11 Songs That Are Wide OPEN

Reading Time: 10 min read

11 Songs That Are Wide OPEN features music courtesy Bobby Caldwell, Journey, Madonna, Silk Sonic, and SZA.

To quote 🎙 Michael W. Smith, and later, Bishop Paul S. Morton, “OPEN the flood gates of heaven, let it rain, let it rain.” Ah, 🎵 “Let It Rain” indeed! While it is the rain 🌧️ from heaven that songwriter 🎼 ✍ Michael Farren emphasizes, for our intents and purposes, we focus on the openness. This musical compendium is all about being OPEN, period. 🎧 11 Songs That Are Wide OPEN features music courtesy of 🎙 Bobby Caldwell, 🎙 Journey, 🎙 Madonna, 🎙 Silk Sonic, and 🎙 SZA among others. Won’t you OPEN your ears to the utterly sublime musical selections on this compendium?

1. SZA, “Open Arms” (Ft. Travis Scott)

💿 SOS • 🏷 Top Dawg Entertainment / RCA • 📅 2022

“When no one’s around me / You lost and found me / I was surrounded / With open, open, open…” 🎵 “Open Arms” marks the 20th track from 💿 SOS, the sophomore album from 🏆 Grammy-winning R&B singer/songwriter, 🎙 SZA. The big takeaway from this highlight is devotion. In the second verse, she sings, “But please put a leash on me anyway / Who needs self-esteem anyway? / I hate myself to make you stay…” Oh, sugar honey iced tea 🧋! It’s worth noting that she enlists 🏆 Grammy-nominated rapper, 🎙 Travis Scott for the assist in the chorus (ad-libs) and most importantly, the third verse. He provides a welcome contrast, concluding his verse as follows:

“Through the ups and downs and all the heat

Take a turn and tell you what it be

Backshots make you feel relief

Anything, just don’t you ever leave.” 

I only feels appropriate to say Scott’s verse, and “Open Arms” as a whole is LIT 🔥. Also, shout out the production, courtesy of 🎛 Michael Uzowuru, Rob Bisel, and Teo Halm.

2. Silk Sonic, “Leave the Door Open”

💿 An Evening with Silk Sonic • 🏷 Aftermath Entertainment / Atlantic • 📅 2021 

🏆 Grammy winners 🎙 Bruno Mars and 🎙 Anderson  .Paak join forces as duo 🎙 Silk Sonic releasing an album, 💿 An Evening with Silk Sonic.  In advance, the duo released an instant classic in 🎵 “Leave the Door Open”. “Leave the Door Open” was written by Paak, Mars, 🎼 ✍ Christopher Brody Brown, and Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, with Mars and D’Mile also producing. The four-minute-plus cut features a lush backdrop – we’d expect no less from these two.   

We get soulful vocals by .Paak on the first verse: “We should be dancin’, romancin’ / In the east wing and the west wing / Of this mansion, what’s happenin’.” Sexy! He doesn’t stop there, bringing the heat to the second verse as well: “There’s so much love we could be making /… Girl, let’s jump in, it’s bubblin’.” As for Mars, he serves up the pre-chorus and the centerpiece, the chorus:    

“I’ma leave the door open 

… That you feel the way I feel 

And you want me like I want you tonight, baby.” 

“Leave the Door Open” is just what the doctor ordered, checking off all the boxes. 

Appears in 🔻:

3. Madonna, “Open Your Heart”

💿 True Blue • 🏷 Warner • 🗓 1986

“Open your heart ❤️ to me, baby / I hold the lock 🔒 and you hold the key 🔑,” 🎙 Madonna sings in the chorus of 🎵 “Open Your Heart”, the second track on 💿 True Blue. The musical icon sounds exuberant from the onset of the record, which is quintessential 1980s. The production (Madonna and 🎛 Patrick Leonard) helps fuel ⛽️ her fire 🔥. The backdrop is groovy to the nth degree, filled with rhythmic guitars 🎸, keys 🎹, and synths. It should come as no surprise that “Open Your Heart” is one of the 38 top 10 hits and 12 no. 1 hits by Madge. “Open Your Heart” spent one week atop the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987 after making its debut in December 1986.

Madge is particularly turnt up in the chorus of “Open Your Heart,” which continues, “Opens your heart to me, darling / I’ll give you love if you, you turn the key 🔑.” Of course, it’s not merely the chorus that makes “Open Your Heart” the sugar honey iced tea 🧋. Melodically, the verses are quite tuneful. Furthermore, lyrically, the diva brings the heat 🥵 too. “If you gave me half a chance,” she sings in the first verse, “You’d see my desire burning inside of me / But you choose to look the other way.” Oh, snap 🫰! In the second verse, she adds, “You’re too wrapped up in yourself to notice / So, you choose to look the other way / Well, I’ve got something to say.” The songwriting is entertaining, with Madonna making it clear she wants him to give a relationship with her a chance. 🎵 “Open Your Heart” is a gem 💎 that speaks for itself.

Appears in 🔻:

Madonna, Open Your Heart: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 173 (2023)

4. Journey, “Open Arms”

💿 Escape • 🏷 Sony Music Entertainment • 📅 1981

“Lying beside you / Here in the dark / Feeling your heartbeat with mine.” Ooh, that’s so romantic, giving off those feels! Sometimes, there’s nothing better than a big-time rock ballad –liken it to dessert! 🏆 Grammy-nominated rock band 🎙 Journey supplies us with a surefire gem on 🎵 “Open Arms.” Yes, it’s 🎵 “Don’t Stop Believin’”, which also appears on the 1981 album, 💿 Escape, gets everybody and his brother going. That said, those “Open Arms” have always tickled my fancy! “We sailed on together / We drifted apart / And here you are / By my side.” The pre-chorus is sweet. The chorus, however, perfectly sums up the sentiment of “Open Arms.”

“So now I come to you

With open arms

Nothing to hide

Believe what I say

So here I am

With open arms

Hoping you’ll see

What your love means to me

Open arms.”

Basically, I want you to be mine and want you to see how much I truly love you. ROMANTIC! It makes perfect sense to me!

Appears in 🔻:

Open: 3BOPS No. 66 (2021)

5. Logic, “Open Mic\\Aquarius III”

💿 No Pressure • 🏷 Def Jam • 📅 2020

FOUR. That’s how many verses 🎵 “Open Mic\\Aquarius III” features. This open record graces 💿 No Pressure, an album initially billed to be the retirement album from 🏆 Grammy-nominated rapper, 🎙 Logic. Of course, Logic ultimately unretired, yet, No Pressure remains one of his best LPs. There is no shortage of song on “Open Mic\\Aquarius III,” which runs five minutes in duration.

As “Open Mic” suggests, Logic gives off the air that he’s stepped into a club and is just dropping bars, period. On the fourth verse, it could be summed up by saying he simply doesn’t give a fuck about a number of things (there’s no shortage of f-bombs 💣, for the record). Bobby gives us many lyrical gems, including “I’m like Leo in Revenant, bear 🐻 with me / You could tear me apart / But that won’t change the fact I wrote this shit 💩 from the heart ❤️.” WORD.

6. Kehlani, “Open (Passionate)”

💿 It Was Good Until It Wasn’t • 🏷 Atlantic • 📅 2020

“Do I got you way too open to be open?” 🎵 “Open (Passionate)” arrives as the penultimate song from 💿 It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, the 2020 album by 🎙 Kehlani. A two-part song, “Open” runs north of four minutes in duration. Produced by a team comprised of 🎛 My Guy Mars, Pooh Beatz, Rogét Chahayed, Mike & Keys, and Los Hendrix, the backdrop is slick, idiomatic of contemporary R&B through and through. Besides the utterly sublime production, the 🏆 Grammy-nominated singer brings the heat 🥵, performing radiantly. Part I, “Open” runs the majority of the duration, featuring a more relaxed tempo. It is filled with questions, specifically in the first verse, pre-chorus, and the centerpiece, the chorus (“Would you let it twist up all of your emotions? / What if you’re curious and caught up in the moment”). Among the best lines is a chess reference in the pre-chorus: “Are you scared to lose your queen 🫅 and gain a bishop ✝️?” Part II, “Passionate,” runs the final minute-and-a-half of song. It is quicker, with a contrasting backdrop (though still idiomatic of contemporary R&B) and emphasizes – wait for it – passion. Shocker, right? “Oh, you’re passionate, baby.” Indeed, Kehlani, indeed!

7. Daniel Caesar, “Open Up”

💿 Case Study 01 • 🏷 Golden Child Recordings • 📅 2019

With 🎵 “Open Up,” 🏆 Grammy-winning Canadian R&B singer/songwriter 🎙 Daniel Caesar gives R&B lovers an awesome, gospel-tinged slow-jam. Despite the gospel cues on this 💿 Case Study 01 standout, there’s nothing ‘spiritual’ about it! “Open Up” finds Caesar being overtly sexual yet also emotionally invested: “The piano that I fuck you on / Same one that on which I write these songs for you.”  Well, day-um.  The big thing he desires from her is to “…Open up to me, girl / Let me plant my seed, girl / Let me fill your needs, girl.” Seed? FILL your needs? Again, I say, day-um!  

Appears in 🔻:

Open: 3BOPS No. 66 (2021)

8. Rex Orange County, “OPEN A WINDOW” (Ft. Tyler, The Creator)

💿 Who Cares? • 🏷 Rex Orange County / Sony Music Entertainment • 🗓 2022 

🎙 Rex Orange Country (Alex O’Connor) returned much improved on his 2022 album, 💿 Who Cares?. Who Cares? is an album filled with reflection, introspection, matters of the heart, self-deprecation, and ultimately, arriving at a better place regarding mental health.  One of the best songs on his third LP is 🎵 “Open a Window” featuring 🎙 Tyler, The Creator.  The production is ear-catching on this surefire bop, with its potent groove and old-school cues – those strings 🎻! Also, the bass line is to die for.   Adding to the musical goodness that makes “Open a Window” stellar is the harmonic progression, the tuneful melody, and of course, O’Conner’s colorful, sometimes raspy voice.  The chorus is golden: “Can I open a window? / Can somebody open the door? / There’s so many reasons / I can barely take it anymore.”  Besides the superb chorus and theme of being overwhelmed and needing to breathe (or escape), how about that Tyler, The Creator feature? Tyler is locked-in: “Open door, but you can’t / Try to run, but you pant / Out of breath, you can’t vent / ‘Cause the AC actin’ up.” Woo!

Appears in 🔻:

Awesome Songs: March 2022

9. Pusha T, “Open Air”

💿 It’s Almost Dry • 🏷 Getting Out Our Dreams, Inc. / Def Jam • 🗓 2022

🎵 “Open Air” arrives as the penultimate joint on 💿 It’s Almost Dry, the fourth studio album by 🏆 Grammy-nominated rapper, 🎙 Pusha T. “Open Air” is filled with all the cocaine references you could ask for 🥴. “In these ten crack commandments, I’m Moses, yeah,” King Push spits near the end of the first verse. That’s after he speaks about “feeding the projects for most of the year” (drug dealing and such). The chorus stands out with Push asserting, “Sellin’ cocaine in the open air, the boats is there / The notes is there, yeah, the ropes is there.” “Open Air” speaks for itself.

10. Noel Gourdin, “Open”

💿 After My Time • 🏷 Sony BMG Entertainment • 📅 2008

“I can’t take it / It’s just the way she holds my hand and looks at me,” 🎙 Noel Gourdin sings in the first verse of 🎵 “Open.” He adds, “Girl, it feels just like a movie 🎥 / What you doin’ to me.” Oh, snap 🫰! Ah, those matters of the heart are always perfect inspiration for an R&B song. Furthermore, soulful production courtesy of 🎛 StayBent Krunk-a-Delic and Salaam Remi goes a long way 💪. “Open” appears as the fourth track from Gourdin’s 2008 debut album, 💿 After My Time. So, where does this openness come into play? Why, the chorus, of course! “‘Cause you got me open / (O-P-E-N, O-P-E-N) / (O-P-E, she’s got me, oh).” Ooh-wee! Gourdin does admit in the pre-chorus, “I been makin’ love to you inside my mind.” Honesty is the best policy… in most cases 🤷🏾‍♂️. It’s worth noting that Noel is best known for another song from After My Time, 🎵 “The River” – a great song. That said, give “Open” the love it deserves too!

11. Bobby Caldwell, “Open Your Eyes”  

💿 Cat in the Hat • 🏷 Big Deal • 🗓 1980

“Darling open your eyes / Let me show you the light / Girl you’ll never find a love that’s right.”   So, how does one best describe a white R&B artist? Why, they are a blue-eyed soul artist, of course.  That is a characterization of the late, great 🎙 Bobby Caldwell, who could flat out sing. Caldwell’s talent spoke for itself. One of his most beautiful songs, the exuberant 🎵 “Open Your Eyes”, appeared on his 1980 album, 💿 Cat in the Hat.  Clearly the Cat in the Hat outdid himself with his distinct, expressive tenor shining something fierce.  Sadly, “Open Your Eyes,” penned by Caldwell, 🎼 ✍ Bruce Malament, and Norman Harris, did not chart 🤯! Notably, however R&B artists 🎙 John Legend and 🎙 Dwele have covered and reintroduced this underrated gem while 🎙 Common sampled it in his 2000 classic, 🎵 “The Light”.    

Matters of the heart are written all over this soulful joint. In the first verse, Caldwell sings, “You’re still regretting / The love you left, left behind.” He adds, “I’ve seen you go through the changes / Sitting alone each night / Are you expect to find the love / Love that’s right.” Obviously, he’s going to open her eyes regarding her ambitions because, “You may never find a love that’s right.” That said, couldn’t he be the suitor for her? That seems to be what he’s proposing, and honestly, she should indulge: “There is a light that shines / Special for you and me / You need a look at the other side.”  Besides the love-oriented lyrics, the music is to die for.  The piano ostinato is pivotal, the drum groove anchors, and the ripe guitar adds some bite. Ultimately, the brilliance and success of 🎵 “Open Your Eyes” all comes down to those incredible pipes by Bobby.  

Appears in 🔻:   

11 Songs That Are Wide OPEN (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Aftermath, Atlantic, Big Deal, Def Jam, Getting Out Our Dreams, Inc., Golden Child Recordings, Sony Music Entertainment, Top Dawg Entertainment / RCA, Warner; András Matesz from Pexels; Jennifer, Susann Mielke from Pixabay]

11 Songs That Are Wide OPEN | Playlist 🎧

Published by the musical hype on November 27, 2023November 27, 2023