My favorite songs aren’t necessarily everyone else’s favorite songs.

When I look for the best song, I’m not looking for the song that public opinion considers the best, or even the one that has the fewest flaws.  I’m looking for the song that speaks to me the most.  It could be the song where every element, from the music to the lyrics to the execution, is perfect.  Or it could be the song that is the biggest technical achievement, the song that will set the tone for the music industry for years to come.

Sometimes, though, the song that is the best is the song that transports you onto another world musically.  After all, that’s what music is – escapism.  You’re listening to it in order to have fun, or to forget the troubles in your life, or to just make your day go by easier.

All the other songs on this list, whether they were bad, mediocre, average, good, or great – failed to achieve this.  My number one pick, however, was an absolute mind trip.  Every time I hear the opening chords to this song, I leave the world and don’t come down until four and a half minutes later, when the song ends.  I’m in this big, beautiful dream – the kind that you don’t want to leave.  I become surrounded by this song’s hypnotic synths, gleaming guitars, and romantic sentiment, and I truly believe that I’ve reached heaven.

Part of me thought this song was too corny, too out of left field to join the ranks of my favorite Rock and Alternative songs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Live Forever,” “1979,” and “Sex And Candy.”  But the overall feeling I got when I listened was too strong.  This song is the most powerful, vibrant, and glorious thing I’ve heard that became a hit this year in any genre…

And it is my pick for the best song of the year on the Rock and Alternative charts.

“Can I Call You Tonight?” – Dayglow

Alternative
#3 peak, #25 year-end

Hello, Dayglow.  I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful artist-fan relationship.

Dayglow is the brainchild of Sloan Struble, from Fort Worth, Texas.  He initially recorded “Can I Call You Tonight?” and the remainder of his debut album Fuzzybrain as a senior in high school in 2018, while still living with his parents.  Two years later, it finally became a hit song.  This song did not become a hit simply because of catchiness, or phenomena outside the song, or because the music industry desperately wanted it to be a hit.  It became a hit because of the music itself: it is so majestic, so ethereal, that one has to stop and listen the moment it comes on. 

At the beginning of the song, the song comes in with its repetitive D major 7 chords, and you are immediately transported.  Once the primary chord progression comes in, accompanied by a heavenly synth and a simple but gleaming lead guitar pattern, it becomes apparent.  We’re not on Earth anymore.  Struble has stated that one of his main inspriations for his music career is Tame Impala, where Kevin Parker produces and records all the instruments and vocals himself.  It’s quite a lofty comparison, but it’s apt.  No song has transported me to another world as effectively since Tame Impala’s “Let It Happen,” one of the greatest songs of the 2010’s.  Now, say what you want about this comparison, as “Let It Happen” is the lead single from one of the most acclaimed albums of the decade while “Can I Call You Tonight?” finally gained momentum in the last few months.  It’s nowhere near as acclaimed right now.  But Struble does have one advantage over Parker.  “Can I Call You Tonight?” creates the same type of atmosphere that “Let It Happen” does in barely over half the latter’s eight minute run time.

Everything about the music and production is amazing.  Struble did mention that while “Can I Call You Tonight?” is among the simplest compositions on Fuzzybrain, it was among the hardest to produce, with 46 different mixes being produced before finally settling on the final cut.  All the hard work paid off.  I already mentioned how great the guitar and synth parts sound in the intro, but the drums are also on point, and Dayglow’s vocals sound like they came straight from an acid trip, in the best way possible.  They’re so psychedelic and otherworldly, they fit the song so perfectly.  Even the elements that shouldn’t work do.  The noisy, spiraling effect that comes in at the beginning of each chorus thanks to the tape delay on Struble’s vocals would be distracting on 90% of the songs I hear.  But it fits that feeling of being in another world so perfectly that I wouldn’t want the song otherwise.

And then we get to the lyrics.  The lyrics appear to be written about a love interest, and how he needs her in his life, because when he hears her “voice on the phone” he’s “no longer alone.”  Struble admitted to Afterglow that the song is based on “random symbolic stuff,” and how the power was out at his parents’ house when he wrote it, which is why the lyric “the power’s out and I can’t turn the fan on” is mentioned.

I reject this on principle.  This song doesn’t take place at Struble’s parents home.  At least, not how I see it.  This song, with its dreamy psychedelic sound and its warped vocals, is set in outer space.  It simply couldn’t take place anywhere else; since it’s such a head trip it can’t take place somewhere as mundane as a house.  

I hear your voice on the phone
Now I’m no longer alone

Don’t go, don’t go so easy
Don’t go, don’t go and leave me

And while some may thing the lyrics may suggest otherwise based on the above lyrics, the song also can’t simply be about desperately wanting a love interest to be with him.  I’ve never seen the song as a desperate plea.  The narrator of this song has everything – he’s got a huge home on a space station, he’s likely really wealthy – all he’s missing is his true love.  He’s asking the love interest to come to his world, to share in everything he has.  The realization that his love interest won’t be joining him is less a tale of being rejected, but watching that person vanish away from his world and back to reality.  We understand the devastation in this case.

The final piece to what makes this song so incredible, so desperately needed in 2020, is its chart run.  As the debut single by an up and coming artist, “Can I Call You Tonight?” was not supposed to be a hit.  By the time the song finally gained momentum on Alternative radio, it was two years old, and some radio stations were reluctant to play the song to instead focus on more current songs by more prominent artists.  But with pressure growing due to the song’s popularity on Spotify and exposure on TikTok, they eventually caved.  Finally in October, “Can I Call You Tonight?” reached the Top 5, and it peaked at #3 in early November.  As I write this, “Can I Call You Tonight?” has amassed over 169 million streams on Spotify, more than “Level Of Concern” by Twenty One Pilots, the number one song of the year on the Alternative chart.  

The reason for its success is simple.  It is absolutely unmatched in the music department this year, with its hypnotic guitars and glorious synths.  And lyrically, it’s pure escapist fantasy.  “Can I Call You Tonight?” is a must-listen for anyone who loves music, and I have no qualms with calling it the best song of the year on the rock and alternative charts.

SOURCES

Struble, Sloan.  “Can I Call You Tonight?”  Genius 2018.  Web.  2 February 2021.

Struble, Sloan.  “How I Made ‘Can I Call You Tonight?’”  Youtube 6 May 2020.  Web.  2 February 2021.

Unterberger, Andrew.  “How To Independently Score a 9-Figure Streaming Smash in 10 Simple Steps.”  Billboard 13 November 2020.  Web.  2 Feburary 2021.

IMAGE SOURCES

Photo of clouds from Vox

Single cover from Genius

Photo of Dayglow from Billboard

Photo of outer space from iStock