All of the love songs we loved this year.
Ellie Goulding, "Love Me Like You Do"
Say what you will about the Fifty Shades of Grey movie — the soundtrack is great. Like, really, truly, Beyoncé-is-on-this-thing great! But, while most of the film’s music paints in ~shades of lust~, Ellie Goulding’s contribution, “Love Me Like You Do,” is pure bliss. Built like a cathedral of synths, the song is toweringly romantic and unapologetically sweet.
Swoonworthy lyric: "You're the light, you're the night / You're the color of my blood / You're the cure, you're the pain / You're the only thing I wanna touch"
Polydor Ltd
Selena Gomez, "Good for You"
Selena Gomez transitioned into adult pop stardom this year with a whisper, not a shout. Literally. Her first post-Disney single — the hushed, R&B-inspired "Good for You" — is sung in a sexy, vowel-breaking whisper. The result is like pillow talk, only catchier.
Swoonworthy lyric: "Let me show you how proud I am to be yours / Leave this dress a mess on the floor / And still look good for you, good for you"
SelenaGomezVEVO
Fetty Wap, "My Way (feat. Monty)"
On "My Way" time slows to a syrupy wooze as the rapper tries to impress the object of his affection with come-on after come-on. It's equal parts charming and desperate. It's charmingly desperate. There’s something about Fetty Wap’s Auto-Tuned warbling that sounds like the way infatuation feels — uncontrollable and ecstatic.
Swoonworthy lyric: "I spotted you, you had that glow / Watch me pull out all this dough / Take you where you want to go"
harlem fetty
Carly Rae Jepsen, "Run Away With Me"
Nobody crushes like Carly Rae Jepsen crushes. Fluttery feelings of romantic possibility take on cosmic shadings and become something grander in her hands. Three years ago, she made giving your phone number to a stranger sound fated on her bubblegum masterpiece, “Call Me Maybe,” and, this year, she’s imbued her best new song, “Run Away With Me,” a sax-inflected, end-of-the-night anthem, with a real sense of destiny.
Swoonworthy lyric: "Oh baby, take me to the feeling / I'll be your sinner, in secret / When the lights go out / Run away with me"
Matthew Welch / Interscope
