Looking for a three-star Michelin-rated recipe for crafting a pop hit? These days it seems only three simple ingredients are needed: 1) a feel-good vibe 2) that involves dancing all night long 3) to the ubiquitous, infectious sound du jour. And the current sound du jour? Synth-pop electronic dance beats. (See Rihanna, Calvin Harris, Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, Flo Rida, Ellie Goulding, Skrillex, Usher.)
Of course, it also helps just a little bit if you’ve already got the No. 1 song on the pop chart.
I’m talking, of course, about Carly Rae Jepsen, whose massive summer jam ” Call Me Maybe” is continuing to make its case for being 2012’s “song of the summer.” Joining Jepsen on the duet “Good Time” is Adam Young, the synthesizer maestro better known as the one-man band Owl City. The pair has teamed up to unleash what might just be one of the most upbeat, least offensive pop earworms to tear through a pair of earbuds in recent memory.
What sets “Good Time” apart from its competition is the fact that it’s completely devoid of the liquor-loving, hottie-courting, bling-and-bravado-spewing trappings that generally accompany these odes to all-night dance soirees. No one’s tipping bottles. No one’s leering at the scorching girl in the corner and hoping to take her home later. No one’s bragging about leaving the club in a Maybach.
Nope. None of that. Just a plain ol’ good time. Oh, and a bit of college-style sleep deprivation. The result feels like a G-rated Katy Perry song.
“Woah, oh, oh, oh/It’s always a good time,” the song begins. “It’s always a good time.” And, honestly, things never get much deeper than that.
Young does give us a handful of perfunctory, rumpled details about what happened on the way to the dance club: “Woke up on the right side of the bed/What’s up with this Prince song in my head?/Hands up if you’re down to get down tonight.”
Then he adds, “Slept in all my clothes like I didn’t care/Hopped in a cab, take me anywhere/ … Good morning and good night/I’ll wake up at twilight/It’s gonna be alright.”
As for Jepsen’s contribution, well, she’s not having such a great day. “Freaked out, dropped my phone in the pool again,” she confesses at the beginning of the second verse. But wet-phone blues are easily banished by the thought of hanging out with good friends: “Let’s hang out if you’re down to get down tonight/’Cause it’s always a good time.”
What do Jepsen and Young think it means to “get down”? They never tell us. Fans will have to fill that in for themselves. Which is a whole lot better than what we usually hear on the radio these days.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
