1. Aaj Shanibar – Rupa
This Bengali disco anthem about going out dancing on a Saturday is such an adorable start to both a weekend and a playlist. Rupa Biswas’ album “Disco Jazz” is part of a (sadly ignored) history of desi disco from the 1980s, one that was independently produced, experimental, and culled diverse musical sensibilities and traditions.
2. Pani Vilum Malar Vanam – SP Balasubramaniam
There’s something so wonderful about an adolescent romance being charted against such lush visuals – I absolutely love this video’s awkward, staccato dance moves paired with its sweeping, dreamy landscape. It’s sentimental enough to be dramatic about how they gaze into each other’s eyes, but the true joy of this video lies in how the lovers never quite dance in tandem, trying to play-act an epochal kind of love. The charm is in the amateurishness.
3. Sensual Seduction – Snoop Dogg
What can I say about this song that hasn’t already been said? It deservedly earned the number one on The Fader’s 100 Songs about Sex list, presumably because of all those close ups of Snoop Dogg’s mouth in the music video.
4. Relax (RIP) – Bonnie Banane
Bonnie Banane’s 2015 EP Soeur Nature is full of alt waltz odes to loves and crushes, this one in particular is about wanting to see your boo naked and “horizontal”. Incidentally, I discovered Bonnie Banane just after following someone I was dating on Twitter!
5. Dream Lady – Bekke
If you want to find sexy songs, go to SoundCloud! The streaming platform has proven to be a trove of some gratifying reimaginings of songs we all know, formulated through mixes, edits, and mashups. This track, a loving, tender humblebrag, fuses J Dilla’s ‘Day Dream’ with D’Angelo’s ‘Lady’. I love its gooey and delicate braggadocio.
6. Falsetto – The Dream
I don’t understand why this isn’t the most requested Karaoke song in the world.