Song Essays

Teenager by Steven Kidder, Song #6, "I Like It"

If “I Want X” has a sister song on this record, it would absolutely be “I Like It”. This is another track that heavily evokes a club atmosphere and yet again saturates us with crackling synths and bubbling clicks of sonic wonder. Stephen Kidder becomes our DJ again. However, this is a decidedly different club than in that earlier track. When the beat drops around the 1:30 mark, the kick is more consistently intense in its pounding of you. This is more evocative of classic New York techno and downtempo than Chicago house.

“I Like It” sends me down a neon highway. This is a complete distillation of the themes of the whole album. Exploration, confusion, hedonism, honesty, heavy emotional swings—they are all here in a more concise form.

In an album full of highly complex work and intense emotional lyricism, the simplicity here is

very noticeable. The repeated phrases “that’s cool//I like it/yeah, yeah, yeah//uh” make up almost all of the words, with a tone and filter over Steven’s voice that is even more otherworldly than other areas of departure on the record. The theme of juxtaposition returns here as well. I’m unsure if Steven actually does “like it”—there is a mystery of honest nonchalance here. It’s hard to place my figure on exactly what to feel, I almost feel like an observer—perhaps I’m listening in on someone’s internal thoughts? There is an intimacy in this juxtaposition. Outside of this sublime lyrical confusion, the familiar sonar-like clicks and hums of the record build into an atmosphere of near outer-space. The pads lift me up. This song feels like sugar being poured into my ears. I feel sweet.

“I Like It” is Teenager at it’s best, and on high, and it is a welcome break after the previous track.

-C