Reviewing: Top 5 Songs Right Now

Today I'll be reviewing the top five songs on the American charts from a Christian perspective.  Songs I think are clean, appropriate, and fine to download will get a thumbs up; songs that don't have a lot of admirable qualities but aren't awful either will get an "ish" and it will be up to you to decide; and songs that are plain inappropriate will get a thumbs down.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the lyrics this week.  See for yourself. 

1.) ISH: "We Found Love" by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris

It seems like every grocery store, gas station, or public building is blasting "We Found Love" from the speakers.  It's a very catchy song.  I looked up the song's music video on YouTube and was pretty shocked by the content.  Drug use, sex scenes, and domestic violence consumed the entire video.  I didn't feel a sense of hope or love or even redemption.  All I saw was darkness and confusion.  Rihanna and her Chris-Brown-look-a-like make out, do drugs, fight in a car, overdose, tattoo Rihanna's backside, smoke, and set things on fire.  While the song on its own sounds innocent enough, the music video adds an entirely new dimension of pain and sin.

The lyrics of "We Found Love" are surprisingly clean for a Rihanna song.  They mostly consist of "We found love in a hopeless place. We found love in a hopeless place..." and so on.  However, after watching the dark and somewhat frightening music video, I can't give "We Found Love" a thumbs up.  I'll let you decide for yourself whether you want to add this to your playlist.  I give it an "ish."

2.) THUMBS UP: "Set Fire to the Rain" by ADELE

"Set Fire to the Rain" is a song about a girl who falls in love with a man who uses her and breaks her heart.  "There's a side to you that I never knew, never knew. All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true. All the games you'd play, you would always win, always win."  The protagonist finally stops searching for her lost lover and sets fire to the remainder of their love.

The lyrics of this song are clean and they describe a broken heart with painful sincerity.  The music video for "Set Fire to the Rain," which consists of Adele singing in front of a large audience with an orchestra playing behind her, is also quite clean.  Something that amuses me is that while "We Found Love" by Rihanna describes finding love in an abusive and destructive relationship, "Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele describes fighting your way out of a terrible relationship.  Two songs with vastly different meanings have made it into the top five on the charts... and honestly, I like the idea of "Set Fire to the Rain" much better.  I'll go ahead and give it a thumbs up.  

3.) THUMBS UP: "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida
Honestly, this song confused me a little.  The lyrics didn't seem to have dirty innuendos, unless I just didn't catch them.  At times, they didn't make much sense, but they didn't seem bad.  The song seemed to be about how Flo Rida has found fame and success and he's feeling great about it.  "How many Rolling Stones you want? Yeah, I got a brand new spirit. Speak it and it's done. Woke up on the side of the bed like I won. Talk like a winner, my chest to that sun. G5 dealer, US to Taiwan."

Other than focusing heavily on material possessions and the importance of wealth and fame, the song is clean.  The video was even surprisingly clean, featuring mostly fancy cars, boxing, and Flo Rida performing for an audience.  I'll go ahead and give it a thumbs up. 

4.) ISH: "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars

"It Will Rain" is a song about a man who is about to lose the girl he loves to another.  The song is his desperate plea to convince her to come back to him before it's too late.  "There'll be no sunlight if I lose you, baby. Just like the clouds, my eyes will do the same if you walk away. Everyday, it will rain."  While the song is free of sexual innuendos and curse words, I'm not a fan of the words Bruno Mars uses to describe his need for the girl he loves.  "If you ever leave me baby, leave some morphine at my door, 'cause it would take a whole lot of medication to realize what we used to have, we don't have it anymore."  In other words, Bruno Mars would turn to narcotics to numb his pain over a breakup?  That isn't a great coping method and I don't like the idea it suggests.  "There's no religion that could ever save me, no matter how long my knees are on the floor, so keep in mind all the sacrifices I'm making to keep you by my side..."  Here, Bruno Mars seems to be suggesting that not even religion or faith could help him through the loss of his love.  The video is fairly clean, consisting of Bruno Mars staring despondently into a mirror and kissing his girlfriend somewhat suggestively on a bed.

Because there are only these quieter issues that weight down a few of the lyrics, I'm not going to give the song a direct thumbs down.  However, I'm going to give it an "ish."  I realize Bruno Mars is probably not a believer, but it is healthy to listen to words like his that will enter our minds during difficult times?  I don't like the idea of happily listening to a song that declares the futility of religion, the necessity of narcotics during difficult times, and such a desperate need in a girlfriend that nothing else matters. 

5.) THUMBS DOWN: "Sexy and I Know It" by LMFAO

"Sexy and I Know It" is supposed to be a funny song, but after reading the lyrics, I could not help but feel disgust at its cockiness.  Inappropriate innuendos are scattered throughout the entire song.  Most I don't feel comfortable sharing here, but a 'lighter' example would be: "Everybody stops and they staring at me.  I got a passion in my pants and I ain't afraid to show it.  I'm sexy and I know it."

The video made me feel so uncomfortable that I stopped watching halfway through.  The video consisted of LMFAO stripping down to skimpy Speedos and shaking certain parts of their bodies to the beat while girls watched in awe.  One part of the video I noticed was that when the men stripped down, someone dressed as Jesus stood in the background watching.  While I'm sure they meant this as a blatant disregard of Christianity, I couldn't help but shake my head and think, "Yes, Jesus does see this."  The presence of Jesus in the music video, joke or otherwise, should be a reminder of where we should keep our thoughts.