Lonestar has had major success in the country music industry for a long time. However, when they released their song Amazed in 1999 (which appears later in the countdown), they became a massive success. I'm Already There continued that success in 2001. This song is one about desperately longing to be with the one you love. At the same time, the song is written from the basis of "I may not be there physically, but I'm there with you in spirit." And it worked and still works extremely well. This is one of those songs that can do a great job at stirring up emotions when you miss the one you love.
Most love songs out there are about the serious side of love. They're written about how much one adores their loved one, how they would not be able to live without them, even about making love with that person. Brad Paisley takes a different approach in this song...a very different approach. That's Love is a song about what love is "really" all about...the lies you tell each other. She doesn't look fat in that dress and she must be the next Emeril. He is skinny as a rail and is going to look real sexy when he's bald. And everyone loves it when the mother-in-law comes to visit. To Paisley, "That's not a crime, that's love." And it works well for a very amusing, yet very truthful song.
Chris Carrabba is not generally a guy who writes songs about the nice side of love. In fact, at least 80% of the songs he's written for Dashboard Confessional are songs about the pain of love and broken love. However, this song is the minority exception to that trend. Carrabba describes Hands Down on MTV Unplugged as "A song about the best day that I've ever had." A love song in it's own right, this one is about a blooming love rather than one that's lasted for many, many years. It's a song that older couples can listen to and look back nostalgically and younger couples can listen to and relate to quite well. The combination of the two makes for a great song.
Newcomer Katrina Elam captured the essence of new love very well in her first single, No End In Sight. Released in late 2004, this song put Elam on the country music map. It's a catchy, up-tempo song that works well on radio. But that's not all it is. Lyrically, it is definitely one of the best songs out there about a love that has just begun. It captures the very essence of the thoughts you have in those first stages of what you know is love. At that point, it really is like this song states...there is no end in sight. And the song can also relate to that love that continues to last, that love that really has no end. Just a great song all around.
Now we come to another song about longing to be with that one person that completes you. 3 Doors Down did something right with Here Without You, as it now seems to be one of the staples at high school dances for the "slow songs." But it's more than just another slow song. The way this song is written and sung can easily make you feel the pain of missing your one and only (whether you've found them yet or not). This is definitely one of 3 Doors Down's biggest songs to date, and it also one of the best love songs out there right now.