Closer | 3 to 5 BOPS

Closer: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 55 (2023), features musical BOPS courtesy of Clairo, The Chainsmokers, Elton John, Nine Inch Nails, and Saweetie. 

Ah, you know what time it is! It’s 3 to 5 BOPS time – WOO! On 3 to 5 BOPS, it’s all about brevity and sweetness… for the most part! There’s a theme/topic, 3, 4, or 5 songs, and a blurb – two paragraphs or less.  3 to 5 BOPS, hence, is a mini playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 55^th edition of 3 to 5 BOPS (2023), we select songs that are associated with CLOSER in some form or fashion. The BOPS arrive courtesy of 🎙 Clairo, 🎙 The Chainsmokers, 🎙 Elton John, 🎙 Nine Inch Nails, and 🎙 Saweetie. Okay, let’s get into it!

1. Elton John & Britney Spears, “Hold Me Closer” 

💿 The Lockdown Sessions • 🏷 Mercury • 📅 2021

“Hold me closer, tiny dancer,” 🎙 Elton John sings memorably on his 1972 hit single, 🎵 “Tiny Dancer”.  Everyone and his brother and sister know and love the iconic titular line from “Tiny Dancer” despite the fact it was only a moderate success.  After seeing renewed chart success with 🎵 “Cold Heart”, which repurposes classics by the 🏆 Academy and Grammy-award winning icon, John does it again, repurposing “Tiny Dancer” and tapping 🎙 Britney Spears for the assist. 🎵 “Hold Me Closer” marks the first time Spears recorded in years.  Making a comeback with a musical legend is fitting especially given Spears’ own status as one of the biggest pop stars of the late 90s and 00s.  “Hold Me Closer,” produced by 🎛 watt and Cirkut, is patterned after the successful formula fuelling “Cold Heart.” “Hold Me Closer” also samples the no. 1 Elton John hit, 🎵 “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and 🎵 “The One”. Vocally, there are plenty of effects in play, which plays into the club/dance aesthetic.  This isn’t the type of record that, say, screams vocal masterclass.  It’s intended to be fun and, obviously, unite two of pop’s greatest stars.  Released in 2022, it eventually appeared as a bonus track on John’s 2021 album, 💿 The Lockdown Sessions.  

Appears in 🔻:

• 15 Songs That Require You to HOLD On (2023)

2. Saweetie, “Closer” (Ft. H.E.R.) 

🎵 “Closer” (Ft. H.E.R.) • 🏷 ICY / Warner • 🗓 2022 

🏆 Grammy-nominated rapper 🎙 Saweetie is scoring hits while simultaneously receiving criticism.  Regardless of the skeptics, she continues to release music including a single with 🏆 Academy/Grammy award winner 🎙 H.E.R.  🎵 “Closer” appears on the rapper’s 2022 debut album, 💿 Pretty Bitch Music.  It falls in line with several pop-oriented records from female rappers. In her performance, H.E.R.  embraces those light, sexy, feel-good vibes. Saweetie brings a more aggressive, biting approach to her rhymes in the verses, contrasting the smooth backdrop (🎛 DJ Swish, Kaine, Mike Crook, and Ryan Ogren). The rhymes encompass sex mostly (“Take them eight-inch out them drawers / Da Vinci dick, come paint these walls”), with some drip mixed in (“I got ‘em sending Birkins on my birthday”). Is it effective? It works, though it’s nothing brand-new necessarily. 

Appears in 🔻:

• C Songs: No Rhyme or Reason, Vol. 2 (2022)

3. Clairo, “Closer To You”

💿 Immunity • 🏷  Fader • 📅 2019

“You called me late at night, I pick up every time / Wish that I could rewind, get some peace of mind.” 🎵 “Closer to You” arrived as the second single from 💿 Immunity, the debut album by 🎙 Clairo (Claire Cottrill).  Cottrill penned “Closer to You” alongside 🎼 ✍ 🎛 Rostam Batmanglij, who also produces this gem which features excellent, electro-/alt-pop production cues (synths and drum programming). “Closer” deals with matters of the heart, as evidenced by the excerpt from the first verse.  In the second verse, Clairo sings, “Know I’m standing here by choice / And I can’t hear the background noise anyway.” Throughout, Cottrill delivers lovely vocals, even with some vocal effects in play.  Speaking of those vocals, harmonies enter into the mix beginning on the pre-chorus. The following chorus provides Cottrill with another well-executed, memorable section. Further amplifying the ear-catching excellence is the thoughtful addition of guitar. “Closer to You” sounds like a hit the first time you hear it – simple enough, but highly effective.

Appears in 🔻:

• 11 Awesome Songs: June 2019

4. The Chainsmokers, “Closer” (Ft. Halsey)

💿 Collage (EP) • 🏷 Disruptor / Columbia • 📅 2016

🎵 “Closer” (💿 Collage (EP)) has a strong case as the crowning achievement of 🎙 The Chainsmokers’ career. “Closer,” which features 🏆 Grammy-nominated alternative pop artist, 🎙 Halsey, spent 12 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.  The blend of 🎙 Drew Taggart’s deeper vocals and the upper register synths used with the backdrop is radiant in the first verse. Halsey enters in the second verse, providing contrast and delivering more scrumptious ear candy. The chemistry between Taggart and Halsey is strong, specifically during the build-up section towards end. Prior to that, however,  the centerpiece of the record, the chorus, totally rocks:

“So, baby pull me closer in the backseat of your Rover

That I know you can’t afford

Bite that tattoo on your shoulder

Pull the sheets right off the corner

Off the mattress that you stole

Form your roommate back in Boulder

We ain’t ever getting older.”

All told, “Closer” is incredibly enjoyable, benefiting from its catchy lyrics and, solid performances from Drew and Halsey.

5. Nine Inch Nails, “Closer”

💿 The Downward Spiral • 🏷 Interscope • 🗓 1994

“You let me violate you / You let me desecrate you / You let me penetrate you / You let me complicate you.” Violate? Desecrate? Penetrate? Complicate? Sheesh – it’s self-explanatory why 🎵 “Closer” (💿 The Downward Spiral, 1994)is dubbed as controversial, right? Clearly 🎙 Nine Inch Nails’ 🎙 Trent Reznor has constructed a character who is in an animalistic, lustful, and deviant state of mind. The first verse is a perfect example of a suspect mindset when it comes to sex. Sex, we find out, is only one component of “Closer,” even if Reznor asserts on the chorus: “I wanna fuck you like an animal / I wanna feel you from the inside.”  Yes, that’s thinking with the D for sure! 

The first pre-chorus tells more than the overt sex references over the industrial-sounding backdrop.  Here, Reznor’s character is a broken man with no morals.  He ‘gives no fucks’ about the acts he’s going to commit sexually, because “I broke apart my insides” and “I’ve got no soul to sell.”  So, essentially, he didn’t sell his soul to the devil because he had none to begin with.  Savage! The sex is a way to cope to some extent (“Help me get away from myself”).  He suggests flaws can be ‘sexed away’, including isolation and absence of faith.  ‘You make me perfect / Help me become somebody else,” he sings in the second pre-chorus.  A key statement closes out the chorus: “My whole existence is flawed / You get me closer to God.” Woah! Of course, it’s hard to see Trent Reznor, as a spiritual being. In the equally controversial music video 🎶📼, there is a lot of weird shit going on.  A live monkey tied to a cross (WTF), a boar’s head, a naked woman, an eel (?), maggots, Trent licking what resembles a nipple… The video raises more questions and amplifies the controversy. Even so,  “Closer” also kicks some serious ass.  It’s dark, but there’s a beauty and high level of musicianship beyond the darkness.  

Appears in 🔻:

• Nine Inch Nails, Closer: Controversial Tunes 😈🎶 36 (2021)

Closer: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 55 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner/ The Musical Hype; Columbia, Fader, Interscope, Mercury, Warner; Ba Tik from Pexels]