Soundtrack to my Summer: Call Me Maybe

Some songs you hear on the radio beg you to hate them. With catchy tunes and shallow lyrics, they squirm their way up the charts. Before you can say “Carly Rae Jepson,” they have a claimed a spot on your favorite radio station again. And, the worst part? You can’t get them out of your head.

Call Me Maybe was one of those songs. But like most radio garbage, my boyfriend picked it up and claimed it as his favorite. Personally, I believe Daniel has an unexplainable attraction for the cheap and tacky. {I’m not sure what that says about me.} But, when most of our friends declared it too silly, too pop or too mainstream for their ears to handle, Daniel immediately latched onto it. 

 

One breezy July night, Daniel and I went on a relaxing golf cart ride through the neighborhood. It was a night to remember, driving through sprinklers, racing down the hills and chasing off geese. Our first weekend together not traveling to some wedding or other fancy event, it was nice to just let loose and have fun. Of course, it wouldn’t have been the same if we hadn’t been accompanied by Carly Rae Jepson and her overplayed single Call Me Maybe.

“I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, so call me maybe!”

The number one complaint I hear about this song is the stupidity of the lyrics. “Come on, Carly. Do you want the guy to call you or not?” But it’s actually pretty brilliant. This guy has caught her attention. She is interested, so she takes initiative. But instead of going all out, she throws in a “maybe” just to let the guy know it’s not going to end her world if he doesn’t. It’s making a move and playing hard to get all at the same time.

Take those stupidly brilliant lyrics and put them to a clean yet up-tempo beat and you’ve got yourself a hit. I’m not the only one to think so. The song went viral when pop royalty Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez and all their friends donned fake mustaches and filmed themselves dancing around the house. The Harvard baseball team also got some media attention when they created and performed choreography for the song in the bus on the way to a game.

Gawker labeled the labeled the 26-year-old Canadian’s single “flawless” with its “strident disco strings and horribly catchy hook.”

“Resistance is futile, people: As much as I want to hate this song, I have listened to it seven times today (maybe more like 10 times) and I am not yet sick of it,” the gossip website stated.

And they’re right. Months later I’m still bouncing my head to the bubbly beat.  

Call me, maybe?

What do you think? Will you still be singing this song for years to come or did you hit the thumbs down on your Pandora station long ago?