Blueberry Email 32
Back on 74 by Jungle (Newer Music Friday)
A few weeks ago, a fifteen second clip from Jungle’s “Back on 74” music video captured the hearts of millions of people all around the world. (If you want to see it for yourself, go to 2:05 in the video above!!) While I agree that the choreography is insanely cool, it was the music underneath it that caught my attention.
“Back on 74” is a perfect dance song in my opinion, with everything from a driving rhythm to layers of backing vocals to a subtle cowbell keeping the beat. The harmonies of the chorus sound sleepy yet caring, as if they’re looking back on something they love, something that is far away, something that is back on 74th Street after all!
The song just radiates pure joy. It sounds cliche, but it really just makes you wanna dance! Furthermore, with it’s chorus of “oos” and “aahs”, “las” and “das”, it’s super fun to sing along to. The laid back style of the vocals lends itself to something that is easy to listen to, easy to appreciate, and easy to go back to again and again.
I only realized after my fourth or fifth listen why I personally loved the song so much. In the chorus, there’s a super quick cascade on the keyboard, one that you could miss if you weren’t looking for it. It’s this small detail, these five notes in the background, but their shiny tone reminded me of one of my old favorites, “Strawberry Letter 23” by The Brothers Johnson. As a kid, I used to listen to the intro of that song, transfixed by the shiny tone of the keyboard that played right before this amazing funky rhythm came in. This same shiny quality is clear in “Back on 74”, so much so that I affectionately refer to it in my head as “Blueberry Email 32”.
Another quality of “Back on 74” that I find so endearing is this part in the middle, that classic cosmic musical moment that makes you feel like you’re levitating straight up to space. That moment when the instruments drop out and the familiar chorus is sung almost forces you to close your eyes and savor it. (I also love that section because it emphasizes that shiny keyboard part at the tail end of it!!)
This song transports me to a place I’ve never been, a strange yet comfortable place. It’s filled with enthusiastic people who never speak their names, a thick fog in the air softening their faces as they grin. I can see sequins reflecting colorful lights as the people they belong to dance with each other. When I listen to “Back on 74”, I’m able to get out of my head and into this place, and I never, ever want to leave it.
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