Although
I’m getting to this a bit late, that doesn’t mean Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was lacking in the music department this past
year. On the contrary – the show brought
it tremendously, and I’ll probably have to wait until I pick up the season 2
soundtrack and listen to it nonstop before I really figure out how it compares
to season 1. In the meantime, here are
my favorites of the season!
“Ping Pong Girl” – Oh my gosh, I love
this song so much. The early-2000s
pop-punk style is a perfect match for every song I loved in high school, and
Josh even nails that really specific tone of voice found in all those bands. Thematically, it’s really neat, too – a great
satire of every “Cool Girl” trope in the book, and extra points for Rebecca’s
silly ideas about dude-speak.
Best
lyric: “She’s so indifferent, / It makes
me want / A tangible commitment! / She and I should give / A thirty-year
mortgage a whirl!”
“The Math of Love Triangles” – Great parody of
Marilyn Monroe-style “babygirl sexpot” numbers.
Rachel Bloom does a great job imitating that style as she breathily
tries to comprehend love triangles, blithely oblivious to the actual triangle
facts her chorus of male professors are telling her. The triangle puns come fast and furious, and
I love how Rebecca gets dumber and dumber throughout the song, leading the
chorus to genuinely worry about her and all-around shredding the whole “sexy
baby” idea.
Best
lyric: “This triangle’s scalene.” –
“That’s astute. / So I need to decide which man’s more a-cute.”
“It Was a Shit Show” – This is an excellent
capper to the Rebecca/Greg relationship as well as Santino Fontana’s gorgeous
singing. Done in the style of a classic
crooner number, Greg delivers this heartfelt song about the reasons he and
Rebecca shouldn’t be together with
brutal honesty. It’s an interesting
device, because the ultra-romantic-sounding melody and vocals literally play on
the idea of romanticizing self-destructive relationships, while the lyrics lay
bare the real problems between them.
Really well done!
Best
lyric: “We can’t undo, can’t make
amends. / Dysfunction is our lingua franca. / We can’t unscrew each other’s
friends. / We’re Jerry Springer, not Casablanca.”
“Thought Bubbles” – Wow, I love this
song. Musically, it’s a great send-up of
laidback singer-songwriters of the Jason Mraz/Jack Johnson variety, which makes
for a perfect comedic blend with the song’s theme: the usually-chill Josh starting to freak out
(in a sweetly hilarious way) when left alone with his thoughts. I love the craziness of Josh’s fears, there
are some fun rhymes here, and Vincent Rodriguez III sounds great.
Best
lyric: “I used to like guacamole, now I
don’t like guacamole. / What if I stop liking other things I like? / Like, what
if I stopped liking my mom? / If it worked on guacamole, it could work on my
mom!”
“Friendtopia” – So much fun. A portrait of a dystopian hellscape coupled
with Spice Girl sensibilities – it’s everything you didn’t know you
wanted! Taking the “there’s nothing the
power of friendship can’t do” platitude to the absurd lengths of “literally
take over the world and establish a ruthless dictatorship” is such a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend thing to do. Rebecca, Heather, and Valencia have the best
squad goals.
Best
lyric: “Now that we have total control,
/ Get ready for what’s in store. / Our reign will be like / Sweet Valley High meets 1984!”
“You Go First” – This is a
pitch-perfect ‘80s power ballad (complete with wigs that get increasingly
bigger over the course of the song and a random classically-trained dancer,)
and Rachel Bloom and Donna Lynn Champlin both kill it. More than that, though, it’s a great
articulation of two friends playing chicken with their feelings, both
desperately wanting to make up but unwilling to be the bigger woman and make
the first move. I’m sure the romance
stuff will always be a big part of the show, but in many ways, Rebecca and
Paula’s friendship is the real OTP.
Best
lyric: “I mean, / This is almost
entirely all my fault here, / But you gotta admit it’s just a tiny bit / Your
fault too.”
“You’re My Best Friend (and I Know I’m Not
Yours)”
– Really cute, fun song. You wouldn’t
think it would be, since it’s all about Darryl admitting that he’s better
friends with Paula than she is with him, but I like the jaunty melody paired
with how gently playful he is throughout.
He’s all about reassuring Paula that he doesn’t need more than she has
to give, “and that’s okay.” For someone
who can be as needy as Darryl, that’s a big step.
Best
lyric: “A little from you is like a lot
from someone else. / Six of yours beats anyone’s dozen. / That’s why I love you
like a sister, / And you love me like a second cousin!”
“Let’s Have Intercourse” – This is a pretty
perfect song for Nathaniel at this point in the season. It’s so him, with the lazy “just pretend I’m
seducing you” air and the way he’s negging Rebecca through the whole thing. It’s also so Rebecca, because you can see how
disgusted she is by Nathaniel’s attitude but how drawn she is to him at the
same time. She’s all about the unhealthy
behavior, and at this moment, Nathaniel is basically a neon sign reading “bad
decision.”
Best
lyric: “I won’t be back to normal till /
I see what your nipples look like. / They’re probably straightforward nipples -
/ I won’t know for sure…”
“Santa Ana Winds” – Anthropomorphizing
the Santa Ana winds (a.ka. the “devil winds”) as a cheerful prankster wreaking
havoc is a neat idea, and giving him a Frankie Valli-esque number with which to
introduce himself makes it even better.
I love the mix of magic and destruction in this song, and the vocals
really are a great parallel for the sounds of the wind.
Best
lyric: “A little bit about me: / I’m a
hot, hot breeze / That originates from high-pressure air masses. / Technically,
I’m known as a katabatic wind - / That’s science for ‘a pain in your asses.’”
“Rebecca’s Reprise” – What an emotional
masterpiece. This is Rebecca at her most
heartbreakingly delusional, and setting her hopeful lyrics against the backdrop
of the melodies from “You Stupid Bitch” and “The Villain in My Own Story” is
just brilliant. Those songs provided
Rebecca’s darkest moments in season 1, and hearing those melodies again here
makes you brace yourself for how Rebecca’s hopes are going to be
shattered. For me, though, the most
painful part of the reprise is actually from a song that was hilarious the
first time around, “I Love My Daughter (But Not in a Creepy Way)” – Rebecca
plaintively pinning all her self-worth on a father who clearly isn’t worth it
is so, so sad, and it breaks my heart to see her so happy when I know it can
never turn out that way she wants it to.
Best
lyric: “My daddy will love me, / And my
mommy will love me, / And Josh will love me, and then / I’ll never have
problems again.”
No comments:
Post a Comment