Everybody | 5ive Songs

In the 54^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with EVERYBODY in some form or fashion.  

Welcome 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.  In the 54^th edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with EVERYBODY in some form or fashion.  Okay, let’s get into it!

1. Weyes Blood, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody”

💿 And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow • 🏷 Sub Pop • 🗓 2022

“Oh, it’s not just me, it’s not just me / It’s not just me, it’s everybody.” 🎙 Natalie Mering, best known as singer/songwriter 🎙 Weyes Blood returned in 2022 with her fifth LP, 💿 And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow. The epic, six-minute-plus single, 🎵 “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” leads the charge.  Written by Mering, she produces the record alongside 🎛 Ben Babbitt and 🎛 Jonathan Rado.

“It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” commences beautifully and enigmatically. It opens with a crescendo of lush strings, prefacing a groove and warm piano chords.  Weyes Blood then enters, singing radiantly and expressively. Throughout the course of the record, she never over-sings, maintaining poise while bringing just the right oomph.  The songwriting, alongside the refined music backdrop, is the biggest selling point.  Mering sings her relatable, poetic, thoughtful lyrics with incredible authenticity.  “Sitting at this party / Wondering if anyone knows me / Really sees who I am,” she sings at the beginning of the first verse, continuing, “Oh, it’s been so long since I felt really known.” Woo – those words hit hard.  Similarly, lines like, “Living in the wake of overwhelming changes / We’ve all become strangers” (verse two) and “Yes, we all bleed the same way” pack a sizable, ultra-relatable punch. The six-minute-long record thrives thanks to expressive vocal performance, elite songwriting, and excellent production work.

2. Lizzo, “Everybody’s Gay”

💿 Special • 🏷 Nice Life / Atlantic • 📅 2022

Apparently, 🎵 “Everybody’s Gay,” or so, 🎙 Lizzo asserts on her 2022 sophomore album, 💿 Special. Wow, now that’s an all-inclusive statement! So, be true to yourself because, on this neo-disco gem, “We can take our mask off / We can ball and parlay.” Woo!

So, is “Everybody’s Gay” really about sexuality? Well, it speaks to being ‘whom you are’ and not hiding or pretending to be someone else.  This is a record that encourages self-love without fear or reservation.  It’s fun and as always, the 🏆 Grammy-winning pop artist is unapologetic.  The orchestration (Lemar Guillary), and production (🎛 Nate Mercereau, 🎛 Pop Wansel, 🎛 Ian Kirkpatrick, and 🎛 Ricky Reed) are reason enough to put this one on repeat!

3. Logic, “Everybody Dies”

💿 YSIV • 🏷 Def Jam • 📅 2018

“I just took a hiatus and wrote a novel, motherfucker / I got more verses than the Holy Bible, motherfucker.” 🎙 Logic has no shortage of confidence on 🎵 “Everybody Dies”, a highlight from his fourth studio album, 💿 YSIV (2018). At times, there’s even a sample praising his awesomeness – “You are watching a master at work.” The entertaining joint commences with a soulful instrumental intro, followed by an unapologetic statement, “Yeah, fuck that shit.”

Consistently, he shows just how much he believes in himself. “Everybody Dies” features a dusty, soulful, East Coast rap beat.  Furthermore, the synths and pads are effective, naturally suiting his explosive flow. He isn’t playing around on the chorus, asserting,  “This what you all been waitin’ for, ain’t it? / Rap game owe me, I been waitin’ for the payment…” Oh, snap! He continues, with the utmost confidence, spitting, “All these little rappers come and go, wonder where they went / Ten years of runnin’, yeah we came up from the basement.” Logic consistently serves up cocky, confident, and ‘turnt-up’ rhymes, with no shortage of memorable, punch lines: 

“I am not top ten, more like top three

I am not two ‘cause, nobody could top me

Get the pussy wet like Jodeci, you know it’s me

I can’t seem to put my finger on it like a rotary.”  

Notably, you’ve gotta love how his vocals are layered throughout “Everybody Dies,” coupled with the agility and speed of his rhymes. The 🏆 Grammy-nominated rapper talks a lot of shit, but, you must admire his flows.

Appears in 🔻:

• 11 Songs Driven by Dying

4. Kehlani, “Everybody Business”

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

🎵 “Everybody Business” marks one of the best moments from 💿 It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, the sophomore album by 🎙 Kehlani.  On “Everybody Business,” Kehlani sounds superb vocally, singing expressively and infusing great personality. The production – 🎛️ Go Grizzly and 🎛️ Loshendrix – is sweet too. This is a soulful cut yet also sufficiently contemporary. Perhaps there’s nothing particularly innovative about the sound, but it’s solid.

Thematically, it tackles matters of the heart.  She commences with a bullet: “I ain’t never been a half-ass lover / Rather lay out on the train tracks for ya.” The big takeaway is ignoring the haters. In the pre-chorus, she delivers one of the most memorable lines: “At my big ol’ age, I can’t be fazed / By what you mistake as going insane.” The centerpiece is the chorus:

“I hear every word they talk

Try not to care at all

I know it’s frontin’, don’t know me from nothin’

Still learning to shake it off

I know I can take it all

I know it’s frontin’

You know they frontin’, babe, yeah.”

Appears in 🔻:

• 13 E Songs: No Rhyme or Reason

5. The Main Ingredient, “Everybody Plays the Fool”

💿 Bitter Sweet • 🏷 RCA • 📅 1972

In case you needed to know, “Everybody plays the fool, sometime / There’s no exception to the rule.” Facts, courtesy of classic soul collective, 🎙 The Main Ingredient.  Those iconic lyrics, of course, hail from the group’s biggest hit, the 🏆 Grammy-nominated gem, 🎵 “Everybody Plays the Fool.”  There’s nothing ‘foolish’ about this hit, which appears on their 1972 album, 💿 Bitter Sweet. Also, worth noting, another soul icon, 🎙 Aaron Neville, would cover this classic and achieve his own success.  Still, the OG’s of “Everybody Plays the Fool” is none other than The Main Ingredient.

So, what makes “Everybody Plays the Fool” so epic? The production is colorful and incredibly soul – certainly idiomatic of the smooth, sleek 70s sound (piano, robust bass, winds, strings, etc.).  The vocals are elite – shout out 🎙 Cuba Gooding, Sr..  The lyrics are relatable, capturing that foolishness we all experience at some time with love. “Oh, heaven on earth is all you see,” goes the second verse, continuing, “You’re out of touch with reality / And now you cry, but when you do / Next time around, someone cries for you.” Of course, the chorus nails it, continuing from earlier, “Listen baby / “It may be factual, may be cruel / I wanna tell you that / Everybody plays the fool.”  FACTS! 

Appears in 🔻:

• 15 Totally & Utterly Foolish Songs
• 15 More Soul Oldies That Tickle My Fancy (Vol. 3)

Everybody: 5ive Songs No. 54 (2022) [📷: Atlantic, Brent Faulkner, Clovis Cheminot, Def Jam, The Musical Hype, Nice Life, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay, RCA, Sub Pop]