As soon as Olivia Rodrigo dropped "Drivers License" on January 8, we simply had no choice but to completely be in our feels for the rest of 2021. Thanks to everyone from Rodrigo to Avril Lavigne to Taylor Swift, this year has been filled with a mixture of sappy, give no f*cks, and scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs love songs that will be on repeat until 2022. As we say good riddance to another pandemic year, we've compiled the best love songs 2021 has given us, below.
full house song i think i love you download
Behold the song that ripped hearts out and inspired impromptu karaoke sessions everywhere. Taylor Swift's 10-minute version of her 2012 hit "All Too Well" is somehow even better nearly a decade later with telling new lyrics ("And I was never good at tellin' jokes, but the punch line goes / I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age") and a perfect short film (opens in new tab) starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien to accompany it. Hey Jake Gyllenhaal, if you're reading this, blink twice if you're okay.
2007 or 2021? We're very here for Avril Lavigne's angsty new single, "Bite Me," that gives us major nostalgia for her early work. While this one isn't necessarily a lovey-dovey love song, it encapsulates that "you'll miss me when I'm gone" energy when you're ready to peace out from a toxic relationship.
Like much of Halsey's music, "Ya'aburnee" hits different. The word, which means "you bury me" in Arabic, represents the hope that a loved one will die before them so they don't have to live without them. Halsey conveys this beautifully in their lyrics. "Letting all my insecurity / Devour me with certainty / That love is just a currency / So take my pockets, take me home / Take my life, and take my soul / Wrap me in a wedding ring / You know I swear I'd give you anything."
While more about lust than love, "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" is a certified bop, especially if you're listening to it while you're enjoying being single. As for the name of the song itself, it's a nod to the 2017 film, Call Me By Your Name. "That was one of the first gay films that I had watched, and I thought the theme was so dope of calling somebody by your own name," Lil Nas X told Billboard (opens in new tab). "The way everything is shot, the way the dialogue goes on, the way the background sounds are used, everything about it is so artsy."
John Mayer's album, Sob Rock, is just that as he taps into memories of lost loves and what could have been all of these years later. "I shouldn't be angry / I shouldn't hold on / I shouldn't leave messages in every little song / It could have been always. / It could have been me / We could have been busy naming baby number three."
Nick Jonas's Spaceman is a departure from the bops we're used to, but nonetheless includes some love songs, like "Death Do Us Part," that will get you in your capital-F Feels. "You could put me in a coffin / I'm always gonna find your love / You know there ain't no stoppin' / Even when I'm high above."
Khalid joined WATTS (opens in new tab) for a new version of the rising singer-songwriter's 2018 single, "Feels," creating a peaceful, calm vibe only Khalid could successfully achieve with otherwise angsty lyrics about fighting feelings.
A change of pace from his song, "Lonely," "Anyone" is Justin Bieber's heartfelt note to his wife, Hailey Bieber, which simultaneously claims his love for her and his fear of losing her. "Forever's not enough time to / Love you the way that I want / 'Cause every morning I find you / I fear the day that I don't."
Picture this: You've orchestrated the perfect at-home date for your significant other featuring candles, wine, and a lovingly home-cooked (or lovingly ordered via app) dinner. But just as your person texts you that they're on their way, you realize that you have no idea what sort of music to play to retain the romantic ambience. After all, you can't have your early 2000s guilty pleasure songs come up on shuffle while you're trying to stare lovingly into your partner's eyes (nothing ruins the mood like the distinctive "youuuuuu" at the beginning of "Soulja Boy." And yes, that example is based on a true story). For that reason, I've compiled this list of the best love songs of all time, spanning every genre.
There's something in here for everyone, whether you're a fan of hip hop, classic rock, country, or pop. Queue this playlist up on your next date night, or satiate your inner romantic next time you're in your feelings. Whatever the context, I promise you won't be disappointed. (P.S. If you're looking for the best love songs of 2022 specifically, or songs for Valentine's Day, we've got those too.)
Rationale: When the outside world becomes brutal, many couples turn inward and develop that us-against-the-world mindset. In "ROS," Mac Miller captures what it's like to feel close to someone, spending much of this song describing the little things he loves about his partner, like her "stained glass" eyes, butterscotch-scented skin, and kiwi-flavored lips. The lyrics are intimate in every way, and Mac delivers them with characteristic rawness.
Rationale: This song hits me right in the chest. It's impossible not to feel your arms and chest aching like Reddings' when he sings about wanting to hold his beloved. The music crescendos around his smooth voice as he begs, "And if you would let them hold you/ Oh, how grateful I would be." It's such a sweet, earnest plea for love, and its focus on physicality is pretty sexy, too.
Rationale: When this song came out in 2007, I was in middle school, and 12-year-old me incessantly crooned along about "the sink of blood and crushed veneer," as though my childhood had been rife with tragic love affairs.
I've distanced myself from many of my middle school interests, but this song still holds up. Bon Iver is a master at depicting what it's like to fully surrender yourself to someone while aware that they may hurt you in the end. I still sing this song while I lounge around my studio apartment, drawing on real-life experiences this time, though I assure you that none of them involved blood-filled sinks or crushed veneers.
Rationale: Ah, yes. The song that plays at every wedding on earth. Popular songs are popular for a reason, though, and this one endures because of the unconditional love that it depicts. In addition to Sinatra's version, I also love Fred Astaire's rendition in the 1936 film Swing Time and the sweet yet funny visuals go along with it.
Rationale: If you read the lyrics without the music, this song feels like a late nineteenth century poem. The love it describes is so pure and hopeful, and you'll definitely gain cool-points by playing The Black Keys on a first date.
Rationale: No one does unbridled love like Amy Winehouse. Her soulful voice takes center stage in this Phil Spector cover, and if you're not already in love, it will make you want to be.
Rationale: Here, Hozier is trying to convince his love interest to forget that they both have pasts (who doesn't?) and to focus on loving in the present. There's a sense that both people in the song consider themselves odd in some way (again, who doesn't?), and that they've been searching for partners like each other for ages. "Like Real People Do" reminds us of how miraculous it feels to love and be loved back.
The song is told from the perspective of Jenny in the 1994 film Forrest Gump. It's about a broken, tired person coming back to their pure, enduring love after a great deal of time has passed. It's especially meaningful, in my opinion, because Ocean penned the song in the wake of his very public coming-out.
Rationale: What a throwback! Ingrid Michaelson was responsible for some of the sweetest manic-pixie-dream-girl love songs of the early 2000s, and this one was her most popular. Michaelson rejoices in having found a partner who loves her, flaws and all, and she responds in kind, promising to repair what her partner breaks and to buy him Rogaine when his hair starts falling out.
Rationale: Oh, Ezra Koenig, how you wound me with your beautiful words! In this song, our narrator seems to be moving around the U.S. with his beloved Hannah until she grows homesick for the east coast. Having lived in New England for around seven years, I'm partial to this song for its "freezing beaches" references, but it's also a gentle tribute to the way time glides away when you're with someone you love.
Rationale: There have been many versions of this song, but this one's my favorite (it was also Amy Winehouse's favorite). Donny Hathaway sings with such feeling that one can't help but feel he's reciting a memoir when he sings his apology to a woman he neglected to settle down with because he was too busy performing around the world.
Rationale: Yes, this song is 90 percent just Karen O singing "Wait, they don't love you like I love you," but it's so powerful! If you say something the right way, and the accompanying music is good enough, there's no need to embellish much more. Proof: Beyoncé clearly nods to this song in her 2016 single "Hold Up." "Maps" endures, over a decade later, across genres.
Franki Valli declares his unconditional love for a girl much poorer than he is, fantasizing about replacing her tattered clothes with lace and finery. In spite of her poverty, he ends the song by crying, "I love you just the way you are."
Rationale: I cried when I saw The Roots perform this live. Erykah reassures her boyfriend during the chorus that she'll always be loyal to him, while Black Thought (lead MC of The Roots) uses his verses to tell the story of a lifelong romance. It's the best love song in hip hop, hands down.
Rationale: We should heal ourselves rather than wait around for someone to heal us, but that doesn't mean that love can't be a healing experience. It's very romantic to thank someone for making you feel good, and that's precisely what this song (written by the flawless Carole King) is about. 2ff7e9595c
Comments