Not one to plan your vacation six months in advance or print out Excel spreadsheets with an hour-by-hour schedule of how you spend your free time? No problem, our playlist will inspire you.
We start with a classic. “Heartbreak Hotel” is Elvis Presley’s first gold record, a hit so timeless it has influenced entire generations of musicians (including the Beatles) and been covered dozens of times (by Michael Jackson, Johnny Hallyday , Billy Joel, Tom Jones, Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen…).
Behind the breathtaking swaying of the King and his cooing punctuated with innovative onomatopoeia, crazy with sensuality, “Heartbreak Hotel” is the tragic – and very real – story of a boy who killed himself for love by throwing himself from the hotel room window: “Well, since my baby left me/Well, I found a new place to dwell/Well, it’s down at the end of Lonely Street/At Heartbreak Hotel” left / I found a new place to live / It’s at the end of Lonely Street / u Heartbreak Hotel”). In short, read the reviews carefully before making your choice.
An involuntary response to Elvis Presley’s song, an ultra-dancing “uptempo” funk version, “This Place Hotel” tells the funny adventure of a boy who thinks to offer his sweetheart a night in a romantic establishment, before realizing that he is in a hotel that breaks up couples. Written and composed by Michael Jackson (who will deny knowing Elvis’ version), the song will become one of his stage classics.
Admittedly, singer Raye is right: sometimes it seems like all our lives are missing is a room in a five-star hotel in Mauritius. The 25-year-old English singer wrote songs for Beyoncé, David Guetta, John Legend and Little Mix, and released her debut hip hop-soul-gospel album in February 2023 as a cure for her anxieties before becoming one of the great voices across the Channel. She opened for SZA at the Accor Arena in Paris in early June.
Agreed, “Hotel Room Service” isn’t the most distinguished title in our selection. But it’s a real summer hit that American rapper Pitbull has signed, and, let’s face it (shamefully), it’s hard to resist. The clip, a pinnacle of vulgarity, has accumulated hundreds of millions of views. Over a sample of “Push The Feeling On” by house band Nightcrawlers, this is a dance floor classic.
Let’s end with a bit of poetry. A haunt of artists and musicians, the Chelsea Hotel in New York hosted the loves of Janis Joplin and Leonard Cohen. The Canadian singer took up residence there in 1968, just after the flop of his debut album. In the elevator, he approaches Janis Joplin, in town to record her second album. He sings the following: “You were famous, your heart was a legend/ ou told me again, you preferred handsome men/But for me you would make an exception” you said again, you preferred handsome men/But for me you’d make an exception”). Gentleman, Cohen will not tell this adventure until after the death of Janis Joplin, in 1970.
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