5 Songs I Should Probably Be A Little Embarrassed To Love

My favorite bands these days (the ones I find myself listening to most often) include Of Monsters And Men, The Lumineers, and Frightened Rabbit. Good music, for sure, and I love it.

But there’s a sub-set of music that I don’t actively seek out but really love when I hear it. And, though I’m slightly ashamed to admit my affinity for these tunes, I thought I’d share to see if any of you feel the same way:

1. “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen

I know, I know. But seriously. Please listen to this song and tell me you can resist singing along. Just try. And I’m betting once it ends you’ll want to listen to it again. That’s what happens to me, at least! I never think, “You know what? I really want to listen to ‘Call Me Maybe’ right now. I think I’ll play it!,” but if it comes on the radio while I’m driving or starts playing in a store while I’m shopping or something, I love it every time:

2. “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

The first time I heard this song I did not like it. The second time I heard this song I liked it even less. And then, somehow, it grew on me and now I find myself getting pumped whenever I hear it. It’s just so silly. And gets so very stuck in my head:

3. “Die Young” by Ke$ha

I mean, come on. She substitutes the “s” in her name with a dollar sign. And she sings about brushing her teeth with Jack Daniels and says things like “I don’t really care where you live at.” But I seriously love this chick’s music, and get pretty ridiculously pumped when I hear it (particularly this song, and especially in venues where dancing is acceptable):

4. “As Long As You Love Me” by Justin Beiber featuring Big Sean

It’s still a little weird to me to hear Justin Bieber sing love songs. Anyone else feel that way? I mean, I know he’s 19 now, but I still think of little Biebs singing “Baby” with all his heart, and feeling a little odd about it because, I mean, he was so young! It’s like when you hear little kids say very grown up things. It’s usually amusing, but also seems out of place, and you know they probably can’t fully understand what it is they’re talking about — they’re just parroting things they’ve heard adults say. But back to this song. I like it a lot, especially Big Sean’s part:

5. “Who Says” by Selena Gomez

Yes, I realize this song is probably better suited for a smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-awkward middle school girl, but what can I say? It makes my list. I think Selena’s adorable. (Did anyone see her as Beezus in Ramona and Beezus in 2010? So cute!):

I thought I should also throw in a quick note about musicians that I really, really dislike, no matter how catchy their songs. These include Miley Cyrus (America: Can we please be over Miley and send her back to Tennessee already?) and Katy Perry (just — no). Though I don’t dislike Philip Phillips as strongly as these two ladies, I do feel like he totally ripped off Mumford & Sons’ sound with his “Home” song. (I honestly thought it was a new Mumford song the first few times I heard it.) Not cool, Phillip Phillips.