Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson's latest film for Peacock, Marry Me, has been a big hit amongst viewers. The film centers on pop superstar Kat (Lopez) and math teacher Charlie (Wilson), who get married spontaneously after Kat proposes at a concert when she discovers that her fiance cheated on her.
As a film about a pop star, there are naturally many songs featured throughout the film. While most of them are all great songs on their own, some emerge as better than others in terms of their power within the movie and their lyrical meaning.
Kat is ambushed by Charlie's school's glee club singing a version of her hit song "Marry Me" at the school dance. Although "Marry Me" may be a recent song viewers may want to see on the show Glee today, it falls to the bottom because the rest of the songs were both longer and performed better.
The scenes of the kids singing both at the dance and in the end before the credits are sweet but ultimately leave more to be desired.
A small snippet of the song "1 en 1 Million" is sung by Bastian at his and Kat's wedding concert. The song is interspersed with the crowd on their phones discovering that Bastian cheated, which definitely takes away from the music within the context of the movie.
Maluma sounds great as always but the melody simply isn't played long enough and isn't the most important thing happening in the scene, and therefore falls to the lower end of the rankings.
As the titular song, "Marry Me" is played multiple times throughout the movie. The song is about Kat and Bastian's desire to get married to each other and be together forever.
Out of the two versions of the song recorded by Jennifer Lopez and Maluma for Marry Me, this one ranks lower largely due to the fact that it isn't performed on screen and therefore doesn't have any strong anchors in the context of the storyline.
"Nobody's Watching" plays over the credits as multiple couples, including Kat and Charlie, recount how they met. The song's lyrics convey how it feels to be in love and specifically relate to Kat and Charlie's journey throughout Marry Me. It's a feel-good tune that wraps up the film neatly.
However, when compared to some of the other songs in the film it's not as strong especially when it's up against some that are actually seen performed throughout Marry Me.
"Church" is performed by Kat at her and Bastian's wedding concert. The song features an elaborate dance number by Kat and some dancers dressed as scantily latex-clad nuns, much to the amusement of Charlie.
Fitting with the wedding theme of the concert, the lyrics chronicle how Kat feels almost heavenly due to being in love. The song is overall a fun tune that's lighthearted and sweet, as well as introduces Charlie to Kat. The song itself is great, but within the conditions of the film, it's not one of the more meaningful, especially compared to some others.
"Segundo" is sung at the afterparty of Bastian's Madison Square Garden concert, where he and Kat sing together for the first time since their failed wedding concert. Featuring great vocals from Maluma, the song is about second chances, which is what Bastian hopes he and Kat have.
As Charlie sees Bastian perform the song, he subverts a popular rom-com trope and decides to let Kat go rather than react selfishly. The song is both beautifully sung and used to propel the story forwards.
Kat sings this version of "Marry Me" with Bastian at his Madison Square Garden show to promote her Grammy Award nomination. Bastian gives a speech about how he made a mistake cheating on Kat before she takes the stage in a glittery dress to sing a slowed-down performance of their wedding single together.
The ballad itself is the most powerful rendition of "Marry Me" out of multiple renditions played throughout the movie. It emerges as the superior version, as it's the one with the most depth within the film and presents a breathtaking moment of Kat as a performer.
Kat sings "Love Of My Life" after she decides to give marriage with Charlie a test run. An upbeat, belt-y number, the song details how Kat is the love of her own life, reclaiming her power after her failed wedding to Bastian and subsequent spontaneous marriage to Charlie.
The piece encompasses how strong of a woman Kat is and solidifies her as one of the best characters in Marry Me. "Love Of My Life" ranks high, as it does the important job of helping viewers know what kind of person Kat is and makes her someone to root for.
Kat performs "After Love" at the school dance that she attends with Charlie. Compared to the heavily produced tracks in the rest of Marry Me, it strikes a particularly great note as a stripped-down acoustic song that shows off Jennifer Lopez's vocals.
Lyrically it contains some of the best quotes in Marry Me, and although Kat explains that it's a song she wrote when she was younger, it sums up her and Charlie's situation perfectly as a romance that came about when Kat thought love was over for her. "After Love" also does the job of showing how Charlie and Kat's worlds can come together, making it one of the best tunes both on its own and in the context of the tale.
"On My Way" starts out as a tune on the piano that Kat struggles to find the words to. After Charlie breaks up with her, she finally starts writing the song about how everything that she and Charlie went through happened because it brought them on their way to each other.
This song serves as the emotional crux of the movie when Kat realizes how deep her love for Charlie actually goes and it lyrically shows the extent of those feelings. It's a sweeping power ballad that perfectly encapsulates the trajectory and meaning of the film and is definitely the best song in Marry Me both lyrically and as a tool for the storytelling.
