Sun, sand, no school — There’s a whole beach bag full of reasons to love summer. And we’ve got 10 more: The hottest people of the season.
From rappers to actors to teenage royalty, these are stars of the shows you’ll be watching, the movies you’ll be seeing and the music that will keep you cool all summer long.
1. Who: Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco.
Know this: You may remember the 23-year-old Fiasco (real name Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) from his guest appearance on Kanye West’s “Touch the Sky.” But thanks to his new ode-to-skating hit “Kick Push,” Fiasco, who is a devout Muslim, is becoming a star in his own right. “People come up to me and they’re like, ‘You’re the dude with the skateboarding song!’ ” Fiasco says. “They know me for more than just Kanye now.”
Look for: His debut disc, “Food & Liquor,” drops midsummer.
2. Who: Matt Dallas, star of ABC Family Channel’s series “Kyle XY.”
Know this: “Kyle XY” is a “Supernatural”-like show about a boy discovered lost in traffic, with no memory of who he is. “He looks like a normal teenager but acts like a newborn,” explains the 23-year-old Dallas. Even weirder: Kyle has no belly button.
Look for: “Kyle XY” airs Mondays at 7 p.m
3. Who: Texas hard-rock band Flyleaf.
Know this: The group’s full-length debut, “Flyleaf,” came out last fall, but it took a while for them to get noticed. Their single “I’m So Sick” is quickly becoming a hit, and the constant comparisons to another female-fronted, Christian-oriented band (we’re talking about you, Evanescence) haven’t exactly hurt, either.
Look for: Flyleaf will hit the road for this summer’s Family Values tour, with a stop at Alpine Valley Music Theater in Wisconsin on Aug. 26.
4. Who: R&B singer LeToya Luckett.
Know this: LeToya was a member of Destiny’s Child during its early days, co-writing hits such as “Say My Name.” Six years after leaving the trio, she’s about to release her debut, “LeToya.” Luckett, 25, still is not used to being a solo artist. “I got spoiled, because Destiny’s Child had been together so long,” she says. “I got used to being with my girls.”
Look for: “LeToya” hits stores this summer.
5. Who: Marie Antoinette, teenage queen of France.
Know this: One of history’s most interesting — and misunderstood — figures, Antoinette became queen when she was only 19. She was famous for wearing extravagant jewelry and gowns, and for reportedly saying about the starving peasants, “Let them eat cake” (though historians claim this never happened). Things didn’t end well; she was beheaded by an unruly mob during the French Revolution. Kirsten Dunst will play her in an upcoming movie.
Look for: “Marie Antoinette” hits theaters early this fall.
6. Who: The cast of “Falcon Beach.”
Know this: Though “Falcon Beach” is about the lives and loves of attractive teens living in a beach town, don’t confuse it with “The O.C.” “It’s definitely not as much of a soap opera,” says Ephraim Ellis, who plays Danny, the show’s resident good guy. “It’s all about the relationships between the characters,” he says.
Look for: “Falcon Beach” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on the ABC Family Channel.
7. Who: Luke Benward, star of “How to Eat Fried Worms.”
Know this: In this adaptation of the beloved kids book, Benward (one of the preteen stars of last year’s “Because of Winn-Dixie”) plays a kid who battles the school bully in an unusual way. Hint: It involves eating worms. Lots of worms.
Look for: The movie opens Aug. 25.
8. Who: Hip-pop singer Jeannie Ortega.
Know this: Ortega, 19, grew up in a rough part of Brooklyn, N.Y. She was discovered by a cab driver who heard her singing in his taxi one day, and introduced her to the person who would become her manager. Her debut disc “is raw and very real,” she says. “I definitely poured my heart into it. It’s stuff we can all relate to, whether it’s love or pain or shaking your booty.”
Look for: “No Place Like BKLYN” comes out this summer.
9. Lauren “LC” Conrad has been living her life on camera for almost three years, first as a regular on MTV’s hit reality series “Laguna Beach,” and now as the star of her own show, “The Hills.” As long as you “learn how to schedule your life,” she says, being a celebrity isn’t that big a deal. “You don’t go to the mall on a weekend. And you don’t go to the movies on a Friday night,” she says.
“The Hills” (which premiered on MTV May 31) follows Conrad during her internship at Teen Vogue magazine, where her job duties included everything from fetching coffee to helping out at fashion shows, all while being followed by camera crews. “It was definitely a different sort of internship,” says LC, 20.
Because audiences have watched her life unfold on camera, “People feel like they know you,” she says. “They’ll come up to you and say, ‘Why did you do this?’ Or, ‘Why are you with that person?’ But most people are really nice.”
10. Cheyenne Kimball, a 15-year-old singer from Texas, is about to find out firsthand what life as an MTV reality star is like. “Cheyenne” (which also premiered May 31) documents her life as she prepares to release her first album.
When MTV first suggested she star in her own show, “I was like, ‘What? My life’s not that interesting,’ ” Cheyenne says. But thanks to creative editing, “when I watch the show, it’s interesting. … You really do forget the cameras are there.”
Cheyenne will release her debut disc, “The Day Has Come,” July 11. She wouldn’t mind following in the footsteps of two other young, blond MTV reality stars. “I’m not at all like Ashlee Simpson or Jessica Simpson, but they did sell a lot of albums because of their shows,” Cheyenne says. “And that’s what I want to do.”
