Songs for 1-night stands
Sometimes love lasts just a few hours
Most pop songs are about love, but sometimes that love lasts for one night only. Here are PROVOKR’s picks for the sexiest, saddest, most longing songs in the key of N.S.A. (no strings attached).
The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, soulfully yearns for a woman’s touch and love in his hit song “Wicked Games” from 2012. There’s just something very sexy about the way he sings about emotionally empty sex and exploitation that makes the listener feel his longing and pain, especially with the lyrics:
Listen, ma, I’ll give you all of me
Give me all of it
I need all of it to myself
So tell me you love me
(Only for tonight, only for tonight)
Released as a single from her debut record One Cell in the Sea in 2007, “Almost Lover” from A Fine Frenzy, whose real name is Alison Sudol, is a heartbreaking song about the possibility of a one-night stand becoming something more, but met with the harsh reality that they are going to leave you. Sudol’s haunting vocals gives the song some needed gravity and weight with the realization that you must say goodbye to your “almost lover.”
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
I should’ve known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do
One of the biggest hits of 2013, “Get Lucky” from Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams combines disco beats and sexual chemistry with something you can move to on the dancefloor or in the bedroom. It’s the feeling of meeting someone at the club, spending all night together, going home with them, and then getting lucky!
We’re up all night to the sun, we’re up all night to get some
We’re up all night for good fun, we’re up all night to get lucky.
Released on her debut album Animal in 2010, Kesha’s hit single “Blah Blah Blah” shows off the pop stars knack for combining fun dance tracks with a sweaty and raw sexual energy. The song simply highlights what it’s like to go to a bar, get drunk, and get laid!
Meet me in the back with the Jack at the jukebox
So cut to the chase kid,
’cause I know you don’t care what my middle name is
I wanna be naked and you’re wasted
Bright Eyes, aka Conor Oberst’s ballad of sadness and drug use, “Lover I Don’t Have To Love,” takes one-night stands to dark places. He wants to dull the pain of emotional relationships and the monotony of going on tour with heavy drinking and casual sex with anyone and everyone around him.
I want a lover I don’t have to love
I want a girl who’s too sad to give a fuck
In 2004, Dutch indie rock band Bettie Serveert covered the song, which is less dark, but still conveys the idea of spiraling out of control with lust.
