Summer Series Part 6: Tommy's Weekly Playlist
By Tommy Rodriguez
The hook of a good song is arguably the most important part. Some of the best songs of all time have a chorus that you can belt out with every inch of your lungs, regardless of your vocal chops. For this week’s edition to the wondrous Heart Eyes Summer Series, I invite everyone to check out some of the best hooks to sing/scream/hum along to as they do the dishes, drive to the supermarket, or stare at the ceiling on a rainy day.
Check out parts one, two , three, four, and five of the series, too!
Green Day - “Castaway”
Warning is an incredibly underrated album for Green Day; I personally think that its instrumental risks and immense catchiness make it an essential record for the seminal kings of pop-punk. The track “Castaway” is the perfect example of this: as Billy Joe Armstrong shouts about becoming a castaway on his own personal journey in life, you can’t help but want to scream out to the ocean about blissful isolation. “Now I’m on my own,” he sings over swift guitars and pummeling drums. It’s angsty but optimistic. In other words, it’s perfect.
Ghostface Killa and Ne-yo - “Back Like That”
This is a perfect bling-era hip-hop track. Taking place as a romantic moment within the coke-riddled tracklist of Fishscale, Ghostface Killa takes the only route a Wu-Tang member knows when they’re cheated on: pettiness. His verses are great at building tension, but the hook of this song is what brings it all home. Ne-yo goes much harder than he had any right to, soaring over the luxurious pianos and brittle percussion as he admonishes and seduces his object of affection. “Yeah, what I did was wack/but you don’t get a (expletive) back like that!” A perfect balance between snarkiness and toxic love, this is a Wu-Tang hit that you never knew you needed.
Erykah Badu - “On & On”
Besides being a bonafide R&B classic, Erykah Badu’s “On & On” shows that some of the best hooks aren’t loud, but smooth. Badu’s chirpy vocals ooze swagger as she goes “on and on and on and on,” her cipher moving like a “rolling stone.” This song is perfect for rainy days where you chill on the couch in a hoodie, staring at the ceiling fan and refusing to move as the world moves on and on. Your head will bob to it, for sure.
Dua Lipa - “Pretty Please”
Dua Lipa is the breakout pop queen of 2020, and it’s a title that’s well-deserved. Her song “Pretty Please” may not be one of her many hits you’ll often hear on the radio or all over streaming playlists, but it features one of her most essential vocal performances and refrains. She rides the bubbly bass and minimalist beat perfectly, radiating longing and sexiness in a way only she could: “Sweet relief, pretty please,” she croons. She’s the perfect model to follow for success in pop music: if your hook evolves in volume and tone throughout the song, you keep the listener engaged and willing to learn the song front to back. This is most definitely a song to get stuck in your head.
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg - “Still D.R.E”
Sometimes, the hook of the song isn’t just in the vocals. A classic G-funk anthem, “Still D.R.E” is one of the few songs that has a hook running through its length, with those wonderful, repetitive Dr. Dre keys plinking along. When combining Snoop’s excellent verses, Dre’s monstrous presence, and the classic promise to “represent for the gangstas across the world,” every aspect of this song is designed to get your head to nod along. The whole damn song is a hook!
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan - “1999”
“I just wanna go back, back to 1999” is one of the most infectious hooks of the last decade, or maybe of all time. Charli’s roboticized voice instantly gives the whole room a pickup as she reminisces on the good old days of her youth throughout the track. This song is pop perfection, constructed beautifully around the chorus with Charli and Troye Sivan exchanging wonderful verses about wanting to go back to ‘99. While those times sound great, I think listeners should want to return to this hook instead…