[#50] SPEED - "Luv Ya"

From: "Superior Speed"
Released: February
Territory: South Korea
Previous Best of Entries: First Appearance
Other notable song(s) from 2013: "I Do I Do" (With The SeeYa)

Back when they were in Co-Ed School, the guys who eventually became SPEED were overshadowed by the girls in terms of line distribution (they also became a sub group first!), but I genuinely thought they had potential. So I was pleasantly surprised when they came out with an album that was pretty decent, with few really pretty songs, "Luv Ya" included.

"Luv Ya" is not a-list/big three material -- the production is passable, the vocals are competent at best -- but as a song it is well pulled together. The production team was able to make do with what they had, to bring it as far as they could. The strings enter the cheesy territory once in a while, but they make up a big part of why this song works. There is a sense of dynamics in the arrangement, of times for explosions and times for quiet -- and every element works around the set dynamics.

But what put this song on this year's best of list is the fact that the melody is stunningly anthemic. It's another simple melody, but it's so easy to sing along to. Anyone can hum along to it unconsciously, and with a little more effort anyone can sing along to it and sound decent. The treatment of it in the song gives it some kick -- the synths give it quirk, the strings and piano follow the smoothness of the melodic line, and the rap parts create just the right amount of friction.

"Luv Ya" isn't pretentious, it doesn't try to be avant-garde, but it still comes out beautiful in its own way. There is a lightness to it all, not the type that goes through you by the end, but a lightness that gives you room to breathe and take in everything the song has to offer. That's my base requirement for a pop song -- if it's pretty, it's pretty, regardless of what labels are attached to it. And "Luv Ya" is definitely a pretty song.