip. “Staring” by Tipling Rock perfectly captures the essence of a summer fling: something fun, hot, and fleeting. The appropriately-named “Sunroof” by Courtship. sets the perfect mood for a midnight summer drive.

Mariah Perkins, Reporter

On “Bubblin,” .Paak never disappoints with solid lyricism and smooth beats, but Busta Rhymes’s verse elevates this song to a next-level summer banger. I can’t shake this song.

Daniel Caudill, Assistant News Editor

Hip-hop lost a young flame in Mac Miller over the weekend. Even though his 2016 collaboration with Anderson .Paak, “Dang!”, is a recent track, it quickly became one of my favorites of his. Sticking to his signature laid-back style, Miller lays down some catchy bars that appear to stumble over one another in a magically effortless way.

Ryan Crews, Reporter

Listening to “Deep Down Body Thurst” by N.E.R.D. feels like plotting revenge on the corporations that are ruining the world and poisoning the water. It’s a simultaneously mournful and hopeful song about quenching the seemingly never-ending thirst of the 1 percent.

Jenna Farhat, News Editor

If you’re looking to relish in summery #sadgirlhours one last time before kissing the season goodbye, look no further. My selection includes songs that capture the hopeful highs (PJ Harvey’s “Horses in My Dreams”) and melancholic lows (Cat Power’s “Metal Heart”) of the season. The songs I chose capture the emotion behind the big, hot, empty space that is summer.

Kylie Cameron, Ad Manager

Summer 2018 is Ariana Grande’s summer. Although her fourth album, “Sweetener,” wasn’t released until late in the summer, her single releases leading up to it — along with her sudden relationship with Pete Davidson, and “Dance to This” with Troye Sivan — kept her relevant throughout the season.

Madeline Deabler, Visual Managing Editor

Each one of these songs can take me back to a specific moment I had this summer.

“I Can’t Handle Change” by Roar is probably the most traditional summer song out of my selections, with its hypnotic guitar riff that glides throughout the track. “What Once Was by Her’s” was my go-to song when I was feeling introspective and sad while lying on the docks and watching boats float by in Chautauqua, New York.

John Darr, Arts & Culture Editor

Even though I’ve slowly come around to some of its realities – boredom, bugs, and killer heat – the idea of summer still feels magical to me. I gravitate to summer music that feels sprawling and limitless.

Ecstatic freedom radiates through Animal Collective’s “What Would I Want? Sky,” which uses its off-kilter 7/4 time signature as a means to repeatedly collapse and explode. To cap it all off is Friendzone’s gorgeous “Perfect Skies,” which, through an intricate sample and 808 beat, conjures its namesake in any season.