Why you babysittin' only two or three shots?
Let me show you how to kick it up a notch
First you get a swimming pool full of liquor then you dive in it
Pool full of liquor then you dive in it
Out of context, this chorus wouldn't really sound out of place on a typical hip-hop drinking anthem, but 'Swimming Pools (Drank)' is anything but. It's a nuanced look at the role that alcohol plays in our daily lives; the way we socialize, the way we have fun, the way we cope with pain. Kendrick understands what drives him to drink (the desire to fit in with the popular crowd) but he's not analyzing drinking culture from a detached perspective. After a few bars, his introspective self-reflection gives way to the millions of thoughts running through his mind as he focuses on the task of getting totally wasted and bringing a girl home by the end of the night.
But there's still some subtle acknowledgement of the possible consequences of letting himself get too immersed in drinking culture. The mental image of swimming in alcohol is mentioned early on when he mentions his alcoholic grandfather ('granddaddy had the golden flask, backstroke every day in Chicago'). Then, later, during the chorus, the image comes up again when his friend urges him to get a 'pool full of liquor and dive in it'. The implication seems to be that his friend and his grandfather may not be all that different. Perhaps one day, his friend will end up exactly like his grandfather... and maybe his grandfather started out the same way.
Clocking in at #3, we have 'Little Talks', a harrowing indie folk song about a bereaved widow coping with the death of her beloved. One lonely night, she's visited by the ghost of her husband; or maybe she's dreaming, it's not really clear; and the two share a wonderfully poignant duet. What I really love about this song is that it's never clear whether any of this is actually happening. At one point the husband outright says, "your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear." Who knows? After God knows how many years of living alone, my mind would start playing tricks on me too.
Notably, while the subject manner is a bit of a downer, the song still maintains a lively, upbeat tone, driven by an energetic brass section and the occasional interjection of "Hey!" In a weird way, though, it works. There's a feeling of joy and passion when the widow and her husband are reunited, however briefly, and the energy they exude is the same kind of youthful enthusiasm they expressed when they were together.
I love your list so far! It's a bit out of order in my opinion though.
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The lyrics are ultimately what got the song a place on this list. How do you crash your car into a bridge, anyway? That almost sounds like an accomplishment. Also, if you're going to get revenge on your ex by wrecking his stuff, why would you bother putting it into a bag before pushing it down the stairs? That... that seems entirely unnecessary. Then again, if the repeated shouts of, "LET IT BURN" are any indication, I think the narrator's sanity level is roughly comparable to Daffy Duck.
And then we get this lyrical gem:
You're on a different road, I'm in the Milky Way
You want me down on earth, but I am up in space
...which I think means that someone told her to stop acting crazy, and she said, "**** YOU, I'M A ROCKET SHIP. WHOOOOOSH!"
I'm having trouble deciding which aspect of this song I like the most. Is it the tight guitar work of Chic's own Nile Rodgers? The silky smooth vocals of Pharrell? The warm, summery atmosphere that it borrows from the best of late 80s disco/funk without feeling like a throwback or an anachronism? Or maybe it's the fact that, in this song, 'getting lucky' does not simply refer to getting laid; rather, it's about getting lucky enough to find someone who you share a special bond with. When we get lucky, we're feeling lucky to be alive, lucky that we can appreciate all the beauty that the world has to offer.
Honestly, I feel terrible for ranking this song at #2. But you'll understand why as soon as we get to #1...