A lot of new Top 40 songs burn very bright, but also fade very quickly. We all know how true this is on the music charts and in records sales, but it’s just as true for DJs as well. Most Top 40 songs – whether they’re hip-hop, R & B, pop, or rock – are in the rotation for a few months but then disappear, replaced by the next batch of songs with “mojo.” I find the short shelf-life of these Top 40 songs are usually due to either 1) when the hype dies down, people lose interest in the songs (and often even realize they weren’t all that great in the first place), or 2) because a song was good and got so overplayed that it soon felt stale.
It’s somewhat rare to find a new song on the charts that has some real staying power in our DJ sets, but each year there’s always a few. So far this year, the best example of one of these songs is Kanye West’s bouncy, celebratory anthem “Good Life.” It’s a song many people know, but because it was never really overplayed at the height of its popularity, it still feels fresh.
But "Good Life" is also a versatile song – at the same time being so many things, but neither of them too much: The lyrics are playful but not frivolous; the chorus is catchy but not irritatingly catchy; the song’s got A Tribe Called Quest-like sunny mellowness to it but it’s still very danceable, allowing us to spin it at different moments at an event and at more kinds of events; and, despite the song being a bit more accessible than some Top 40 hip-hop, the song still feels edgy and real, and therefore, it’s able to please hip-hop fans, but at the same time not offend, say, their grandparents.
Since late 2007, when the song was released, we’ve spun “Good Life” during the concluding applause at a fashion show, during numerous cocktail hours at corporate parties and weddings, and even recently for dancing at a large private rooftop party. A bit more time is needed to see if the song will become a modern classic, but from what I’ve seen, I think it’s got quite a good start.
July 7, 2008