Flame 🔥 | 5ive Songs

On the 90^th edition of 5ive Songs (2021), we select five songs that are associated with a FLAME 🔥 or FLAMES 🔥🔥 in some form or fashion.

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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 90^th edition of 5ive Songs (2021), we select five songs that are associated with a FLAME 🔥 or FLAMES 🔥 🔥 in some form or fashion.  Okay, let’s get into it!

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1. Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd, “Moth to a Flame”

🎵 “Moth to a Flame” • 🏷 SSA Recording, LLP / Republic • 🗓 2021

“Like a moth to a flame / I’ll pull you in, I pulled you back to / What you need initially.”  🎙 Swedish House Mafia (🎙 Axwell, 🎙 Steve Angello, and 🎙 Sebastian Ingrosso) collaborates with one of today’s biggest pop and R&B stars, 🎙 The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) on 🎵 “Moth to a Flame”.  Unsurprisingly, they make a formidable team on the irresistibly catchy, minor-key dance single.

The production work on “Moth to a Flame” is intriguing from the beginning. The soundscape is ear catching – slick to the nth degree.  Swedish House Mafia does a fine job of pairing The Weeknd with a backdrop that plays to his strengths. When that groove kicks in, you can’t help but to move your body.  As always, Abel’s tenor is clear and pure.  Besides having a marvelous instrument to work with, the melody is also marvelous – incredible tuneful. Lyrically and thematically, matters of the heart are conveyed, finding Tesfaye entangled with another man’s girl. On the chorus, he asks:

“But does he know you call me when he sleeps?
But does he know the pictures that you keep?
But does he know the reasons that you cry?
Or tell me, does he know where your heart lies?
Where it truly lies.”

“Moth to a Flame” doesn’t show us a side of The Weeknd we haven’t already heard, but it didn’t need to! The wave Abel has been riding has yet to become stale.  “Moth to a Flame” is highly effective, with all participants shining.

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2. Kesha, “Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Candle to You)”

Ft. Dolly Parton

💿 Rainbow • 🏷 Kemosabe • 📅 2017

One of the very best songs from 💿 Rainbow, the 2017 album by 🏆 Grammy-nominated pop star 🎙 Kesha, doesn’t arrive until near the end. 🎵 “Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Candle to You)” is certainly worth the wait. It also happens to be a cover, co-written by Kesha’s mom, 🎼✍ Pebe Sebert.

“Old Flames” marks the second country song from the album, with this one being most successful. Helping the cause is the fact she enlists country royalty, 🎙 Dolly Parton, who also once covered this gem.  Ultimately, the duet is magical, memorable, ranking among the crème de la crème of the pop star’s career.

 

Also Appears On 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Old: 5ive Songs No. 38
🔗 🎧 13 O Songs Selected with No Rhyme or Reason

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3. MOD SUN, “Flames”

Ft. Avril Lavigne

💿 Internet Killed the Radio Star • 🏷 New Hippys / Big Noise Music Group • 📅 2021

🎙 MOD SUN (Derek Smith) and 🎙 Avril Lavigne isn’t the first collaboration that ever comes to mind.  Regardless, the brief collaboration – just two-and-a-half-minutes – came to fruition in 2021 via 🎵 “Flames”. “Flames” appears on Smith’s album, 💿 Internet Killed the Radio Star. Penned by Lavigne and Smith alongside 🎼✍ 🎛 John Feldmann, Feldmann ultimately produces the track.  The results are quite positive.

“I still burn for you, my whole life I've been on fire
I still burn for you, ooh-ooh…”

“Flames” commences with sweet vocals by Avril Lavigne. Unsurprisingly, MOD SUN (who’s much rougher around the edges) provides a sizable contrast, coming off much more aggressive on the post-chorus:

“Up in flames, up in flames
Light a match and put it to my name
Up in flames, I still burn for you, ooh-ooh.”

On the verses, Smith reins himself in, singing more in an undertone.  That said, lyrics that include words like narcissist, arsonist, or a phrase like “I’m dyin’ for a taste,” aren’t exactly subtle. On the second verse, we get more ad-libs and collaborative singing from Lavigne, which ups the ante. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t remain ‘calm, cool, and collected,’ eventually rising to the occasion as both her and Smith sing dynamically on the final chorus.  Backtracking a bit, the sound of this record is worth noting.  It’s rock-infused pop with mean guitars and pummeling drums. Despite the unlikely nature of this collaboration, “Flames” ends up being totally worthwhile.

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 13 F Songs Selected with No Rhyme or Reason

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4. Celine Dion, “Water and a Flame”

💿 Loved Me Back to Life • 🏷 Columbia • 📅 2013

🎵 “Water and a Flame” probably isn’t the first ‘flame’ song most folks will mention.  The song was originally record by 🎙 Daniel Merriweather for his 2010 album, Love & War. Merriweather penned “Water” alongside 🎼✍ 🎛 Francis “Eg” White. Notably, Merriweather got a ‘big time assist’ by – drum roll please – 🎙 Adele! We all know that Adele makes everything better.  Canadian pop superstar 🎙 Celine Dion covered “Water and a Flame” on her 2013 album, 💿 Loved Me Back to Life.

“Water and a Flame” is easily the best non-original song on Loved Me Back to Life.  Obviously, ‘acknowledge’ the songwriters for their fabulous writing.  Interestingly, a lack of acknowledgement from Dion to Merriweather ignited some controversy.  We’ll save that for a future Controversial Tunes 😈🎶, however.  To her credit, Dion makes her interpretation riveting.  Top-notch production furthers her inspiration for a nuanced, utterly sublime vocal performance.  Dion sounds comfortable within a retro-soul setting, with her best moments being her signature soaring vocals during the chorus.

“Now you're gone
There's nothing else I want
Now that it's over
There's nothing else I want
What have I done?
Looks like I was wrong
Is everything really meant to change?
I guess we're like water and a flame
Water and a flame.”

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5. Metallica, “Moth into Flame”

💿 Hardwired…To Self-Destruct • 🏷 Blackened • 📅 2016

In 2016, veteran metal band 🎙 Metallica returned ferociously on 💿 Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, their first new studio album since 💿 Death Magnetic (2008).  The band doesn’t disappoint on Hardwired, which ranked among the elite rock albums of the year.  Among the best songs from the album is 🎵 “Moth into Flame.”

“Addicted to the FAME!” On the pre-release single, the effects and price of fame are explored.  🎙 James Hetfield philosophizes about its danger and how ultimately, it’s not worth it.  The style is direct throughout the course of the song, something that translates through the instrumental music and soloing as well.  As to be expected given the style of music and the theme, “Moth into Flame” is incredibly intense.

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Flame 🔥: 5ive Songs No. 90 (2021) [📷: Big Noise Music Group, Blackened, Brent Faulkner, Clovis Cheminot, Columbia, The Musical Hype, New Hippys, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay, Republic, SSA Recording, LLP]

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