Let Me Love You

Spotify: https://goo.gl/rUsUHL

YouTube: https://goo.gl/PXPRhL

Maybe this is the song of the summer.

They said EDM was dead, but it's bigger than ever, it's taken over the Top Forty, this is a stone cold SMASH!

Prognosticators pointed to the Major Lazer cut, "Cold Water," and that satisfies but it's missing that je ne sais quoi, that something extra that puts a track over the top. "Let Me Love You" has it. It's a one listen get.

We thought Diplo was the genius, but after this we've got to re-evaluate, maybe it's DJ Snake.

I was lamenting the days of coherence, when we were addicted to the radio, when we waited endlessly for our favorites to come on and experienced three minutes of bliss before we began to go through withdrawal, our only savior the track itself, which we waited once again to hear, which we went out and bought, so we could repeat it endlessly until we burned out on it, transferred our loyalty to a new hit.

It was not supposed to be this way.

The popsters bolstered by the Max Martin/Dr. Luke hit machine were supposed to rule, those tracks fronted by women who could appeal to the little girls who sustain careers today, can you say "Taylor Swift"?

But the biggest cut on Spotify last year was the Diplo/DJ Snake concoction "Lean On," three minutes of sheer magic, something that got you lockin' and poppin' instantly, there hasn't been a song that caused your body to move so fast and rhythmically since the "Twist."

Well, not sure I'd take that to the bank, it's just that I'm not a dancer, but every time I heard "Lean On" I couldn't help but boogie, hiking the Backbone Trail, sitting in front of the computer.

"Let Me Love You" is different. It's late night, after midnight, whereas "Lean On" was for when the drugs kicked in, it took the party into high gear.

And "Let Me Love You" is not quite as special as the hits from Justin Bieber's solo record, but DJ Snake said that was the best project of the past year. I learned that via Genius, which is now integrated into Spotify, who knew? I was riding the recumbent bike and I read not only the lyrics, but the whole backstory on the track, it was a mini-Wikipedia page, right there in the app, which was especially good since Wikipedia had BUPKES!

What is that SOUND! The one that resembles a double bass poured through a flanger? That's the difference between today's music and the old stuff, it's all about the sounds, they're the hooks. And the songs are packed with them.

Oh, we had great sounds in the past. But now they're all electronic, they all live in the box, and despite being inhuman they enrapture us nonetheless.

And then when Justin Bieber begins to sing...

"We used to believe
We were burnin' on the edge of somethin' beautiful"

We're all optimistic at heart, we're all hopeful, we want love, even the guys in all black who believe punk rules... Ever see them with their babies kitted out in Ramones t-shirts?

But it's the pre-chorus that puts the track over the top.

"Say, go through the darkest of days
Heaven's a heartbreak away
Never let you go, never let me down
Oh, it's been a hell of a ride
Driving the edge of a knife
Never let you go, never let me down"

It's like you're driving up PCH and you just downshifted, dropped gears, you can feel the torque.

"Don't you give up, nah-nah-nah
I won't give up, nah-nah-nah
Let me love you
Let me love you"

What a message in these turbulent times, where we're afraid one candidate will take us on a left turn into oblivion and the other just promises more of the same and terrorists run free... Music is supposed to help us escape, it's supposed to provide an alternative universe, one in which we're understood and smile.

That's right, "Let Me Love You" cocoons you. That's its magic.

It's not a novelty track like "Call Me Maybe." Not a wink of the eye scatological number hearkening back to what once was like "Blurred Lines." Rather, "Let Me Love You" is positively modern, it's brand new. And this is what we're truly looking for. The media follows the horse race, it wants something flashy it can promote, that's what the song of the summer has become.

But just like every August there's a sleeper flick that takes over the public consciousness...

Now there's a track that has snuck up on us as the days are getting shorter and the air is getting cooler that works not only in the summer but the fall, at home and in the club.

Oh, what a strange world we live in. Where a French DJ dominates and a supposedly over the hill adolescent pop star has a second act even better than the first.

I love it!


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