A Bazzi song that reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 largely because one line of it — the one about being precious when you smile — became a caption format applied to pets, footballers and inanimate objects. The record's entry for a compliment that stopped meaning anything.
I heard the full song about eight months after I first saw the line. It was not what I expected and it was shorter.
The line works as a caption because it is unspecific. Anything can be precious when it smiles, including a car with the right headlights.
Used under a photograph of a dented postbox in 2018, and it still read as affectionate, which is the whole trick.
What does it mean? Write it the way you would say it out loud.
