The Song of 2012

In case the world does come to an end tomorrow, I thought I’d push up the date of one of my end-of-year traditions, and share what I think is the song of the year.

That would be – drumroll, please – PSY’s “Gangnam Style.”

Nah, this isn’t about straight-out earworms but about songs: It’s Maroon 5’s “Payphone.”

Featuring Whiz Khalifa, this was the lead quite-catchy single off the band’s Overexposed album, which, although buoyed by Adam Levine’s on-the-rise Q rating thanks to TV’s The Voice, critics pretty much dismissed.

No matter ’cause it’s shaping up to be quite the crowd-pleaser. Their latest single, “Daylight,” for instance, hit such a chord earlier this month when I was packing my bags to leave Miami....

But I digress.

“Payphone” is classic Maroon 5. Levine’s channels enough heartbreak and, yeah, why not, rage to make you believe what he’s singing. It bridges pop and rock. And it is a sensitive F you. But this song is also an ode to a love lost, to a careless lover, to the plans that won’t be, to a loss of innocence. It can come off as a bit jaded, but that’s kinda what happens, no?

If anything, it is one of the most honest, saddest pop songs sung by a dude I’ve heard in a long time. It’s matter-of-fact as one of Justin Timberlake’s best because Levine’s voice doesn’t allow for that. It feels thoroughly lived in.

Check out this performance of “Payphone” at last summer’s iHeartRadio Ultimate Pool Party at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach:

I was there, and that’s when I knew this was not only the song of the summer – sorry, “Call Me Maybe” – but the song of 2012.