One pulls off its vibe really well and the other one doesn't? I dunno what you want from me -- I already said earlier which elements of "This is America" make it garish, ugly and flat. I don't think anything about the song works either musically or lyrically. In contrast, I think "Call Me Maybe" is a wonderful song, and pretty much every one of its musical and lyrical elements are spot on within the scope of its modest ambitions as a piece of bubblegum pop about the irrepressible thrill of infatuation

whoa whoa whoa calm down buddy

just attention

You have that. You've had that

Call Me Maybe is a pretty stupid song. I do enjoy all the memes it's inspired. Actually, I can't hear the song and not think of Obama because the very first time I ever heard it was an internet meme that cut together Obama speeches so that he was speaking the lyrics to the song. Also, there's a great scene in Tully that features the song and, as such, Alamo Drafthouse's pre-show featured a really sweet YouTube compilation using the song. I loved that. Point being, it's dumb as hell but also super endearing for reasons that have nothing to do with it's own artistic merits, goals, or ambitions.

Kids do sure seem to love it though.

I like the low-key condescension here. I wish you dropped the nice guy facade and just embraced your inner asshole because you do it really well.

It is stupid, it is pop fluff, but so are "Dancing Queen", "Sugar Baby Love", and a million other examples of bubblegum pop. But it is perfectly executed and pure sugar. I would take its unabashedly sweet, perfectly orchestrated, joyous dumbness over the musical awkwardness and attempted weightiness of "This is America" any day. In fact, I'll take it over the last 10 years of Pearl Jam music too.

Its an awful song. calm down.

I think it's pretty pretentious to rate a song on its "goals and ambitions" over how it actually fucking sounds.

Its goals and ambitions are discernible based on how it sounds, and I've pointed to specific (and pretty much only) sonic elements to explain why I think it doesn't work

As far as sounds go, I dig everything happening in “this is America” despite the minimalism.

I'm so calm right now

I 100% unironically meant zero condescension. It was a reference to the aforementioned film and the Alamo Drafthouse pre-show. But I appreciate the well thought out insult.

Clearly.

i wonder if everyone in this thread except jorge even has any idea that they are coming off as oblivious jackasses

I think it's a given that everything is better than the last 10 years of Pearl Jam music.

Nice

I am sorry... it really read like you were commenting on the maturity level of people who like this dumb song.

And I sincerely thought it was a good diss

He is being perfectly reasonable and explaining his thoughts very clearly, and you guys are just being condescending without actually offering any counterpoints. Not a great look.

I'm not being condescending, I just think think Gambino's song is more interesting musically than the perfectly executed pop sensibilities of Call Me Maybe. There's no need to pull the jackass card just because we disagree.