American Songwriter has profiled Sean Owens, winner of its Sounds Like Summer lyric contest promotion, for his song "Flip-Flops and Alibis." Owens wrote the track from the perspective of a man trying to drink and story his way out of heartbreak, basing the character on a scuba diving instructor he knew while living in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The win matters to Owens as validation of his songwriting after a career path that included journalism school, veterinary school and years as a university professor before he turned seriously to music in recent years.

In the accompanying Q&A, Owens described the song as capturing a "beach song with a hangover underneath it," fitting the competition's summer theme perfectly. He cited songwriting inspirations split between a "front-porch camp" (Guy Clark, Will Kimbrough, Matraca Berg) and a "beach camp" (Jimmy Buffett, Jesse Rice, Erica Sunshine Lee), reflecting time spent living in the islands. Looking ahead to 2026, he plans to keep entering American Songwriter contests, get his strongest songs properly demoed in Nashville, and begin co-writing with more experienced songwriters.