Maybe…?
“Elizabethan Serenade,” written in 1951 for the coronation of QE II:
And now for something completely different:
Eva Cassidy’s cover of “Fields of Gold”?
For Enya, it was Caribbean Blue for me. I have at least four of her albums, five I think, which is more than any other artist in my collection.
My tastes seem to be several decades older than the average here, but I enjoy Perry Como’s version of this appropriately-named (“breezy” and “smooth”) number:
I once had at least five of them myself, but I had to leave them behind in my Moscow apartment, which I probably will never see again. I used to buy them as presents for my girlfriends.
wow forgot how good that is!
In my experiences, the ‘something’ that folks are often unable to put their finger on is the chord progression. There’s a saying in military science that amateurs discuss tactics while professionals discuss logistics. The analog with music should be amateurs discuss melodies or ‘the beat’ while professionals discuss chord progressions. Music is practically a science from one perspective. Certain chord progressions evoke a predictable emotional response in us quite dependably. It’s why we keep seeing certain successful chord ‘formulas’ repeated time and again.
If you haven’t already watched Axis of Awesome’s song ‘4 Chords’ which is dedicated to the aforementioned idea, you owe it to yourself to give it a watch.
Thanks. I had seen that before.
I don’t know if this is interesting enough for another thread, but my “sweet spot” seems to include the following.
Almost always high pitch vocals. Either female or higher pitch male.
Has some “power” but I don’t know how to describe this. I looked at a list of best power ballads and the only songs that fit are, Amanda, The Flame, Beth, Eternal Flame, Love Bites, More than a Feeling (a power ballad?) and Keep on Loving You. Other songs on the list seem to have too much emphasis on the singer, not the song (if that makes sense). The Carpenters are too boring to fit, but Touch Me When We’re Dancing fits.
I’m sure there are other factors.
My thought is if there might be different categories, such as pitch, tempo, or whatever, and people prefer a different level/type for each of the categories.