"Steal My Sunshine" by LEN
Written by Marc Costanzo, Gregg Diamond
Produced by Mumble C
Released on You Can't Stop the Bum Rush (May 25, 1999)
Released as a single, July 22, 1999
Peaked at #9 on Billboard Hot 100
This song is just fun. That's it. That's the best and simplest way to describe it. Is it rap or pop? Doesn't matter because it's obnoxiously catchy and buoyant (and fun).
It reminds me of college; it also makes me think of summer. It belongs to a fake genre of songs that I'll call "happy-fun" songs: songs like "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves or "Raise Your Glass" by P!nk. These songs serve one purpose, to make the listener smile, and they do that job exceedingly well.
"Steal My Sunshine" lives in this world of one-hit wonders that don't always make sense. The rest of LEN's songs don't sound anything like it. Some of the others are good or interesting songs, but I feel no desire to dance or smile or sing along with them.
One-hit wonders have always been an interesting phenomenon and leads to some obvious questions: Why did they only produce one hit? Why didn't another song of theirs catch the public's imagination? But those questions and their answers don't really matter. Those questions ignore the fact that creating catchy and popular songs is really difficult! Can't we just be satisfied that these hits exist at all?
The perhaps more relevant question is: do we need more "happy-fun" songs? Would the world be better if it was filled with them? Maybe, but I'm not sure I would be in a better place. Sometimes I need a sad song or a chill song or an angry song or a song that makes me think. Variety is important to me. It's the reason my favorite songs aren't all happy-fun songs.
That being said, when I do need to smile or get excited or just feel happy, I'm glad I can pump up the volume on a song like this.
Right now "Steal My Sunshine" by LEN is, probably, my 44th favorite song of all time.
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