13 Songs Associated with the Body, Vol. 2 | Playlist 🎧

13 Songs Associated with the Body, Vol. 2 features music courtesy of Arctic Monkeys, FLETCHER, Jazmine Sullivan, Justin Timberlake & Megan Thee Stallion.

“My body is a cage that keeps me / From dancing with the one I love.” Um, okay, 🎙 Arcade Fire, if you say so.  A year earlier, celebrating her 25^th birthday, 🎙 Beyoncé asserted, “I’m the one tonight gettin’ bodied.” Woo! Five years earlier, a young 🎙 John Mayer informed the world that 🎵 “Your Body Is a Wonderland”.  Who’s body? 🎭 Jennifer Love Hewitt’s – speculatively but denied by her and debunked by Mayer.  These three songs all have one thing in common, though – “Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody”!

🎧 13 Songs Associated with the Body, Vol. 2 serves as a follow-up to 🎧 17 Songs Associated with the Body, which was published in April 2018.  After such a lengthy hiatus not focusing exclusively on some form of the word, BODY, the time had finally come!  🎧 13 Songs Associated with the Body, Vol. 2 features music courtesy of 🎙 Arctic Monkeys, 🎙 FLETCHER, 🎙 Jazmine Sullivan, 🎙 Justin Timberlake, and 🎙 Megan Thee Stallion among others.  There’s something for everybody on this body-centric list, so, let’s dive right into this sugar honey iced tea!

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1. Jazmine Sullivan, “Bodies (Intro)”

💿 Heaux Tales Mo’ Tales: The Deluxe • 🏷 RCA • 🗓 2022

“Bitch, get it together, bitch / You don’t know who you went home with, who you went home with again…” Woo! After more than a decade in the game, 🎙 Jazmine Sullivan finally earned the 🏆 Grammy that had so long eluded her. She was deservedly awarded Best R&B Album for the superb 💿 Heaux Tales. She also won a second Grammy for Best R&B Performance for one of the best songs from the project, 🎵 “Pick Up Your Feelings”.  Before urging the picking up of feelings, however, Sullivan set the tone of the conceptual effort, reissued in a deluxe edition in 2022.  Folks, it all starts with those 🎵 “Bodies (Intro).”

“I keep on pilin’ up bodies on bodies on bodies / Yeah, you gettin’ sloppy, girl.” To reiterate, “Bodies (Intro)” sets the tone for Heaux Tales.  The album highlights various relationship and sexual scenarios and experiences of women. Essentially, Sullivan’s ‘rendezvous’ on “Bodies (Intro)” – and/or the women she represents – has totally caught up with her.  In the intro and eventual chorus, Sullivan asserts:

“Gotta stop gettin’ fucked up

What did I have in my cup?

I don’t know where I woke up

I keep on pressin’ my luck

I don’t know where I woke up.”

Essentially, Sullivan realizes that it’s time for her to value herself more.  She needs to stop partying as hard as she is, sleeping with God knows who, and get herself together.  She’s better than the person she’s become, one who isn’t thinking with a clear head.  It’s a brilliant start to a truly brilliant album.

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2. Arctic Monkeys, “Body Paint”

💿 The Car • 🏷 Domino • 🗓 2022 

“So predictable, I know what you’re thinking.” After a four-year hiatus, 🏆 Grammy-nominated alternative collective 🎙 Arctic Monkeys have returned.  Their seventh studio album, 💿 The Car, arrives October 21, 2022. 🎙 Alex Turner and company revealed the second piece of the puzzle, second single, 🎵 “Body Paint”, arrives at the conclusion of the month.  Safe to say, “Body Paint” is absolutely and utterly stupendous.

The music is gorgeous, with warmer keys (and synths), strings, and eventually, a more raucous electric guitar. Arctic Moneys never fail in the instrumental department.  Furthermore, Alex Turner serves up sublime vocals and colorful lyrics.  Honestly, not just anybody could commence a record with, “For a master of deception and subterfuge / You’ve made yourself quite the bed to lie in.” It doesn’t stop there either.  In the second verse, “My teeth are beating, and my knees are weak / It’s as if there’s something up with the wiring.” Yep, that’s some serious pain, particularly that toothache! Uniquely, the chorus is one line – “So predictable, I know what you’re thinking” – while there’s also a bridge, instrumental break, and a refrain.  Turner first references ‘body paint’ in the first verse but doesn’t explicitly mention it until the bridge and again during the refrain.   So, what’s he getting at thematically? It seems to be a mix of covering up and masking feelings, deception, and cheating – ooh-la-la! All told, 🎵 “Body Paint” is a cleverly written, well-performed, and well-produced record.

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3. FLETCHER, “Her Body is Bible”

💿 Girl of My Dreams • 🏷 Snapback Entertainment LLC / UMG Recordings, Inc. • 📅 2022

“I found God the moment that I put my lips on yours.” Wow, 🎙 FLETCHER (Cari Fletcher), I have no doubt that ministers everywhere are cringing and screaming, BLASPHEMY.  Does the pop artist give a flying fizzuck? Of course, she doesn’t: “One touch, sippin’ holy water now.” On 🎵 “Her Body is Bible”, a highlight from her 2022 debut album, 💿 Girl of My Dreams, FLETCHER leaves her Catholicism behind in favor of being true to herself, and embracing her sexuality.

“Amen, oh, her body is bible

The only heaven that I know.”

Yup, there’s nothing Catholic about that! The chorus is definitely praiseworthy, just not in the context of a church building! FLETCHER, indeed, “Saw the light,” but in a different context – “at 4 AM we’re dancin’ in the dark / I like your T Swift t-shirt on the ground.” She doesn’t stop there either, continuing to sing in the second verse, “Hold on tight, when the world gets hard, this shit’s like paradise / All night, you’re so hot, I’m freakin’ out.” Wow – that some electrifying love right there! 🎛 Malay and 🎛 Sly help her out with some epic production, highlighting this spiritual experience 🙌! This is a song about liberation, being true to self, and obviously, losing the traditional type of religion.

Appears in 🔻:

• FLETCHER, “Her Body is Bible”: After Dark 🕛 🌃 74 (2022)

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4. The Isley Brothers, “Body Kiss”

💿 Body Kiss • 🏷 SKG Music L.L.C. • 🗓 2003 

When 🎛 🎼 ✍ R. Kelly wrote and produced music for 🎙 The Isley Brothers in the aughts, it tended to be risqué.  🎙 Ronald Isley isn’t devoid of singing about sex. In 2003, Isley continued his sexual endeavors on the no. 1 debuting album, 💿 Body Kiss. 🎵 “Body Kiss”, the suggestive title track, arrives as the fourth track. Kelly provides a shout out on the intro, while 🎙 Lil Kim amplifies the sexed-up joint in the third verse (“Let me dance like a stripper in the club”).  She does, however, eschew talk of the 🎵 “Magic Stick”.

Isley proves that “age ain’t nothin’ but a number” on “Body Kiss.” At the time the record was released, he was in his early 60s! Even so, that doesn’t hold Ron from indulging: “Now, we about to play this game / This freaky, freaky game / And I’m gonna let you win.”  That game, of course, is “Body Kiss,” which is laid out clearly in the chorus:

“Baby, body kiss

Meaning anywhere you want it

I will kiss

From your head down to your toes

Just make one wish

And I will kiss, from your…, and your …

From you …, to your …”

Of course, my favorite line appears in Ron’s second verse: “Turn around and see that rear, embrace it now / I’m about to lay you down and taste it now.” Damn, that’s freaky! If there were any doubt that the older folks can’t be sexy and straight-up sexual, Ron Isley and The Isley Brothers shut that down.  “Body Kiss” is sus considering its writer (R. Kelly), but, hard to deny the excellent result.

Appears in 🔻:

• The Isley Brothers, “Body Kiss”: After Dark 🕛 🌃 37 (2022)

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5. Megan Thee Stallion, “Body”

💿 Good News • 🏷 300 Entertainment • 🗓 2020 

“Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody…” WOO! “Real hot girl shit!” One of the most unforgettable songs from 💿 Good News, the debut album by 🏆 Grammy-winning rapper, 🎙 Megan Thee Stallion, is 🎵 “Body.” When a song commences with a woman moaning sexually, you know exactly what’s about to follow. 🎙 LilJuMadeDaBeat definitely inspires Thee Stallion to get totally ‘down n dirty.’ In the process, she wins us over with naughty infectiousness, thanks to the chorus which expands the word body from being a two-syllable word into a multisyllabic one. #SKILLZ

Megan breaks from the pattern long enough to throw in “Body crazy, curvy, wavy, big titties, lil’ waist.”  Da-yum, gurl! If you listened to no more of the song, you’d get the premise.  Perhaps you might characterize Megan as being cocky, but she’s no cockier or different from her male counterparts.  Can you blame her for being “Saucy like a barbecue but you won’t get your baby back?” “Body” is infectious as albeit, and, of course, raunchy!

Appears in 🔻:

• Awesome Songs: November 2020

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6. Osvaldo Supino, “Body Burning”

🎵 “Body Burning” • 🏷 Osvaldo Supino • 🗓 2022

“When we move like this, we got the / Body burning up, body burning.” Ooh, wee! It’s incredibilmente caldo qui dentro (incredibly hot in here)! Please, do continue! “Oh, the floor so hot we own it / Body burning up, body burn I /… Burning up burning up / Burn that son of a bitch!” Hot, hot, hot 🔥! The catalyst for the hotness is the incredibly handsome, talented Italian musician 🎙 Osvaldo Supino 😍.  The award-winning independent musician delivers a must-hear, surefire bop with 🎵 “Body Burning”.  Infectious from the get-go, there’s no way you won’t ‘feel some type of way’ partaking of this bop that more folks need to be listening to beyond Italy. 

“Oh yeah, it’s alive

I feel it growing and the feeling is golden

Ugh, yeah, we got it all right!” 

So, what makes “Body Burning” the bop that it is? It starts with the confident, playful, sexy vocals of Osvaldo 💪 (“Everybody in the club, yeah they know my name”). He has a gorgeous instrument – a truly clear, ripe tenor on his hands – tailor-made for pop.  Combine that with dance floor ready, suggestive, seductive lyrics, and born is an indisputable pop hit.

“This song, it’s got me feeling things

I’ve learned a lot and boy, I’ve grew

Yeah, my time is overdue

Oh, it’s happening, happening

Yeah, the beat take over my life.”

Furthermore, sick production work, with a beat readymade for the club/disco/‘busting a move’ at home, is the cherry on top. This, my friends, is a surefire vibe! 

Appears in 🔻: 

• Osvaldo Supino, “Body Burning”: LGBTQ Bopz🌈🎶  15 (2022)
• 13 B Songs: No Rhyme or Reason, Vol. 2
• Incredible LGBTQ Songs, Young & Old, Vol. 2

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7. Taylor Swift, “No body, no crime” (Ft. HAIM)

💿 evermore • 🏷 Taylor Swift • 📅 2020 

“He did it / He did it.” Who, 🎙 Taylor Swift, who? The Grammy-winning superstar is joined by 🏆 Grammy-nominated sister collective 🎙 HAIM on the gem, 🎵 “No body, no crime.” “No body, no crime” has a strong case as the very best record of Swift’s second surprise album of 2020, 💿 Evermore. All parties feel totally locked in – totally in their element.  From the jump, with HAIM’s assertion, “He did it,” “No body, no crime” feels totally elite.  Swift confirms the elite nature of this minor-key, criminal cut in the first verse (“Her husband’s actin’ different, and it smells like infidelity”).

The centerpiece of “No body, no crime” is the chorus.  Here, Swift and HAIM masterfully join forces:

“She says, ‘I think he did it, but I just can’t prove it’

I think he did it, but I just can’t prove it

… No, no body, no crime

But I ain’t lettin’ up until the day I die.”

Appears in 🔻:

• Crime: 5ive Songs No. 42 (2021)

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8. Chris Brown, “C.A.B. (Catch A Body)” (Ft. Fivio Foreign)

💿 Breezy • 🏷 RCA • 📅 2022

“Girl, that pussy crazy, you know my mind ain’t right / I know that she ready, she’ll find out tonight.”  Well, that lyric is certainly on brand with 🏆 Grammy-winning R&B singer, 🎙 Chris Brown, isn’t it? It hails from the end of the first verse of 🎵 “C.A.B. (Catch A Body),” the second track from his 2022 album,  💿 Breezy. On “C.A.B. (Catch A Body),” ‘Breezy’ gets an assist from drill rapper, 🎙 Fivio Foreign.  Fittingly, the production – 🎛 Roark Bailey, 🎛 Deafh Beats, 🎛 Nellz, 🎛 Keyz Bridgez, and 🎛 Dejuan Cross – incorporates the drill sound.  This suits both bad boy Chris as well as FF.

The slick production is one of many selling points of this joint.  It commences with an enigmatic intro, set in a minor key, which sets the tone for the record.  Chris Brown, as sexed-up and unapologetic as he is, serves up beautiful, rhythmic, melodic vocals, particularly on the centerpiece, the chorus:

“Iced out for the party (Party)
Shots got me feelin’ saucy tonight
If I fuck your girl, I’m not sorry (No, sorry)
I ain’t cuffin’ anybody
Tonight, I’m on go, go (Party)
‘Cause I can fuck with anybody
Tonight, I’m on go, go (Sorry)
I’m just tryna catch a body tonight.”

Brown has no shortage of confidence – an understatement. As for the guest appearance by Fivio Foreign, he has an impressive cadence and flow.  He’s not deep, but, “C.A.B.” isn’t a deep song (“She want me to fuck her, I might pass / But I still fell in love with her nice ass”).

 

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9. Perfume Genius, “Your Body Changes Everything”

💿 Set My Heart on Fire Immediately • 🏷 Matador • 🗓 2020

“Give me your weight, I’m solid / Hold me up, I’m falling down.” Well, that’s two entirely different lines, isn’t it? On his stellar fifth studio album, 💿 Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, 🎙 Perfume Genius (🎙 Mike Hadreas) exhibited a high level of musicianship. Of his highlight, 🎵 “Your Body Changes Everything”, Hadreas told Apple Music, “I wrote ‘Your Body Changes Everything’ about the idea of not bringing prescribed rules into connection — physical, emotional, long-term, short-term — having each of those be guided by instinct and feel, and allowed to shift and change whenever it needed to.” Woo – that deep! As far as the sound of the record, the electronic drums and programming stand out. The record successfully balances vintage sounds and more contemporary alternative/chamber-pop. Vocally, Hadreas delivers authentic, emotional vocals, expressing the power of love and desire.

Hadreas goes on to say:

I think of it as a circle: how you can be dominant and passive within a couple of seconds or at the exact same time, and you’re given room to do that and you’re giving room to someone else to do that. I like that dynamic, and that can translate into a lot of different things—into dance or sex or just intimacy in general.

It’s love and desire that stand out the most to the ears.  The excerpted lines speak to contrasting positions, which is quite intriguing.  Sure, those positions are physical (think about it), but as Hadreas explicates, those positions don’t have to be attached to intimacy and sex itself. The chorus, expectedly, is the centerpiece, in all its poetry and reflection. “Your body changes everything / You are anchoring / Until you fit beneath me / And you’re breaking like a wave,” he sings, adding, “Your body changes everything / I can hardly breathe / And now you’re right above me / And your shadow suffocates.” In the post-chorus, Hadreas has a series of questions for his lover including, “Can you feel my love? Do you feel the same?”

 

Appears in 🔻:

• Perfume Genius, “Your Body Changes Everything”: LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 14 (2022)

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10. Lady Gaga, “Hair Body Face”

💿 A Star is Born • 🏷 Interscope • 📅 2018 

“‘Cause baby when I look at you / I just don’t know what to do witchu / A man loves a triple threat / Did the party room just see that / Hair, body, face for ya…” 💿 A Star is Born was nothing short of a phenomenon in 2018 – an understatement.  Furthermore, the soundtrack wasn’t “kind of a big deal,” but rather DEFINITELY “a big deal.” If we get specific, the big attraction on the 🎙 Lady Gaga and 🎙 Bradley Cooper-fueled soundtrack was 🎵 “Shallow”, a song nominated for multiple film and music awards.  That said, the song that fits this body-centric list is 🎵 “Hair Body Face.”  

“Hair Body Face” appears late on the A Star is Born soundtrack – it’s the 28^th track to be exact.  Being that deep into the record, it’s definitely not the crowning achievement. Where the 🏆 award-winning “Shallow” has more of a countrified sound, “Hair Body Face” is a straight-up pop record.  This is Lady Gaga pre- (and post-) 💿 Joanne, but less dance-oriented than her earliest albums. Sleekly produced (🎛 ), Lady Gaga sounds rock-solid – well, ‘pop’ solid – on this modern pop number.

“I’m not mad as long

As I am perfect in your eyes

Your eyes

Doesn’t make a difference yeah

As long as I’m perfect in your eyes

Your eyes.”

Okay, Lady Gaga, whatever you say. “Hair, body, face for ya / Triple threat!”

Appears in 🔻:

• 13 Songs That Focus on the Face
• 11 Songs Loosely Associated with Hair

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11. Hamid J, “Hold My Body”

🎵 “Hold My Body” • 🏷 Hamid J • 📅 2021

“Hold my body / Never let me go.” Woo! LGBTQ 🌈 Iran originating, Germany raised, Los Angeles based musician 🎙 Hamid J is awesome at making music.  In 2022, he released a fine debut album, 💿 Cycle of a Relationship (you should totally check it out).  His 2021 single, 🎵 “Hold My Body”, didn’t appear on his debut album, but because of its body-driven endeavors, it’s a shoo-in for Songs Associated with the Body, Vol. 2!

Hamid J sends his boyfriend (or love interest) an ultimatum on “Hold My Body.” “You been dragging me along for weeks, and it feels like you been searching to find,” he sings in the first verse. Hmm, sounds like a case of indecisiveness! In the second, he tells this boy to get his ‘sugar honey iced tea’ together – “You gotta trust the plan / Cuz somebody else may slide in /… So boy, don’t be insecure!” The cure for the miscues this boy’s been committing against him is intimacy and all it entails!  The chorus sums up what he yearns while the pre-chorus, over groovy, seductive production, lays it out:

“Show how about tonight

You come over make things right

We start with a drink or two

Put us both in the mood

I’ve been yearning all your touches

Caress my body and watch this

Desert with no rain

Spark and burst into flames.”

Ooh-wee! Aww, it’s so easy to fall for Hamid J 😍? It’s his music, in all its suggestive glory! There’s clearly a personal problem that he’s experiencing with a man who is indecisive about the state of their relationship or whatever it is, but more interesting is imagining the resolution 😈.

Appears in 🔻:

• Hamid J, “Hold My Body”: LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 12 (2022)

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12. Mariah Carey, “Touch My Body”

💿 E=MC² • 🏷 Mariah Carey / UMG Recordings, Inc. • 📅 2008

“I know that you’ve been waiting for it, I’m waiting too / In my imagination, I’d be all up on you.”  Dammmnnn, 🎙 Mariah Carey!  At least she’s honest about how she feels on her no. 1 hit, 🎵 “Touch My Body.” “Touch My Body” arrived during the Mariah Carey renaissance, you might say.  Following the ultra-successful 💿 The Emancipation of Mimi in 2005 (septuple platinum), Carey had another successful aughts album with 💿 E=MC², which was ultimately certified platinum.  The song at hand, “Touch My Body” was certified triple platinum as of September 26, 2022.  Impressive!

More impressive than the RIAA certifications is Mimi herself! As always, the 🏆 Grammy winner delivers a compelling vocal performance.  The melodic lines are rhythmic, and as excerpted above, dripping in sexual innuendo (“Boy, you can put me on you like a brand new white tee / I’ll hug your body tighter than my favorite jeans”).  Interestingly, Mariah Carey seems concerned about a sex tape or her partner bragging about their sexual rendezvous in the pre-chorus: “Then I’d best not catch this flick on YouTube, YouTube / Cause if you run your mouth / And brag about this secret rendezvous / I will hunt you down.” Woo! Of course, the part we all love in “Touch My Body” is its crowning achievement, the chorus!

“Touch my body, put me on the floor

Wrestle me around, play with me some more

Touch my body, throw me on the bed

I just wanna make you feel like you never did

Touch my body, let me wrap my thighs

All around your waist, just a little taste

Touch my body, know you like my curves

Come on and give me what I deserve

And touch my body.”

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13. Justin Timberlake, “Rock Your Body”  

💿 Justified • 🏷 Zomba • 📅 2022 

Just admit it guys – 🎙 Justin Timberlake was a sex symbol back in the day.  I say guys because the girls were well aware of how hot Timberlake was. Some of the guys, however, weren’t honest and open about him being, HOT! It’s okay to admit your envy or man-crush because, to reiterate, JT was the S-H-I-T.  While it’s 🎵 “Cry Me a River” (💿 Justified, 2002) that most did it for me post-🎙 NSYNC, 🎵 “Rock Your Body” is indeed a surefire, 🎵 “Sexual Vibe” 🎙 Stephen Puth! Okay, I’ll stop being silly!   

“Dance with me / I wanna rock your body.” Oh, for sure, Justin Timberlake – of course, you do! The key word is DO because the dancing that the 🏆 Grammy winner wants to DO extends beyond the dance floor. “See, I’ve been watching you / And I like the way you move,” Timberlake asserts in the first verse, continuing, “So, go ahead, girl, just do / That ass shaking thing you do.”  Anytime ass is involved, it seems to lead to more intimate happenings.  Perhaps Timberlake is just having fun on the pre-chorus when he asks her to “Grab your girls / And grab a couple more /… in the middle of the floor,” BUT, would it be far-fetched if JT wanted to expand the pleasure to the multitude? And don’t tell me that when Justin asserts he’s going to “Pull you close and share my [his] groove” that’s he’s not thinking with the love below!  The truth is, he probably did “have you naked by the end of this song!” “Rock Your Body” is an early-aughts classic, superbly performed by Timberlake, and well-produced by 🎛 The Neptunes.  It’s unsurprising it was a top-five hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

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13 Songs Associated with the Body, Vol. 2 [📷: 300 Entertainment, Brent Faulkner, Domino, Hamid J, Interscope, Mariah Carey, Matador, The Musical Hype, Osvaldo Supino, Pexels.com, RCA, SKG Music L.L.C., Snapback Entertainment LLC, Taylor Swift, UMG Recordings, Inc., Zomba, Ash, Chris W, cottonbro, inna mykytas, Mike Jones, rizwan aslam, Ronin, Stephane Fabrice Bassangue, Tazz Vaughn, Vansh mehta]

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