No matter the genre or era, the one thing that connects all good songs (in my opinion) is their melody. Lyrics and instrumentation aside, if the song does not have a melody that can get stuck in your head, its chances of succeeding drop dramatically. Think about it: how many songs can you sing every lyric to versus how many songs you can hum the melody of from start to finish? These sorts of powerful melodies are what can easily translate a song from sounding good on your radio to being able to be sung in unison by an arena full of people. My point in saying all of this is that, with Airpark’s new song, “D Y W,” which features St. Lucia, we can experience a prime example of one of those powerful melodies which will get stuck in your head for days.
Beginning with the sound effect of a tape winding straight into the middle of the song, everything about this track falls into place quite quickly. The simplicity of its piano and guitar, combined with a dry sounding vocal, reminds me of something The Beach Boys could’ve produced in the late sixties. Like any good song, there is a build as everything pushes forward, with new instruments being added here and there, giving texture to the sound. All of that being said, as I previously mentioned, what really carries this song forward is its vocal melody. Deceivingly simple, the melody glides through your mind until you reach the chorus of the song, which changes everything. Picking up the beat, the chorus serves to lift the listener up and gives no option but to start singing along. With every chorus that comes around, the song picks up even more, gaining energy and then eventually playing the song out as something you could even dance to.
The lyrical content of the song is straightforward and easy to understand, which could either play to its benefit or not, depending on your viewpoint. Regardless of how you feel, it does seem as though the song is written from the heart, giving it an authentic message. Seemingly going over the emotions of getting over someone who hasn’t always been straightforward, the lyrics paint an image of a man only desperate for answers. Most of the lines in the song are questions, directed towards whomever is being sung about, “Do you want to make a plan? / Do you want to understand? / Or just prefer to wait till there’s nothing I can do / Would you prefer to wait and let that speak for you?” The most telling lyric of the song resides in its bridge and states, “Just be someone who could tell me that we’re through.”
I challenge you to get through the ending section of this song without getting into it (foot tapping, melody humming, anything). I haven’t been able to get the melody of the chorus out of my head for days and I’m not even upset about it, that’s how much I enjoy it. Of course, even though I have focused so much on the melody, everything else about the song is great as well. From the simplistic instrumentation, which gradually builds its energy up over the course of the song, to the genuine and relatable lyrics, I find it hard to complain about anything specifically. All I really have to say is: listen to this song.
