Hear | 3 to 5 BOPS

Hear: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 15 (2023), features musical BOPS courtesy of The 1975, Deniece Williams, Pusha T, The Supremes and The Weeknd. 

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 15^th edition of 3 to 5 BOPS (2023), we select songs that are associated with HEAR in some form or fashion. The BOPS arrive courtesy of 🎙 The 1975, 🎙 Deniece Williams, 🎙 Pusha T, 🎙 The Supremes, and 🎙 The Weeknd. Okay, let’s get into it!

1. The 1975, “All I Need To Hear”

💿 Being Funny in a Foreign Language • 🏷 Dirty Hit • 📅 2022 

“I get out my records / When you go away,” 🎙 Matthew Healy sings in the opening verse from 🎵 “All I Need To Hear”, the seventh track from the 2022, 🎙 The 1975 album, 💿 Being Funny in a Foreign Language.  He goes on to say, “When people are talking / I miss what they say.” Why is this, Matthew? Well, it all centers around love, or perhaps, the lack thereof.  On this gorgeous ballad, which begins with both enigma and simplicity, Healy sings with incredible authenticity – you buy what he is selling.  Of course, the most memorable moment is the chorus, where he clarifies, “… it all means nothing, my dear / If I can’t be holdin’ you near / So tell me you love me / ‘Cause that’s all I need to hear.” Those lyrics right there definitely hit something fierce.  Even fiercer is when he adds, “Oh, I don’t care if you’re insincere / Just tell me what I wanna hear.” Apparently, hearing faux professions of love is better than none at all. What isn’t faux is the sheer brilliance of “All I Need To Hear.” Healy penned it alongside 🎼✍ George Daniel, Jamie Square, and Rob Milton. Healy and Daniel also produce, alongside the one-and-only 🎛 Jack Antonoff, who can do no wrong 💪.

2. The Weeknd, “I Heard You’re Married” (Ft. Lil Wayne)

💿 Dawn FM • 🏷 Republic • 📅 2022

“And I know this is a fling / But you’re hidin’ someone’s ring / It hurts to think I’m sharin’ you.” Woo! On  🎵 “I Heard You’re Married,” a highlight from his 2022 LP, 💿 Dawn FM, 🎙 The Weeknd enlists 🎙 Lil Wayne for the assist. Before Weezy ever spits a bar, The 🏆 Grammy-winning Canadian R&B artist has this groovy joint on lockdown, singing the rhythmic, tuneful lines with ease.  The centerpiece is the chorus, which ranks among the catchiest of the LP: “Ooh, I heard you’re married, girl / I knew that this was too good to be true / Ooh, I heard you’re married, girl, oh, oh, oh.” As for Weezy, a 🏆 Grammy winner in his own right, he’s true to self in the third verse: “I heard you’re married / I bet he treats you like Virgin Mary / You like it dirty and I’m Dirty Harry.” Lord! It is worth noting, in the outro, The Weeknd makes it clear, he can’t be with her… Makes perfect sense… she married!

3. Pusha T, “Hear Me Clearly” (Ft. Nigo)

💿 It’s Almost Dry • 🏷 Getting Out Our Dreams, Inc. / Def Jam • 📅 2022

“These drug dealer Rollies is my TikTok and Triller / Insecure bitches get lip fillers.” Woo,🎙 Pusha T! King Push showcases unflappable consistency on his fourth studio album, 💿 It’s Almost Dry. 🎵 “Hear Me Clearly” isn’t the crowning achievement from the 🏆 Grammy-nominated LP, but it represents another ultra-consistent moment.  As always, Pusha T drops plenty of stellar bars (“Ten toes down, Loewe cover the cleats / Dope sell itself, got a trunk full of receipts”). 🎛 Kanye West is a producer, sampling the 🎙 Rick Ross song, 🎵 “Free Mason”. Specifically, the chorus hails from the 2010, 💿 Teflon Don gem: “Hear me clearly, if y’all niggas fear me / Just say y’all fear me, fuck all these fairy tales.” Never change Pusha T, never change!

4. Deniece Williams, “Let’s Hear It For the Boy”

💿 Let’s Hear It For the Boy • 🏷 Columbia • 🗓 1984

“My baby, he don’t talk sweet / He ain’t got much to say,” 🎙 Deniece Williams sings in the opening verse from her 1984 hit, 🎵 “Let’s Hear It For the Boy”. By hit, let’s clarify that “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” was a no. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks.  Furthermore, the 🏆 Grammy-winning singer was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Furthermore her 1984 album, also titled 💿 Let’s Hear It For the Boy, was nominated for the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.  Also, adding to how big of a deal this song is, “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” appeared in an iconic film and soundtrack: 🎦 Footloose! Yup, this Deniece Williams record is DEFINITELY a big deal!

Despite the fact he doesn’t have much to say, Williams is impressed that “He loves me, loves me, loves me.” She’s so taken with him that “Every time he pulls me near / I just wanna cheer,” hence why, she encourages in the chorus, “Let’s hear it for the boy / Let’s give the boy a hand / Let’s hear it for my baby.” Woo! Her passion, coupled with the energetic production – quintessential 1980s – is lit 🔥! “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” was penned by 🎼 ✍ Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford and produced by the late, great 🎛 George Duke. It is safe to say that it’s not just the boy we should cheer for! Williams is in excellent voice.  The songwriting is fun, down to earth, and innocent! Honestly, it’s just a surefire vibe, four decades after it first arrived!

Appears in 🔻:

• Deniece Williams, “Let’s Hear It For the Boy”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 30 (2023)

5. The Supremes, “I Hear A Symphony”

💿 I Hear A Symphony • 🏷 Motown • 🗓 1966

“You’ve given me a true love / And every day, I thank you, love.” Oh, how sweet! 🎙 The Supremes delivered a surefire, soul classic with 🎵 “I Hear A Symphony” (💿 I Hear A Symphony, 1966).  “I Hear A Symphony” was sweet music to the ears of pop and soul enthusiasts alike in the mid-1960s.  The exuberant, 1965 record about true love spent two weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The iconic Motown girl group, consisting of 🎙 Diana Ross, 🎙 Florence Ballard, and 🎙 Mary Wilson, continues singing, in the opening section, “For a feeling that’s so new / So inviting, so exciting.” Oh, love, in all its splendor!

Of course, the hook line is that legendary titular lyric: “Whenever you’re near, I hear a symphony.” The Supremes follow it up with numerous poetic lines, such as “A tender melody / Pulling me closer, closer to your arms / Then suddenly (I hear a symphony) / Ooh, your lips are touching mine…”  and later, “I hear a tender rhapsody of love now, baby, baby.” This Motown classic was not only performed by icons but written by the iconic collective, 🎼 ✍ Holland-Dozier-Holland (Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Brian Holland).  Brian and Dozier also produced this catchy gem.  Sure, songs don’t sound like 🎵 “I Hear A Symphony” anymore but the nostalgia and the innocence of this love-driven number is refreshing in much more blunt and explicit times. It’s sad that Diana Ross and The Supremes have failed to ever win a 🏆 Grammy.

Appears in 🔻:

• The Supremes, “I Hear A Symphony”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 29 (2023)

Hear: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 15 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Columbia, Dirty Hit, Getting Out Our Dreams, Inc. / Def Jam, Motown, Republic; RODNAE Productions via Pexels]