NUMBER 3: ROBYN - “HANG WITH ME” - FROM THE BODY TALK LP ON KONICHIWA RECORDS
From here on out, the rest of my list may as well lead with the “in no particular order” header. I swapped ordering of the next three tracks in my head every way imaginable and it just seems unfair not calling any of them my “favorite song” of the last twelve months because each of them helped define what the year in music was and where my taste has been in 2010. I mean, something like Robyn’s “Hang With Me” almost seems scientifically calculated to appeal to me.
A seemingly random aside, but hang with me (heh): When I was a kid there was an Alvin and Chipmunks movie that my sister and I were obsessed with that involved teams of the chipmunks and their girly counterparts racing around the world in hot air balloons. The internet tells me that it was called The Chipmunk Adventure. Like all good children’s animated movies, it was a musical and I became pretty obsessed with the soundtrack to the point of taping some of the songs off of the television using a handheld tape recorder. I can remember insisting to my father that we listen to it in the car at one point and I asked him why they didn’t play these songs on the radio. I think I understood that it was a kids movie but I didn’t know why anyone would deny themselves of something so catchy. “It’s catchy,” my dad told me. “But it doesn’t have substance. It’s bubblegum.”
“Hang With Me”, and almost all of Body Talk, is sugary sweet. Robyn and her songwriters know a good melody and they take those undeniable aspects of bubblegum pop music and flesh out the songwriting with smart and substantive productions choices that satisfy an older, pickier listener. It’s catchy as can be and the electronics are bright and upbeat even when they’re bittersweet. The arpeggios running through here are mesmerizing and the wonky low end of the track absolutely rattles on loud speakers. The verses are cautious climbs upward and the choruses are perfectly timed head rushes back down. It’s lyrics have all of the easy and relatable buzzwords of love and relationships but it’s actually about universally complicated situation. It is a song for 6 year old me and it is a song for 26 year old me.
BONUS: The video for “Hang With Me” is easily my favorite of the year. The idea is pretty route (tour footage!) but between the beautiful shot cinematography and Robyn’s charisma, I don’t know that there could be a better video for this song. Watch it here.
2010 Top Ten:
3) “Hang With Me” - Robyn
4) “CMYK” - James Blake
5) “Trouble Comes Running” - Spoon
6) “Odessa” - Caribou
7) “Blame Game” - Kanye West ft. John Legend
8) “Tightrope” - Janelle Monae ft. Big Boi
9) “Desire Lines” - Deerhunter
10) “Your Sweet Boom” - Jamie Lidell
