Harder To Breathe — Maroon 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV8NHsmVMPE

With pop music like this, I have trouble articulating exactly what I see in a song — it's candy. The rhythms and dynamics satisfy a very basic part of my ear, the part that likes explosions and whispers and the part where everything drops out except one thing. These are basic desires of music. At the same time, they're basic, and I feel some shame listening to pop like this. Why? It's clearly good music — it's well-intentioned, talented, clever production, popular, and critically acclaimed. But to admit to liking pop — I'll be writing about N'Sync and The Backstreet Boys in a bit, I'm sure — is a difficult thing. I don't know why — whether it has to do with a musical ego, or what your friends think of your musical tastes — music is inherently confessional, a very personal part of yourself which it takes time to make public.