Alright, last week was a list of amazing songs which were nearly impossible to rank because they all had great qualities, but in the end the top three went to the oldest, the newest, and the most like Lily Allen. Well I have good news for you guys today: this week, we're doing EVEN MORE SONGS WITH THE SAME DAMN NAME.
Fun fact: In 2016 alone there were over a dozen songs released called "Thinking About You" or some variation thereof. The shortest time between releases of songs called "Thinking About You" in 2016 was one day.
Usual rules apply: only originals and covers by professional, licensed artists, and any and all electronic remixes are fair game.
So let's think about "Thinking About You". Again...
1. Sister Sledge (1979)
There's just something about the music of the 70s and 80s. It's so hopeful, so uplifting! And Sister Sledge is no different, their single "Thinking of You" (look it's close enough, okay? We bend rules here) is romantic and upbeat, the staccato guitar a mere background to the violin melody and the strong, passionate vocals. It's a little static, not the strongest contender, but it's got the vocals, even if they are half-drowned out at times in this particular version. It also has the guitar solo! Neat!
It should be pretty clear by now that I have a certain style I enjoy, and this hits a lot of the right beats. But the backing is kinda repetitive, so points off for that, and as I say, at times the voice gets drowned out by the violins, which is uncalled for. It has its high points (a strong ending, for one, and who can resist that 70s style?) but I don't know if I can bring myself to put this at the top. A good start, though.
2. Radiohead (1991)
So first thing that pops into my head about this song is: it's so unlike the Radiohead songs I know. I only really know them from around the OK Computer era, six years after this song's debut. This is much more like early Coldplay, or Ocean Colour Scene, it's very down-to-earth and acoustic. There's none of the electronic edge or dirty guitar that characterises later-era Radiohead, which I find disappointing.
Still, it's not a bad song. It's short, to the point, and there's some change up in the guitar at least. I can't say I like the vocal quality though - it works for Ocean Colour Scene, I just expect... different from Radiohead. I like that they still subvert expectations with it, turning "Thinking About You" into an anti-love song. I never really mention the lyrics in these, do I? Maybe if they're skeevy or, in this case, interesting. They're good lyrics, I just don't like how they're sung.
3. Norah Jones (2007)
I can't say this one grabbed me, but it's technically good. It mixes things up, it's jazzy, Norah Jones imbues this one with some soul and a weight the other two don't exactly aim for. The trumpets add a bit of colour to the song, giving it a bit of dimension and variety above the fairly slow, quiet backing of the keyboard and Hammond organ, but overall it's a song to relax you, not one to make you get up and dance.
I'm not saying that to mean it's a bad thing, but coming on the heels of the more vindictive Radiohead, and the impassioned pleas of Sister Sledge, it's a bit of a cooldown. The change of pace is nice, but it does lack a certain weight after the texture-heavy tones of the first two songs.
4. Katy Perry (2009)
Criminy, we're back up to 2009 already. This is probably the poppiest this list will get, and I don't know how I feel about this one. I mean, it's very early-noughties: it's got that strong chorus and a whole lot of acoustic guitar, it's reminiscent of early Taylor Swift or Green Day back when they did things like "Wake me up when September Ends" or "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". And to her credit, Perry sells it with a strong voice.
But there's not much to it beyond her voice. The melody gets lost in the overly-heavy drum line and the whole backing track seems to be a cacophony of noise. I imagine if it were played live, it would sound brilliant, but this version at least just feels like an assault on the ears.
5. Loco feat. Jay Park (2014)
This is our first K-Pop entry! Honestly this is one of my favourite songs on this list, I just like the mix of the heavy bass beats in between the energetic dance melody and the variation of song between rap, melody and the heavily-textured and practically unaccompanied vocals. It all points to a well thought-out and technically proficient song.
It's very pop - okay, I might have been wrong when I said Katy Perry was the poppiest this list got - but that's why it's K-Pop! And any dance entry is practically guaranteed to hit the right notes for me. This one gets a pass.
6. Sting (2016)
We're not even halfway through this list and we're already back in 2016. And with Sting, no less! At least this one avoids falling into the "wall of noise" pop trap, and Sting's unique vocals cut through clear and loud. Okay, maybe not totally clear.
That said, I can't get fully behind this one because the melody is still pretty one-note. And it still has problems with a drum line that occasionally forgets its place and takes over the melody. However, it is at least inoffensive, even if it is another semi-typical pop song.
7. Loving Caliber (2016)
This one feels very little-known, but it's another early 2010's feeling pop song. There's nothing more to it than a guitar and the vocals, and sometimes that can work pretty well. This is far from the worst song we've listened to named "Thinking About You".
This one has an edge thanks to a different and intriguing bridge which draws you in a little, but it's still a lot of noise. There is something to be said for its simplicity, but in the end it still succumbs to the earlier problems with pop songs. Good grief, and I thought Katy Perry was poppy.
8. JayteKz (2016)
We are officially in less-than-a-million-views territory here, people. This is not a drill! I think it's a shame, because as a song it does more to experiment and put itself out there than a lot of the earlier offerings on the list. A mix of ambient melody and rap vocals, it's something different to the previous seven songs and I was actually interested to listen to this one.
Still, it's hard to say you enjoy a song when so much of it is spoken word over ambient music which doesn't make much of an impact. That lack of impact harms it as a whole but the vocals are accomplished and a little different, and I enjoy them. I think it's quirky, and even if it doesn't quite work it feels braver than Sting's 2016 song called "Thinking About You".
9. Sami (2016)
This is another one that starts off different, Sami doesn't waste time bringing us into the weird, semi-ambient music and desperate lyrics. This one is affected by the same drum line problem, but it's less obvious and intrusive because the ambient melody is almost made to melt into the other sounds, so when the powerful drums and electronic melody come in to support it just fades away a little and lets them do their jobs.
As a song it works, but I do wonder how much I'd like to come back to it. It's a little more experimental, which I like, but I'm not a fan of songs which start off slow, and I don't know if the vocals are up to the strength of the song beneath them.
10. Fullife (2016)
As you know, I'm all for dance tracks, but this one starts off so typically I'm almost worried I have to call it early. The vocals are different, deliberately melded with the melody at times and not in a way which seems forced or bad, itself a difficult task. And I like the tropical, jungle-y feel of the melody, bouncing along above a gentle drum rhythm.
However, the chorus goes back to the typical EDM roots, and it suffers from feeling so generic at times when the rest of the song is doing its best to feel original and different. I wouldn't knock it as a bad song, but there are parts of it I'd swear I've heard before, in other songs. It's just got that sort of melody around the chorus.
11. Andreas Moss (2016)
Andreas Moss's offering starts off light and slow and simple, and that can work, especially when it goes straight from that to strong, powerful vocals. This is another song that feels different, like it's trying to push boundaries a bit, and I can respect that. But again, it goes into the chorus and I feel like I'm listening to a hundred other EDM songs.
I do get tired of hearing what seems to be the same pattern, beat, and even sounds in Dance tunes, and maybe that's less an indicator of bad songs than of me not listening to close enough to other songs, but it still bothers me when I hear those little phrases in a song and they sound like stock music effects. To their credit, Andreas Moss doesn't make it so noticeable, but it still sounds so eerily familiar I worry that I've heard it in other songs before.
12. Silentó (2017)
This one is a relative unknown, and I find that a shame. It's still got that EDM repetition, but it's a little quirkier and bouncier, and Silentó's composition and sound design is nothing to be sniffed at. It's layered and textured, but it's not overwhelming like the pop songs with just two or three instruments. The rap style shifts and changes throughout, but it's done well and the music is good for all its typicality.
The way this song shifts mood and pace is often surprising, but never unwelcome. It's an accomplished song, and I quite like it.
13. Shelta (2017)
So far the second half of this list has been a lot of experimentation and dance stuff, and I quite like that it's continuing that direction. Shelta's psychedelic song is a mix of simple drum beats, heavily textured sound and echoing vocals. It's not a piece of massive change, but it has a distinctive voice and for what it is, it sounds good. It's simple, which I like, but that does leave me very little to say about it.
14. Oceana (2017)
This is a strong contender for best song on this list. Oceana's offering features throaty vocals and an accomplished EDM sound which does its best to avoid the pitfalls of repetitiveness and ends up as an awesome electro-funk fusion. This has an edge in that it's pretty much my favourite genre within the all-encompassing Electronic Dance Music box, and the powerful melody that somehow doesn't overpower the vocals does it good in the standings.
15. Yo Gotti, Mike WiLL Made-It (2017)
This one... I struggle with. I can't argue that it's not a good song, because it is. But it just isn't my type of music. Rap has not really been my thing, not properly anyway, and I feel unqualified to judge this song. But there's a weight to it, it's chaotic but in the way an argument is chaotic. It works like an argument, a disagreement that turns violent, and from a narrative perspective this is an interesting song because of that. I like the melody and bassline, it's simple and a little repetitive, but it does the job and it sounds good doing it. I can't comment on the vocals because, again, I don't know rap music, and the lyrics... they say the N-word a lot, so the less I say about that as a white guy the better.
BUT the fact that it's a rap song isn't hurting it. It's made me want to listen to more, if only to understand and explore the genre, and it does a lot of very clever things with audio mixing that I haven't heard in other songs (again, I may need to explore this genre a bit more). It feels experimental, again, and I like that.
The Verdict
There was quite the mix on this list: a lot more pop songs than I first thought, but I like that so far I've always been able to get some 70s vibe on these lists. And I really like how experimental these songs got: Oceana and Silentó were pretty cool, I enjoyed where they took their styles for this song.
Let's start at the bottom. In fifteenth place, Katy Perry. It isn't a bad song per se, but that "wall of noise" problem is just too much for me. All the detail and melody is lost in a big ol' mess of raw texture, everything is dialled up too loud and it's too overcorrected so it just sounds fuzzy. It's not a bad song, but it feels badly edited. Fourteenth goes to Radiohead. I just think it's very one-note and whiny, and it's not the sort of thing I expected or wanted from Radiohead. Yeah, I know it's early Radiohead, but it sounds like Ocean Colour Scene, and if I want Ocean Colour Scene I'll... well I'll listen to Ocean Colour Scene. In at thirteen, it's the battle of the EDM tracks. Which is more typical: Fullife or Andreas Moss? I think this spot has to go to Fullife, purely because it sounds less accomplished; there are layers to Andreas Moss's song that Fullife doesn't have, and it sounds very basic in comparison. Which doesn't leave Andreas Moss off the hook, as they're coming in at twelfth place here. It's that typical dance track sound that just pervades both of these songs and it pushed them way down my list because it was so noticeable.
Which puts Sting at eleven. It's so pop-heavy, it would've gone lower but it's less typical than most of the things on this list. At ten, Loving Caliber for much the same reason. It starts off strong, keeping things simple, but it gets too complicated and by the end it has that Katy Perry problem, it's just a wall of noise. At nine is JayteKs, for pretty much the opposite reason: there just isn't enough there. It needs more texture, it's almost entirely just ambient music under rap lyrics, and while I think it's a brave choice it wasn't the right one.
Part of it was just getting unlucky on this list. There are some good songs on here. So at eight goes Sister Sledge. I enjoy "Thinking of You" but it has its problems. Sometimes even the seventies can't save you, and there were times when the vocals were drowned out by the melody. I don't hold with that. At seven, Yo Gotti and Mike WiLL Made-It - like I say, I can't get behind the rap style, but I find it interesting. For that reason, I can't put it more than halfway down the list because I know it's accomplished. But it's not my style, so I won't put it any higher. Personal preference, sorry. In at six, Loco. I think the more small-scale stuff pips this one to the post, it's too pop-centred for my liking but the dance-style really saves it from the bottom of the heap.
Fifth goes to Sami, because at this point the list becomes more about what isn't quite good enough, and Sami doesn't really make the cut for top three. Neither, for that matter, does Silentó, coming in at fourth on my list. I like the song, but the other three did it better.
Speaking of which, third place goes to Norah Jones. Crazy, right? Well it turns out her jazzy, soulful slow-dance holds up better on repeat listenings than a lot of the dance tracks, it feels a lot more original when half this list is taken up with dance tracks. But second place still goes to Shelta's psychedelic soundscape - it's relaxing, exploratory and overall it's just beautiful to listen to.
Which leaves Oceana in first place. What can I say? That edge won it, the electro-funk song takes it. I like the genre, I like the vocals, nothing overpowers, it's a happy, bouncy song. What's not to like?
So there's that list. This was easier than last week to work out - I think there were clear winners and losers, and the pop songs lost out a lot because there was something so generic about them. Oh, and walls of noise. They're no fun. But I discovered a lot of new, experimental stuff alongside those pop singles and it's been a lot of fun listening to all of this stuff and trying to organise it.
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