Love in the Top Ten

The Bechdel test stuff reminded me of something I did in my history of rock class in college. We looked at the iTunes top 10 songs for themes. Most of them were about love in some respect: having it, enjoying it, losing it, wanting it, etc. It was something I noticed before.

Looking at the top charts for today, it’s less about love and more about sex.

1) Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke Sex

2) We Can’t Stop by Miley Cyrus Drugs, partying, and probably sex

3) Get Luck (feat. Pharrell) by Daft Punk Partying & sex

4) Radioactive by Imagine Dragons Now this is an anthem. Not sure what it’s about but I love it.

5) Cruise (feat. Nelly) by Florida Georgia Line Love in a summer party song

6) Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Another anthem

7) Same Love (feat, Mary Lambert) by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Love but it’s an interesting look at homosexuality. Good job Macklemore.

8) Treasure by Bruno Mars Love. Does he sing about anything else?

9) Cups by Anna Kendrick Love but in a kiss-off way. It’s a good mix of the original track.

10) Come & Get It by Selena Gomez Love

The first three tracks on the list disappoint me greatly. All of the lyrics are asinine and trite. IMHO, the only good qualities with 1 and 10 are that they are interesting musically. I like the instrumental Selena uses but the lyrics are insipid and uninteresting. I love what Thicke does with the vocal variances and the music itself is good. I hate the lyrics. Did you need skill to write that crap or did you borrow a romance novel?

I have nothing nice to say about 2 and 3. They are catchy as hell but I hate them. The music is incredibly simple. The lyrics are shallow if not a little stupid. I’m all for fun trash pop but 3 says ‘get lucky’ about 10 times every chorus. It makes me want to blow my brains out.

4, 6, and 7 give me a bit of hope though since the songs are good both musically and lyrically. 4 has that great drum pounding and is a good anthem. I expect to see it in previews for sci-fi and video games soon. I was truly impressed with Macklemore’s depth when talking about homosexuality. The instrumentals are not something you hear much in hip-hop.

5 and 9 are decent. 5 is excellent for what it is, a fun summer song. 9 was a little unexpected but it’s a fun mix. I also like 11 (Clarity by Zedd, another love song). All have enough going on musically and the lyrics are fun without being insipid. Kelly Clarkson’s new song Tie It Up (not charting yet) uses amusing plays on word to sing about marriage to a fun country band. See, I’m not just hating on all the new fun songs.

As for the Bechdel aspect, love and dating is incredibly universal. It’s something almost all of us go through which is why that subject resonates so well but songs about other things aren’t hurting (My Songs Know… by FOB is #12). The top ten could use more female artists however…