Tag: Sweater Weather

My Favorite Song for Every Year, Part 3: 2000-2023

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Favorite Songs26 Comments

Here’s Part 3 of my favorite songs for each year from 2000 through 2023. In 2003, Coldplay became my favorite band, along with Green Day, Incubus and Weezer, and that lasted for about 10 years until they were replaced by Foster the People for a brief period. In 2015, twenty øne piløts became my favorite act, and in the years since, MISSIO, Foals, Lord Huron, Two Feet and, most recently, Beach Weather have been my favorites. I’ve written in varying detail about all of these songs in previous posts over my eight-plus years of blogging, so won’t write narratives about any of them here. Just the year, the song and the artist, and the best video I could find for each one.

2000 BENT – matchbox twenty

2001 FAMILY AFFAIR – Mary J. Blige

2002 LOSE YOURSELF – Eminem

2003 CLOCKS – Coldplay (my #1 song of the 2000s)

2004 THE REASON – Hoobastank

2005 BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS – Green Day

2006 SEXYBACK – Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland

2007 THE PRETENDER – Foo Fighters

2008 VIVA LA VIDA – Coldplay

2009 LOVE HURTS – Incubus

2010 NEED YOU NOW – Lady Antebellum

2011 ROLLING IN THE DEEP – Adele (my #1 song of the 2010s)

2012 SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW – Gotye featuring Kimbra

2013 SWEATER WEATHER – The Neighbourhood

2014 LOVE ME AGAIN – John Newman

2015 TEAR IN MY HEART – twenty øne piløts

2016 STRESSED OUT – twenty øne piløts

2017 FEEL IT STILL – Portugal. The Man

2018 BROKEN – lovelytheband

2019 I SEE YOU – MISSIO

2020 BLINDING LIGHTS – The Weeknd

2021 FIRE – Two Feet

2022 AS IT WAS – Harry Styles

2023 TROUBLE WITH THIS BED – Beach Weather

100 Best Songs of the 2010s – #4: “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Favorite Songs11 Comments

Song #4 on my list of 100 Best Songs of the 2010s is “Sweater Weather” by Southern California alternative pop-rock band The Neighbourhood. It’s hard for me to find the right words to fully describe how deeply I love this stunning song. I know I’ve stated this repeatedly in my discussions of several songs on this list, but I fell in love with “Sweater Weather” the instant I first heard it. The song is from their debut album I Love You, and was originally released in March 2012, but, unbelievably, didn’t chart until a year later. It enjoyed huge success on the Billboard Alternative chart during the summer of 2013, spending 11 weeks at #1, and later peaked at #14 on the Hot 100 and #7 on the Mainstream Top 40.

“Sweater Weather” is a hauntingly beautiful love song with a unique melody and arrangement that’s pretty spectacular, especially given that it was one of the first songs The Neighbourhood ever wrote. It was co-written by group members Jesse Rutherford, Zach Abels and Jeremy Freedman. Abels commented on the writing of the song in a 2014 interview with Radio: “One day Jesse was at my house and I was playing guitar. And he said, ‘Hey that’s pretty cool, let me record that.’ And it just so happened to be ‘Sweater Weather.’ When we got done writing the song, when it was all said and done we were like ‘Okay this is pretty good we should keep writing songs.‘” Rutherford added, “I think ‘Sweater Weather’ might’ve been the best song we’d ever written, but I didn’t think it was going to be the best song we’d ever write. It was kind of like getting a Platinum record, like a little tap on the butt. ‘Good job, keep going’.” The song did indeed go Platinum five times over in the U.S., with over 5 million sales and downloads.

Starting off with a sharp, rapid drumbeat and throbbing bass line, the band layers a rich palette of sparkling synths and gorgeous plucked guitars to create a breathtaking, almost ethereal backdrop for lead singer Jesse Rutherford’s incredibly sensual plaintive vocals. I love his voice, which so beautifully captures the fervor of a budding romance as he raps the lyrics: “She knows what I think about / And what I think about / One love, two mouths / One love, one house / No shirt, no blouse / Just us, you find out / Nothing that I wouldn’t wanna tell you about, no / ‘Cause it’s too cold for you here / And now, so let me hold both your hands in the holes of my sweater.”

Two-thirds into the track, the melody and instrumentals abruptly transition to a languid tempo, highlighted by an achingly beautiful strummed guitar and bassline. Rutherford coos “Woah, woah, woah / Woah, woah, woah, woah…” before repeating the final chorus “‘Cause it’s too cold for you here / And now, so let me hold both your hands in the holes of my sweater.” It’s perfection from beginning to end, firmly planting “Sweater Weather” among my favorite songs of all time.