The Cure
This is The Cure's cover of Jimi Hendrix's psychedelic classic, recorded as a B-side. Robert Smith takes a song built on…
disorientation altered perception romantic infatuation as intoxication
XTC
A giddy, image-drunk love song that describes a single overwhelming encounter through a barrage of unrelated historical and…
sudden infatuation the inadequacy of language before wonder celestial imagery displaced onto a person
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys build a woozy, riff-heavy love song out of pulp sci-fi imagery and fuzzed-out classic rock swagger, casting a…
infatuation and idealization retro-futurism/nostalgia desire as disorientation
Christina Aguilera
A gospel-soaked cover of the Etta James classic, reworked for the Burlesque soundtrack as a showcase for Aguilera's vocal range…
infatuation bodily sensation as proof of emotion surrender of control
Of Monsters and Men
A hazy, nocturnal love song that treats desire as something half-dreamed and half-dangerous, built from natural imagery --…
infatuation as disorientation nature as metaphor for desire self-doubt within intimacy
Daughtry
A disorientation anthem about falling hard for someone, framed through imagery of vehicular collision rather than romance…
loss of control overwhelming attraction destruction as intimacy
Childish Gambino
A lightweight, breezy love song that compares infatuation to the sensory pleasure of summer -- sunlight, dancing, ease. It's…
infatuation seasonal metaphor devotion/exclusivity
The Chameleons
A brief, almost hallucinatory lyric about disorientation and recovery, moving from a fall to a kind of dazed reawakening among…
disorientation perception vs reality childhood/innocence
Shawn Mendes
A pop-funk confession of infatuation as loss of control, where the narrator frames surrender to a magnetic partner as liberation…
infatuation loss of control risk as freedom
Echo & the Bunnymen
A late-period Bunnymen track built on a woozy, half-lucid confession of dependency, where the narrator can't tell if he's…
addiction and compulsion emotional dependency self-erasure
Jefferson Airplane
A breezy, repetitive love-at-first-sight song built almost entirely around a single question addressed to a companion as both…
infatuation shared observation inarticulacy
Deerhunter
A short, hazy closing-track meditation from Deerhunter's Cryptograms, built from fragments of waking disorientation and…
disorientation bodily/psychic contamination isolation and its release
Aaliyah
A breezy declaration of infatuation built on simple, direct address, "I'm So Into You" trades complex metaphor for plainspoken…
infatuation desire courtship rituals
Blondie
A cover of a 1963 girl-group style bubblegum tune, reworked by Blondie into a knowing new wave valentine that trades on…
infatuation surface pleasure and artifice girl-group nostalgia
An early Echo & the Bunnymen single that plays disorientation as both confession and performance, with a narrator who admits to…
disorientation self-doubt the performance of feeling
The Beta Band
A woozy, repetition-heavy confession of disorientation and self-deception, built around the image of a head injury and a lost…
disorientation self-deception loss of love
X
This is X's version of the garage-rock standard, stripped down and repeated almost to the point of incantation. Rather than…
infatuation desire uncertainty about love
Built to Spill
A song that circles the word "strange" until it loses and regains meaning, using repetition to enact the disorientation it…
disorientation communication breakdown cosmic indifference
Mariah Carey
A buoyant celebration of infatuation that lives entirely in the space between attraction and consummation, where the pleasure…
infatuation escapism desire and daydream
Ride
A straightforward infatuation song built almost entirely from one refrain, tracking the dizzy, repetitive logic of early…
infatuation loss of control idealized future
Goldfrapp
"Ocean" is a hypnotic, incantatory track built from a small set of fragmented phrases that circle rather than progress, evoking…
loss of self surveillance and pursuit toxic attachment
Thompson Twins
A breezy, slightly dazed love song built around a recurring vision of an idealized, elusive woman glimpsed through summer-night…
infatuation impermanence of passion escapism
Anita O’Day
This is Anita O'Day's vocal-jazz treatment of the Fats Waller standard, a breezy declaration of infatuation built entirely on…
infatuation sweetness as metaphor public admiration
The Stooges
Little Doll is a two-minute blues-punk grind built on a simple crush and a raw, repeated command to move. Its lyric barely…
infatuation objectification desire vs. distance
Jewel
A road-weary narrator describes a world of noise, speed, and disorientation, then retreats into a single stabilizing image:…
disorientation nostalgia for simplicity refuge in intimacy
A pop-R&B infatuation song built around a single impulsive premise: the narrator is near Japan and wants to fly to see someone…
infatuation impulsivity long-distance desire
One Direction
A straightforward teen-pop crush song built on a single conceit: an unnamed quality in the object of affection that the narrator…
infatuation powerlessness in attraction unrequited longing
Mercury Rev
"Holes" is a hazy, impressionistic meditation on loss and the failure of memory to hold together, built almost entirely from…
memory and forgetting grief disorientation
Bryan Adams
A straightforward arena-rock love song built on the conceit of romantic revelation: the narrator claims total worldly experience…
infatuation romantic awe physical desire
The War on Drugs
The title track from The War on Drugs' 2014 breakthrough is a hazy, half-legible meditation on disorientation and emotional…
disorientation emotional isolation memory and nostalgia
Radiohead
An almost mantra-like opening track that trades verse-chorus songwriting for repetition and disorientation, using a handful of…
disorientation control versus chaos communication breakdown
Laura Nyro
An early Laura Nyro composition built almost entirely on sensation rather than narrative, this song uses the image of fire and…
infatuation loss of control transcendence through desire
The xx
A duet-style track built around the exhilaration and risk of falling into infatuation, with the two vocalists trading lines that…
infatuation vulnerability risk-taking in love
The Triffids
A driver lost on an empty outback highway narrates his disorientation as both literal and emotional, the physical act of…
disorientation isolation guilt and regret
Lupe Fiasco
A straightforward pop-rap infatuation song in which Lupe Fiasco uses the language of songcraft itself—hooks, choruses, verses—as…
infatuation obsession music as metaphor for love
Billie Eilish
A hushed debut single built around a single extended metaphor: a pair of eyes compared to the ocean, standing in for the…
infatuation vulnerability fear of intimacy
Madonna
A buoyant early-80s dance-pop confection that turns a childhood wishing-star rhyme into an adult love song, celebrating…
infatuation luck and fate celestial imagery
Michael Jackson
A buoyant, physically driven declaration of infatuation built almost entirely around a single hook that gets repeated, echoed,…
infatuation desire and pursuit possessiveness
Luna
"Indian Summer" is a stripped-down declaration of infatuation built almost entirely from repetition, where a simple want…
infatuation desire as affliction irony toward pop romance
Jamiroquai
A breezy declaration of infatuation built around a single repeated hook, this track trades narrative complexity for pure…
infatuation the ineffability of attraction romantic devotion