Free iTunes songs sound like summer

February’s recent cold streak might be a reminder that winter still has a long way to go, but… February’s recent cold streak might be a reminder that winter still has a long way to go, but iTunes’ free songs section is full of tunes that sound made for summer. Whether they’re the kind you’ll want to listen to is another question.

“Hey Alli”

Runner Runner

B-

“Hey Alli” isn’t a work of musical genius by any means — it has a predictable guitar rift and pretty-boy vocals further accentuated by the images of the overly styled band members on the album cover. It falls in that vast realm of mediocre and same-sounding songs.

But all it lacks in originality, it makes up for in bopping, pop glory.

The lyrics are undoubtedly lame — “Says she wants a role in some big movie / Or be a drama queen” — it’s about the singer being madly in love with Alli, who is constantly running from city to city to chase her dreams. To its benefit, the song has those studio-perfected harmonies and upbeat choruses that have that charmingly irritating quality of summer radio hits.

It would be a completely and totally forgettable song if not for the fact that it’s so damn catchy.

“Dramaddict”

Los Concorde

B-

It’s clear from the gunshot-like sound effects and immediate jump into electronic beats that this song is energetic. If it isn’t clear that this song should get listeners a little worked up, the frequent woops should do the job.

Many Americans won’t understand the Spanish lyrics, but the light female vocals have the nondescript quality of a dance hit and the raspy male vocals are similar to Pit Bull’s.

The rhythmic nature of the song makes it ideal for moving to and this song would fit in well with many dance-party mixes. It has that mesmerizing quality that repetitive, drum-driven club songs often have.

The song has enough going on that it almost gets away with having soft percussive background noises that sound like someone stumbling through a supply closet.

“Happily Ever After”

He Is We

C-

After the light plucking of acoustic guitars and tinkling of piano keys, the first noticeable thing about this song is that the singer seems to be rushing through tongue twisters — and failing. It’s nigh unto impossible to comprehend the lyrics until the chorus where she starts beseeching some presumably greater force to tell her if she’ll end up happy.

Saccharine-sweet and full of the repetitive lyrics “we all have a story to tell” — though the singer’s story is fairly incomprehensible at several points — the lyrics are hardly literary genius. But when you’re going for a sugary love song, who really needs poetry?

The song moves quickly and is reminiscent of such songstresses as Taylor Swift, Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton with what sounds like a regular girl belting out pages from her diary to an acoustic-electric guitar combination.