#47 Serebro, "Opium"

Задержалась на краю
Но упала прямо в небо
Знаю то, что я тебя люблю...

As a title, "Opium" couldn't be more appropriate for this song--that's what it is for me, a drug. To switch metaphors, listening to "Opium" is like slipping below the surface of the ocean. The electronic backing may include a fairly quick paced beat, but it's as if the energy of a down-tempo song has replaced "Opium"'s soul. If Alice fell down the rabbit hole but all the color and hyperactive craziness had been sapped from Wonderland and replaced by a pervasive sense of loss, melancholy, and addictive longing, the soundtrack to her adventures would be this song. Equally suited for a video of longing glances or dancing, perhaps the most apt video styling of all would be that quick jerky stop-star way of capturing motion, the kind that makes its actors seem half broken doll and half robot.

I mentioned earlier that this list of songs doesn't correspond to the list I would make of the best songs of the year--on that one, "Opium" would be near the top, and it really should be much closer to the top of this list; it's stunning, never failing to rob me of my breath, and shows a complexity and sophistication many other groups could learn from.

Find it on: the Russian group has yet to release an album, despite taking second in the 2007 Eurovision, but you can download "Opium" for free from their official website here