Thursday, April 12, 2012

Throwback Thursday: "Save the Best For Last" Vanessa Williams

"Sometimes the snow comes down in June," Vanessa Williams sings at the beginning of "Save the Best for Last," her 1992 megahit. "Sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon." It's an inane line—grasping for depth and missing the mark completely—yet it's become one of the most iconic moment of Williams' entire career, helping to define "Best" as her signature song. And despite the ludicrous imagery signifying nothing, it's not hard to see why: Mixing romanticism with camp appeal, the line is perfectly emblematic of the song's continued guilty pleasure status. Built on both a cheesy keyboard line and swelling orchestral strings, and topped off by a powerfully subtle vocal performance from Williams, "Best" is a perfectly lovely easy-listening ballad that only gets better when considered as an exemplar of everything so ridiculously right about early '90s pop music. A

20 years ago this week, "Save the Best For Last" was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.

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