It’s the Little Song that Could. Like a mirage fooling you as you crawl through the excruciating desert heat, it’s a psychedelic treat that keeps reappearing, no matter how much you pretend it’s not there.

What, you thought it was a sparking brook, appearing out of the grey to ease your thirst? No ma’am; I’m talking about those fake “Heat Waves,” the title of the 2020 groove by those English electronic indie darlings, Glass Animals.

What’s really interesting to me about “Heat Waves” is just how quietly it’s worked its way to the top of the charts (peaking at No. 1 in a handful of countries as well as on the US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and US Mainstream Top 40 charts; No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 as of this writing). The song has been on the Hot 100 for a whopping 55 weeks – and it’s current No. 3 placing is its peak! In fact, it reached the top 10 in its 42nd week (a new record!) and the Top 5 in its 52nd week (also a new record)! Will it reach No. 1?

So why does “Heat Waves” have such under-the-radar staying power? For starters, there’s the universal message of heartbreak; of trying to make a relationship work, failing at it, and then the worst part: realizing it.

“Sometimes, all I think about is you
Late nights in the middle of June
Heat waves been faking me out
Can’t make you happier now“

It’s an apt analogy, with those heat waves (that damn mirage!) faking you out, making you feel things are good when they’re really not, even if you know that that sweat pouring down your face is because you’re in that lonely desert, hoping that mirage really is a body of water and not just heat waves playing tricks with your mind.

Throw in the mid-tempo, almost ’60s-feeling psychedelic drive with those electronic R&B beats, and it’s no wonder “Heat Waves” continues to fake everyone out, sneaking up on listeners and drilling deep into the hearts of unsuspecting music lovers longing for that special something that eludes them.

Released way back in June 2020 as a single from their third studio album, Dreamland, “Heat Waves” likely picked up extra steam over the past couple years due to the unprecedented despair the world has felt thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a loss of human connection and changes for the worse that we never dreamed possible.

And that sentiment comes through visually on the “Heat Waves” music video, featuring a lonely Dave Bayley walking the streets alone, pulling with him a stack of TV sets which he sets up on stage with him before playing to an empty arena, with his bandmates playing alongside him…not in person, but on the screens.

Glass Animals sums it up perfectly on their YouTube page: “This video is a love letter to live music and the culture and togetherness surrounding it. It was filmed at the peak of the lockdown in my neighbourhood in East London by the lovely people who live around me, just using their phones.”