Bite | 5ive Songs

On the 11^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with the word BITE in some form or fashion.

W

elcome to 5ive Songs, where we keep things short and sweet – no extra calories or needless fluff! There’s a theme/topic, five songs, and a short blurb.  Yes, it’s a playlist, but it’s a miniature playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  On the 11^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with the word BITE in some form or fashion.  Okay, let’s get into it!

---

1. Avril Lavigne, “Bite Me”

💿 Love Sux • 🏷 DTA / Elektra • 📅 2022 

After moving away from punk-pop for a spell, 37-year-old 🎙 Avril Lavigne returns to form on her seventh studio album, 💿 Love Sux (2022). Love Sux her seventh studio album, isn’t necessarily a ‘tour de force,’ but it is consistent, enjoyable, and respectable from start to finish.  One of the 🏆 Grammy-nominated Canadian musician’s best moments from Love Sux is the biting single, 🎵 “Bite Me.”

“Eh-oh, you should’ve known better, better to fuck with someone like me / Eh-oh, forever and ever you’re gonna wish I was your wifey.” On “Bite Me,” Avril Lavigne doesn’t miss a beat.  It commences with her beloved (or polarizing) whiny vocals. Like the two tracks that precede it on Love Sux, it’s assertive, melodic, and clearly, a throwback to the aughts – ah, those were the days! Most of all, “Bite Me” is incredibly catchy, including the perfectly placed f-bomb.  “Eh-oh, and we’ll be together never, so baby, you can bite me.” OH SNAP!

---

2. Troye Sivan, “BITE”

💿 Blue Neighbourhoood • 🏷 Capitol • 📅 2015

“Don’t you wanna see a man up close? / A phoenix in the fire.” 🎙 Troye Sivan delivered a gem with his debut album, 💿 Blue Neighbourhood. Blue Neighbourhood masterfully captures his experiences as a gay male coping with being different.  One of the most distinguished records is 🎵 “BITE,” which literally has a bite about it, sounding suspect. According to an interview with Pop Buzz, Sivan stated, “‘BITE’ is about my first time in a gay club.” He goes on to describe the chaotic atmosphere, asserting he “wanted to capture the chaos”: “[I was] taken aback by the sticky floor, the shirtless men, and everything else.”

Lyrically, “BITE” grows progressively sketchier.

“The rapture in the dark puts me at ease

The blind eye of the storm

Let’s go for a walk down Easy street

Where you can be reborn.”

“BITE” is a statement about losing virginity regarding a life experience. For Sivan, it marks a rite of passage in his life as a gay man –part of his sexual awakening. It parallels several first experiences.

Appears in 🔽:

• 11 Songs Where Musicians Were Sexually Awakened
• 11 Captivating Songs About Firsts
• A Compendium Comprised of 100 Notable LGBTQ+ Songs
• 11 Compelling Songs That Reference Da Club

---

3. Doja Cat, “Won’t Bite” (Ft. Smino)

💿 Hot Pink • 🏷 Kemosabe / RCA • 📅 2019

“Long ass money with a short fuse / I’m 5’3”, but I’ll make that nigga 4’2”.” Oh my! On 🎵 “Won’t Bite,” 🏆 Grammy-nominated pop artist 🎙 Doja Cat blends pop, hip-hop, and reggae.  Incredibly versatile, it’s easy to characterize Doja under the pop umbrella even though she’s adept in multiple styles.  Assisting her on this ‘biting’ joint from 💿 Hot Pink (2019) is rapper 🎙 Smino (“Keep a ghetto freak, but she lightin’ sage).

The centerpiece of “Won’t Bite” is the chorus. Shocked? Didn’t think so! The chorus is drenched in the sound of the tropics, to an exaggerated degree. Sure, it’s tongue-in-cheek but also, catchy as albeit.

“Closer to me, baby, I won’t bite

You look so tasty, but I won’t bite, really

I’m such a good kitty, don’t put up fights

But if you trick me, baby, it gon’ get sticky

I might (Might just), bite (I might just) …” 

“Won’t Bite” was produced by 🎛 Kurtis McKenzie and 🎛 Yeti Beats.  They put in work, NO CAP!

---

4. Poppy, “Bite Your Teeth”

💿 I DISAGREE • 🏷 Sumerian • 📅 2020

“Bite your own teeth, bite your own teeth / Don’t cry, just bite your own teeth.” Woo! 🎙 Poppy makes a bold statement with the colorful 🎵 “Bite Your Teeth”.  “Bite Your Teeth” arrives as the eighth track from her 2020 album, 💿 I DISAGREE.  Stylistically, the record is primarily metal/alternative metal.  She wrote this sub-three-minute record with 🎼✍ 🎛 Zakk Cervini, 🎼✍ 🎛 Chris Greatti, and 🎼✍ Titanic Sinclair (Cervini and Greatti also produce).

“Bite Your Teeth” commences with incredibly heavy production; it’s intense to the n^th degree. Those guitars roar while mammoth drums pummel. The record is also defined by its driving rhythm and metric shifts.  Poppy is aggressive vocally but also delivers a sense of poise despite the intensity.  One of the most unexpected moments of the song is the bridge, which contrasts the heaviness that dominates most of the track. Post-bridge, “Bite Your Teeth” is wild, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! RAWR!!!

---

5. Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust”

💿 The Game • 🏷 Hollywood • 📅 1980

“Are you ready? Hey, are you ready for this? / Are you hanging on the edge of your seat? / Out of the doorway, the bullets rip / To the sound of the beat, yeah.” YEAH!!! One of the best BITE songs of all time was a no. 1 hit.  That’s right! 🎙 Queen spent three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with 🎵 “Another One Bites the Dust”.  The beloved gem appears as the third track on the 1980 album, 💿 The Game.  The other big-time song from The Game is 🎵 “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by the way, another no. 1 hit for the 🎙 Freddie Mercury-led collective.

What makes “Another One Bites the Dust” the sugar honey iced tea? It’s the groove, first and foremost! Those drums (🎙 Roger Taylor)! The robust bass line (🎙 John Deacon)! The guitar (Deacon and of course, 🎙 Brian May)!  The music is as infectious as the lyrics.   Notably, John Deacon wrote this song. Freddie Mercury, among the most entertaining and skilled frontmen of all time, does a superb job of bringing Deacon’s lyrics to life.  The crowning achievement, of course, is the chorus, in all its infectiousness!

“Another one bites the dust

Another one bites the dust

And another one gone, and another one gone

Another one bites the dust

Hey, I’m gonna get you, too

Another one bites the dust.”

 

---

Bite: 5ive Songs No. 11 (2022) [📷: Brent Faulkner, Capitol, Clovis Cheminot, DTA, Elektra, Hollywood, Kemosabe, The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay, Rafael Barros from Pexels, RCA, Sumerian] 

---