Music Review: Hot Chelle Rae "Hung Up"

Hot Chelle Rae

Hung Up

Album: N/A

Year: 2013

           Ryan Follese finally meets a girl he can see dating for a long time in the          middling “Hung Up.”

        A rosy guitar opens the single, setting a content tone. Maybe she accidently skipped over his voicemail. With her busy schedule, she could’ve forgot. He finds her on his contact list, waits the three rings and leaves his message. He hopes he didn’t come across as desperate or needy. He was aiming for casual. He scrolls through his texts and there are couple of flirty ones from some girls in his classes, asking if he would like to hang out with a winking emoticon. He checks Facebook and chuckles at her status update. She has a really witty sense of humor. (“I'm not usually the type of guy to call twice, and leave a message everytime (It's me again)/That's quite alright/And most days I just dust them off like that/Girls text me, you're the only one I text back/Cause you know where the party's at.”)

            In the chorus, she broaches the subject of him having a crush on her. Apparently, his friends talked to her and mentioned he wouldn’t mind if she asked him out. He says yes, he said something along those lines, grateful she can’t see his blushing face. He continues to say he has stopped any friends with benefits relationships since he met her. (“And I'm like, yeah/Everything you heard is true/Everybody knows I'm hung up on you/And I'm like, yeah/Telling other girls I'm through/Everybody knows I'm hung up on you.”)

           She picks him in her vintage Porsche. After lunch, they cruise around LA, talking and laughing. She presses the button to pull the top down. His face gets hot. She does it such a no-nonsense manner. She knows how each part inside the car works. She could probably explain torque better than he ever could. He’s surprised at himself. Usually, he’s interested them for the night and then he’s over it. With her, though, he will talk to her in the middle of a football game while out with his friends. She’s top priority. (“So big, this thing that we got going on/Riding round downtown where you take the top off, yeah/It turns me on/And I'm like, woah/Girl, how'd you get me hooked like this?/One look, one touch, one kiss, one chick/And then I can't resist.”)

              The chorus is sung again.

               In the bridge, she dresses in stylish but approriate clothes. She’s modern, sharing progressive views with him and knows exactly what’s cool at the moment. Every time he sees her, he wants to sleep with her. Perhaps tonight, they’ll to a bar and grill they’ve been meaning to try. They’ll order a ton of drinks and then they’ll go back to his place for their first time together. (“ You got the style, you got the flavor/I want you now, I want you later/I'm hung up, so let's get down tonight/Floating around, a couple of gypsies/Shaking it up, we're getting tipsy/You show me yours/Cause I’mma show you mine.”)

          The chorus is sung twice.

             Part of the bridge is sung again to end the single. (“You got the style, you got the flavor/I want you now, I want you later/I'm hung up, so let's get down tonight…hung up on you.”)

          Follese’s conventional vocals are underachieving, striving for passable. While he’s liked her for a while, he suspected she wouldn’t go out with him. She’d probably thought he would make a great friend but figured she would go for the banker/executive type. But he was able to land her anyhow, which mystifies him.

          The hesistant “Hung Up” is unable to muster any courage, afraid to stand out.