2004: #2 - "Roses"

Please ignore the corny faux-blues piano intro - "Roses" is the slightly cooler, more melodic, less gimmicky older brother of "Hey Ya!". There's nothing very unique going on structurally or sonically - though the multi-track, pitch-shifted vocals (downward, for a sci-fi P-Funk feel rather than the usual Chipmunks) are awesome - but the melodies are incredibly strong throughout the entire song, and lyrically, both Andre and Big Boi continue to push the boundaries of what we're used to hearing in pop and hip hop songs. It's tough to pick just one standout image - there are golden calculators, poo-smelling roses, and a plea for some "support, bra", among many others - so we won't. "Hey Ya!" was the song everyone talked about, "The Way You Move" was the song that we all could agree on, but "Roses" was the song that kept us coming back, and still holds up more than a half-dozen years later.