“What I Like About You”
Writers: Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Jimmy Marinos
Original Release Date: February 1980
Despite being released thirty-six years ago, “What I Like About You” has some staying power—it’s frequently used in pop culture to this day!
Maybe you’re more familiar with the Lillix cover that was used in Freaky Friday and as the theme song to Amanda Bynes’ hilarious (and short-lived) show, What I Like About You, but the original song by The Romantics was a huge hit back when it first came out. And while I wouldn’t say they were one-hit wonders, personally I can’t think of any other Romantics songs, so this is definitely their claim to fame. It’s poppy and fun, extolling the virtues of someone who offers the singer comfort (exactly what kind of comfort is left open for interpretation). The song is fairly simple; barely three minutes long, there isn’t a lot of lyrical content, since they spend most of their time “uh-huh”-ing, but that makes it easy to sing along to, and its frequent appearance in commercials and movies makes it easily recognizable.
When 5 Seconds of Summer released their self-titled EP in 2014, they rounded out the tracklist with an energetic cover of “What I Like About You”. It’s the type of cover that doesn’t stray very far from the original—it’s just as poppy, but the different voices (each of the four members contributes at least a verse) give it a little more texture, versus the original which features the Romantics’ drummer singing the whole thing. The guitar tone also feels a little more modern and in tune with 5SOS’s pop-punk-y sound, and you can imagine a crowd of screaming fans singing along to this and dancing around, especially near the end when they build up to the final chorus.
Whether or not you like 5SOS, you’ll find yourself bopping along to such a familiar song, though nothing can beat the original in terms of longevity.
