Category Archives: song of the day

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Song of the Day: 3,672: ‘God is a Woman’ – Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande’s new album, Sweetener, is still a month away, but she just dropped one of the more impressive and aggressively bizarre videos I’ve seen in awhile. It’s kind of the apolitical pop diva version of Child Gambino’s This is America in that its every frame invites dissection.

The premise of the song ‘God is a Woman’ is that Grande’s sexual prowess will make her lover believe that, indeed, God is a woman. The video depicts Grande in a series of visually arresting scenarios that symbolize this divine status.

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Song of the Day #3,671: ‘When I Kissed the Teacher’ – Lily James and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again cast

I was a latecomer to 2008’s Mamma Mia!, watching it for the first time last December.

My initial reaction was confusion over how such a wildly uneven quirkfest could be beloved by so many. But I recognized the film’s charms, especially the irresistible ABBA songs and Meryl Streep’s exuberant, full-hearted performance.

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Song of the Day #3,670: ‘Roots and Wings’ – Miranda Lambert

Today’s random SOTD comes courtesy of Miranda Lambert and Ram Trucks. ‘Roots and Wings’ is a non-album single Lambert wrote expressly for the Dodge brand back in 2015.

This isn’t a case of Dodge using a song in a commercial, but a partnership between artist and brand that abandons traditional advertising altogether. The video for this song (embedded below) contains a few Ram Trucks but you’d never know that’s the point. It doesn’t even feature product placement where the camera lingers on the brand’s logo.

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Song of the Day #3,669: ‘Little Queenie’ – Chuck Berry

‘Little Queenie’ is a 1959 release by the late Chuck Berry that includes several of his trademarks, including an oft-imitated opening guitar riff, some rip-snorting solos and a reference to an underage girl.

Could anybody get away with a line like “she’s too cute to be a minute over seventeen” these days? Happily, I think the answer is no.

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Song of the Day #3,668: ‘Businessman’ – Josh Rouse

My second-favorite album of the year so far belongs to one of my favorite artists, Josh Rouse. His Love in the Modern Age is a synthesizer-drenched homage to 80s bands such as Blue Nile and Prefab Sprout, but it still feels very much like a Josh Rouse record — sad, soulful and melodic as hell.

Rouse is the rare artist who is beloved by every member of my immediate family. He’s a staple on our car trips. My wife likes to point out that every one of his albums has a distinct sound, often a distinct instrument, that sets it apart from all the others.

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