Digital Media’s Favorite Love Songs

For our February Digital Media Staff meeting, the staff wrote about some of our favorite love songs.

Higher -D’Angelo
This is probably my favorite neo-soul song of all time. From D’Angelo’s smooth and passionate vocals to the groovy instrumentation, this song is hypnotizing. The whole song lulls you in with its slick groove, continually brings catchy choruses and melodies, and climaxes with D’Angelo’s gorgeous harmonies, really hammering home the spirituality and pure love presented in the lyrics. Definitely my favorite love song as of right now.
-Brian Mignogna

Gap Tooth Smile – Djo
Gap Tooth Smile is one of my favorite love songs because it centers personal elements of romance and attraction as the most enjoyable aspects of a relationship. Just from the title, Djo defies usual love songs which ascribe lovers as perfect, insisting instead that the moments of humanity and authenticity are the most beautiful. In addition to breaking the norms on describing love, Djo also breaks away from the normal style of a romantic pop song, bringing his “shout it from the rooftops” perspective on love into full view during the manic counting section towards the end, which has stuck in my head since the first time I heard it at a listening party at seasick – when this record was, itself, a “love at first sight” moment for me.
-Jake Bennett

Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing – The Magnetic Fields
When I think of love songs, my mind goes to one place, and one place only: my favorite album, 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields (I made the graphic for this article as a 90.7 version of the album cover). While not my favorite song on the album, “Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing” paints a picture of love that I truly yearn to experience. Lyrically this song follows a couple who is, you guessed it: dancing, but not just that, they are dancing with one another as they ignore a world that is seemingly crumbling around them. Although this isn’t my favorite of the 69, it’s an amazing intimate love song that I think everyone should experience.
-Z Marik

Nothing With You – Descendents
The big gestures typically define love, but what about the quieter expressions? “Nothing With You” by California’s pop-punk pioneers, Descendents, finds romance in the mundanity of just wanting to spend time with a lover. From my personal perspective, hearing artists constantly yammer on about how they yearn to adorn their partner with glittery rings and fragrant bouquets is such an exhausted theme. Sometimes, it’s more than romantic enough to laze around and enjoy a special someone’s presence, and I think this song perfectly conveys that sentiment.
-Mads Walton

Get By – Still Woozy
I have many favorite love songs, but one I always come back to is “Get By” by Still Woozy. This song is literally about Sven Eric Gamsky breaking his foot and facing physical and mental blocks with his wife because of it. It’s very silly and lighthearted, just enough to share troubling instances while also showing how much he loves his wife and how much she has helped him along the way, even in his career. Notably, his wife also collaborates with him, illustrating most of his album art.
-Peyton White

Bobcat Club – Slaughter Beach, Dog
When I heard this song live, I cried. It’s not a sad song or super emotional in any way, but its definitely one of two SBD songs (the other being “Engine”) that are an absolute gut punch for me. The song carries itself slowly, making you nostalgic for something you’ve never experienced, and tells a small story of quiet companionship and wordless connection. It’s a song for anyone who values quality time over anything else.
-Oswin Colley

Pictures of You – The Cure
“Pictures of You” was released as the final single from The Cure’s eighth studio album “Disintegration” (1989). The song is said to have been written after a fire in singer Robert Smith’s house led him to a photograph of his wife, Mary Poole, who he is still married to 37 years later. The 2 minute instrumental opening of the song has a distinctly dream-like feel, that when joined by Smith’s melodious voice conveys a sense of intense nostalgia and longing for love. A beautiful blend of desire and loss, “Pictures of You” is one of my favorite love songs, and if you enjoyed it, you should definitely listen to the rest of Disintegration!
-Ainsley Hopkins

Crown of Love – Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire’s “Crown of Love” is a love song that captures the crashing feelings that love has to offer. It pieces through frantic and casual emotion, starting slower and gradually crescendoing. The song manages to accurately depict the feeling of love, primarily unrequited, revealing feelings of desperation that come from loving someone seamlessly or not. The song’s effects compile for a timeless love song that interacts with the listener by pulling in instruments traditionally noted to be emotional, violins, piano, and bass drums, and a baroque pop ending to encapsulate emotional realization.
-Lila Beck

Love – Country Joe & The Fish
I chose this song because It was one of my favorite songs performed at Woodstock 69′. The organ being played throughout is my favorite part of the song but the vocal style is usually what catches my ear. I also just really love this strange band.
-Jimmie Thompson IV

If I Can’t Have You – Bee Gees
Many of the most iconic songs from the 1970s came from the soundtrack for the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, and the memorability of the album comes in no small part due to the timeless music written for it by The Bee Gees. While “If I Can’t Have You” was originally performed for the ,movie by Yvonne Elliman, the cover by The Bee Gees released one month later will always stand out as the best version to me. The melodramatic wails along with the climactic chord progression makes the song stand out to me as not only one of The Bee Gees’ strongest works, but also one of my favorite love songs of all time.
-David Koskey

Caroline, Please Kill Me by Coma Cinema
This has been one of my favorite songs for years. It’s a song following a protagonist who’s deeply infatuted with a girl– someone who couldn’t even fathom how he feels towards her.  The ironic part about it is that he knows absolutely nothing about this girl. Being able to see the complexity of this song within each listen will forever keep me captivated.
-Zoie Stoudmire