In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing. This week: What’s one of your favorite songs to dance to?
My favorite thing in the world right now are the dance parties I have with my 6-month-old daughter. Well, she can’t dance per se; either I’m holding her while we bounce around, or she sits in her chair, flailing her arms and legs with a giant smile on her face. It’s pretty much the greatest thing in the world.
A couple weeks ago I introduced her to a bunch of music, but she responded most to “GhettoMusick” by Outkast (and “Blitzkrieg Bop”). I think she liked how the song gleefully collides tempos and styles, bouncing between fast, synth-laden Big Boi raps and slow-jam R&B with Patti LaBelle vocals. The changes, particularly when the song lurches from slow to fast, really seemed to hook her—along with my ridiculous dancing, which made her giggle. We listened to most of Speakerboxxx, but “GhettoMusick” elicited the biggest reaction, so I predict that album will get a lot of spins at our house.
But it’s thrilling to introduce her to music, even though I know she’s not really going to retain any of it for a while. In the meantime, we’ll dance. We’ve also enjoyed the end of “The Bleeding Heart Show” by The New Pornographers and “All Of This” by The Naked And Famous. She’s turning into quite the little hipster d-bag already.