"Crush"-David Archuleta

Unless you were an arthropod as an adolescent, you probably had the experience of feeling all stupid inside whenever a certain girl let you borrow a pencil during Social Studies. And then you took each pencil home and put it under your pillow, until your mom was like "Why the hell are all these holes in my pillowcases?" Or maybe you were supposedly in "the friend zone" with this guy you were in Camelot with, but all you could think about was whether he just liked you or like liked you. And also how good he looked in that King Arthur costume.

These, my friends, are the types of feelings that slip away from us as we enter into jaded young adulthood. And even though we might not miss the sensation of thinking we're going to barf all the time from nervousness and shame, there's just something about that kind of longing that was sweet. In both a "Sweet, dude!" and "a taste of honey" kind of way.

I'm probably going to raise some eyebrows if I say I like an eighteen year-old American Idol runner-up who could pass for twelve, but there it is. "Crush" has just the right balance of mopey angst and surging, innocent hope in it to remind me that there was a time when a playful punch on the arm could seem hotter than pants removal.

I know exactly what Neko Case means when she sings that she's "holding out for that teenage feeling" (refer to song: "That Teenage Feeling"). But Neko, honey, it's already here, and its name is David Archuleta.

listen here