11 Songs That Are Sweet Like Honey 🍯 | Playlist 🎧

11 Songs That Are Sweet Like Honey features music courtesy of Beyoncé, Four Tops, John Legend, JSJ, and Mariah Carey among others. 

“Honey, you so sweet (honey).” Say that, 🎙 Erykah Badu! Folks, prepare yourself for a sugary sweet visual and auditory experience.  🎧 11 Songs That Are Sweet Like Honey is exactly what it say it is, PERIOD. That’s right, HONEY 🍯 is the key ingredient, rather, the keyword in all 11 songs.  In addition to the gem by the neo-soul standout referenced above, 🎧 11 Songs That Are Sweet Like Honey features that honey-tastic music courtesy of 🎙 Beyoncé, 🎙 Four Tops, 🎙 John Legend, 🎙 JSJ, and 🎙 Mariah Carey among others.  More could be said BUT it is better to read and listen to these sweet songs for yourself, so, let’s get sticky… something like that!

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1. JSJ, “Honey”

🎵 “Honey” • 🏷 JSJ • 🗓 2023

According to the handsome, incredibly talented Canadian musician, 🎙 JSJ (Joshua Säde James), 🎵 “Honey” is “by far the sexiest song I’ve ever written, from the vocals to the lyrics.” Ooh-wee! It’s getting hot in here! From the intro of “Honey,” where the incredibly slick production work is unveiled, it is clear that this single is fueled by the sensual.  Of the brief,  but incredibly potent, sub-two-minute record, JSJ comments, “When I wrote ‘Honey’,  I was in a long-distance relationship and missing my other half. I wanted it to feel like the song has the same message throughout; one of wanting someone else with you.” Mission accomplished, Joshua!

One of the biggest attractions of “Honey” are the vocals.  JSJ is a beast – in the best way possible.  His tone is to die for.  His pipes are sexy, soulful, and sultry to the n^th degree. He sings with incredible authenticity, easily convincing all who listen to buy what he is selling. Adding more fuel to his vocal fire are the top-notch ad-libs – the runs and the flawless, ripe falsetto. According to him, “The vocals build the story of this song, which drips with sexual frustration.” The praise for this pop record goes beyond that sexually frustrated voice.  The melody is incredibly tuneful and rhythmic; it sounds fresh. Also, the centerpiece of this short but sweet bop is none other than the chorus, where we all fall in love with Joshua Säde James 😍. 🎵 “Honey” is an epic addition to the LGBTQ+ 🏳️‍🌈 catalog.  That said, if you are a music fan, specifically a pop enthusiast who loves to hear elite singing, “Honey” is a must-hear.  Also, how about leaving you with more commentary from the artist himself: “This song is a love letter to my exes and everything they’ve missed out on. It’s time to show them what they’re missing.” Absolutely, JSJ 💪!

Appears in 🔻:

• JSJ, “Honey”: LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 9 (2023)

2. Beyoncé, “PURE/HONEY”

💿 RENAISSANCE • 🏷 Parkwood Entertainment, LLC / Columbia • 📅 2022

“Bad bitches to the left / Money bitches to the right / You can be both, meet in the middle, dance all night.” WOO! 🎵 “Pure/Honey” marks the best moment of the final quarter of 💿 RENAISSANCE, yet another amazing LP by the 🏆 highly decorated 🎙 Beyoncé. Here, Bey is fully devoted to the club and the dance floor.  I mean, are we really going to decline her invitation for “All my pretty girls to the floor” and “All the pretty boys to the floor.”  Furthermore, even if we aren’t pretty, we’re not going to miss our opportunity to cut a rug.  Arguably, “Pure” is the best portion of this two-part-song (“Get your money, money, cunty, hunty / Don’t be funny with my money, honey / Don’t my girls look so yummy, yummy? All the boys want my honey from me”).  Even so, it is “Honey” – incredibly sweet as well – that earns the song a spot on 🎧 11 Songs That Are Sweet Like Honey.  Those who long for more R&B-driven Beyoncé will gravitate to the “Honey” half (“Now stick it thick (Thick), honey and gold (Honey and gold) / Drip it all on me, yeah / Honey, honey, hon’”).  All told, “Pure/Honey” is a winner.

3. John Legend, “Honey” (Ft. Muni Long)

💿 LEGEND • 🏷 John Legend Music, Inc. / Republic • 2022

🏆 Academy/Grammy Award-winning musician 🎙 John Legend returned in 2022 with sweet, sweet  🎵 “Honey” (💿 LEGEND ). He collaborates with 🏆 Grammy winner, 🎙 Muni Long. The results are positive, despite the fact that “Honey” is brief, clocking in at under two and a half minutes in duration. “Honey” commences with a soulful instrumental intro that sets the tone.  The fabulous production and sound of this record are attributed to the skills of 🎛 Mr. Franks, Ryan Tedder, Lindgren, and TBHits.  This backdrop is the perfect fuel for John Legend’s fire. As always, his vocals are expressive, commanding, soulful, and sexy (him too, of course, 😉).

Following the relatively simple first verse and pre-chorus, he drops the simple but chill, memorable chorus:

“You’re sweeter than honey

You’re sweeter than honey

(Want all the) Money

(Give me that) Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.”

Muni Long first appears in the second verse; I love her tone, providing a nice contrast to Legend. The join forces for the second pre-chorus and chorus, at least at select moments, before Legend closes things out. “Honey” is a nice addition to the R&B catalog all told.

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 Appears in 🔻:

• Honey 🍯: 5ive Songs No. 33 (2022)

4. Halsey, “Honey”

💿 If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power • 🏷 Capitol • 🗓 2021

“She’s on the tip of my tongue, she’s on the top of my thighs / And if I searched a thousand miles, I’d be dyin’ to find.” Eight words: 💿 If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.  Those lyrics grace the song 🎵 “honey” from the 2021, 🏆 Grammy-nominated album by 🎙 Halsey. Listening to “honey,” well, it’s sweet indeed – one of the gems from If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, all told.

Never afraid to reference her sexuality, “honey” finds Halsey singing about an experience with a ‘wild girl.’ Of course, despite digging what this girl served up, they’re no longer an item. “She was sweet like honey,” Halsey sings, continuing, poetically, “But all I can taste is the blood in my mouth / And the bitterness in goodbye.” Ooh, wee, wild girl!

Appears in 🔻:

• Honey 🍯: 5ive Songs No. 33 (2022)

5. Bring Me The Horizon, “sugar honey ice & tea”

💿 Amo • 🏷 Sony • 📅 2019

“You could tell the Messiah / His pants are on fire / I politely decline…” Damn! Despite continual references to atheism, give 🎙 Bring Me the Horizon credit for making the ‘shit’ taste delicious.  How does the UK rock band do so? Well, with 🎵 “Sugar honey ice & tea” from their superb 2019 album, 💿 amo.  According to 🎙 Oli Sykes, “Everybody’s full of / Sugar, honey, ice, and tea.” Perhaps that’s the case (it probably is), but man, oh man, does the production bang hard! The synths and programming are lit, while the souped-up, dirty, and distorted guitars are equally compelling.  As the saying goes, ‘That shit’s awesome’ – NO CAP!

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Appears in 🔻:

• 15 Sugar Songs That Are Indeed Sugary Sweet (2020)
• Honey 🍯: 5ive Songs No. 33 (2022)

6. Kesha, “Honey” (Ft. Tayla Parx)

💿 High Road • 🏷 Kemosabe / RCA • 📅 2020

“Honey (Woo) / You can have my sloppy seconds if you really need (Take it) / Find my pictures under ‘legends’ if you Google me.” O…K… 🎵 “Honey” marks one of the most soulful pop records from 💿 High Road, the 2020 album by 🏆 Grammy-nominated artist, 🎙 Kesha. Much of that soulfulness comes from the guitar-accompanied production (🎛 Stuart Crichton) and background vocals.  “Honey” is a hip-hop infused R&B cut, finding Kesha rapping a great deal of it.  Still, she gets her own elite singing vocals into the mix.  Interestingly, one of the most memorable moments of the song is the 🎙 Tayla Parx ad-lib, “Google me, bitch, Google me, bitch.” Sigh – oh Kesha!

7. Andy Grammer, “Honey, I’m Good.”

💿 Magazines Or Novels • 🏷 S-Curve • 📅 2014

“So nah, nah, honey, I’m good / I could have another, but I probably should not / I got somebody at home and if I stay I might not leave alone.” Woo! One of my personal favorite songs from 2015 (which arrived in 2014) hailed from pop musician 🎙 Andy Grammer:  🎵 “Honey, I’m Good.” “Honey, I’m Good.” appears on Grammer’s 2014 album, Magazines Or Novels. The record is a monogamous pop joint – you don’t see those burning up the airwaves so much (“Now better men than me have failed /Drinking from that unholy grail”)! No worries, though! Even if monogamy is the end game for Andy, he managed to sneak some fun lines in.  Exhibit A: “And these long, long legs / are damn near everywhere.” My, my, my! How about the crème de la crème,  Exhibit B:  “And you got that ass.”  Booty!!! “Honey, I’m Good.” elevated Grammer’s profile period. It’s a fun-loving anthem that tastes sweet like honey!

 Appears in 🔻:

• Honey 🍯: 5ive Songs No. 33 (2022)

8. Mariah Carey, “Honey”

💿 Butterfly • 🏷 Columbia • 📅 1997 

Back in the 1990s especially, 🎙 Mariah Carey was the definition of a walking bop.  Among the most talented vocalists of all time, Carey possesses The Midas Touch, you might say.  Among her 19 no. 1 hits is the incredibly sweet gem, 🎵 “Honey”, which spent three weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Produced by 🎛 The Ummah, Puff Daddy, and Stevie J, “Honey” sounded idiomatic of the 1990s pop and contemporary R&B sound. Notably, samples fuel this slick production: “Hey DJ” (🎙 World’s Famous Supreme Team) and “The Body Rock” (🎙 The Treacherous Three).

The biggest selling point of “Honey” is MC herself – SHOCKER! She serves up playful, expressive vocals throughout. She sounds powerful, while her runs are sensational. Thematically, “Honey” is giving both love and, of course, SEX! “And it’s just like honey / When your love comes over me,” Carey sings, adding, “Oh, baby, I’ve got a dependency / Always strung out for another taste of your honey.” Ooh-wee! In the second verse, she asserts, “I can’t be elusive with you, honey / ‘Cause it’s blatant that I’m feelin’ you.”

9. Father John Misty, “I Love You, Honeybear”

💿 I Love You, Honeybear • 🏷 Sub Pop • 📅 2015

🎵 “I Love You, Honeybear” commences 💿 I Love You, Honeybear, the sophomore album by 🎙 Father John Misty (Josh Tillman), with lush instrumentation and a clever harmonic progression. Tillman details his love with wife, Emma, as everlasting and uncompromising.  His brutal honesty establishes the tenor of the album as a whole.  “Honeybear, Honeybear, Honeybear,” he sings, “Fuck the world, damn straight malaise / It may be just us who feel this way.” Later, Tillman goes even more edgy, blasphemously singing, “You’re bent over the altar and the neighbors are complaining / That the misanthropes next door are probably conceiving a Damien / Don’t they see the darkness rising? Good luck fingering oblivion.”  Essentially, people are certain they are deadly, devilish match, but Father John could care less.  He doesn’t consider him or his love demonic, but rather, speaks from the perspective that others might view the union and potential offspring.  After all, he loves his “honeybear.”

10. Erykah Badu, “Honey”

💿 New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War • 🏷 UMG Recordings, Inc. • 📅 2007

“Honey, you so sweet (honey) / Sugar got a long way to catch you / You so sweet (honey).” 2007’s 💿 New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War, might be the most ambitious 🎙 Erykah Badu album to date.  That said, the sugary sweet 🎵 “Honey” is arguably the most accessible, mainstream neo-soul joint on the LP.  Where the 🏆 Grammy winner experiments more through most of the effort, “Honey,” the lead single that ends up being a bonus track (!) is pretty straightforward.

Vocally, Erykah Badu is vintage, sounding as distinct and soulful as ever.  The production (🎛 9^th Wonder) is magnificent, characterized by its soul aesthetic as well as brilliant samples.  As far as the songwriting, there isn’t a bad section or line to be found (“Ooh boy can you tell me please? / Wanna know if you feelin’ me / Ooh Slim, boy you killin’ me / But you so sweet to me, oww”).  There are three verses, all of which are worthwhile. The chorus, excerpted above, takes the cake, however.  The chorus continues as follows:

“All I gotta do  is add a little lemon

You my favorite drink

Hey, you make me think

Oww

Honey, yeah boy

You so sweet.”

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Appears in 🔻:

• Honey 🍯: 5ive Songs No. 33 (2022)

11. Four Tops, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)”

💿 Four Tops Second Album • 🏷 Motown • 📅 1965

“Sugar pie, honey bunch / You know that I love you / I can’t help myself / I love you and nobody else.” #ICONIC chorus! Ah, 🎵 “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” – one of, if not the greatest HONEY 🍯 songs of all-time! 🎙 Four Tops were the stuff and “I Can’t Help Myself” ranks at the top of their illustrious catalog.  This mid-1960s joint, which appeared on 💿 Four Tops Second Album, peaked at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains the vibe of vibes nearly six decades later.  This 🎼 ✍ Holland-Dozier-Holland (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland) composition is an innocent soul song about L-O-V-E. Even though “ In and out my life / You come, and you go,” ultimately, “When you snap your fingers or wink your eye / I come a-running to you.” Why? Sheer love, baby! Backed by those incredible Motown musicians, and produced by Dozier and Brian Holland, “I Can’t Help Myself” is that oldie you find that you can’t help listening to because it’s so enduring and timeless.

11 Songs That Are Sweet Like Honey [📷: Brent Faulkner /The Musical Hype; Atlantic, Capitol, Columbia, John Legend Music, Inc., JSJ, Motown, Parkwood Entertainment, LLC, Republic, S-Curve, Sony, Sub Pop, UMG Recordings, Inc.; Arno Hartmann, Daria Yakovleva, Estelle Heitz, fancycrave1, Florian Kurz, PolyDot, Steve Buissinne via Pixabay]