The Singles Jukebox

Opinions high.

[Video][Website]
[5.20]

Abby Waysdorf: Beth Ditto in full House Diva mode is a glorious thing. She delivers completely here, emotional in the verses, over-the-top in the choruses, showcasing what she can bring to the genre. It’s a shame the rest of the song is generic Low Countries whatever-EDM, the sort of stuff I hear in the background of cellphone commercials here. I’m waiting for the remix that gives the vocal track a song worthy of it.
[7]

Micha Cavaseno: Beth Ditto doing her thing over some rocky Drudge & Blah beat. Sure to be a big hit with the Zane Lowe crowd.
[2]

Thomas Inskeep: When I heard Beth Ditto was fronting a Belgian dance single, I mistakenly assumed it would be something a bit H&LA-esque – certainly not a d’n’b stormer. That’s what I get for assuming. Let’s party like it’s 1998, because this track expertly pairs big nasty beats and a big diva vocal and is the epitome of a firestarter. 
[7]

Anthony Easton: I love Ditto’s voice and her skillful manipulation of it: how she pushes formal limits back, how she is an old fashioned, often brilliant belter, a belt that comes very close to a shout. I am not convinced that Netsky’s work here does all that it could to position Ditto in ways that reward repeated listening.
[5]

Ashley Ellerson: Either my dollar store headphones are messing with the sound quality, or the music is drowning Beth’s vocals in the chorus. Like, how do you utilize freakin’ Beth Ditto, owner of a killer voice, and sandwich her between (not above) noise we’ve heard time and time again? The buildup led me to believe that a disco hit was about to drop, but buildups are deceiving. I’m sure the club kids will love it.
[5]

Patrick St. Michel: Yet it just keeps going.
[3]

Alfred Soto: When Eurodance was overrun by the Calvin Harris Army, this single sounded mildly diverting. Now she says screw it — the invasion wasn’t so bad. She sounds like a commercial for a Time-Life compilation of the history of Eurodance. With beats so thin you can spread Brie on them and an overstatement big enough to fill a rave in a factory.
[5]

Scott Mildenhall: Beth Ditto’s voice has flourished in all kinds of settings. On Gossip tracks, her own, Blondie’s, it’s been one of rage, portent and affirmation, but here isn’t making as much sense. Somehow she feels apart from a production midway between 2008 Laser Quest era Pendulum and bought-a-guitar 2009 Chase & Status. That part sounds ideal, but she sounds tacked-on, and Beth Ditto should never sound tacked-on.
[6]

Brad Shoup: This is the flattest drum ‘n’ bass song I’ve ever heard. Ditto and the portentous synth chase each other around, and this faint figure half-heartedly tries to compensate for strings. There’s no room for that kind of elegance: this is an angry track, a whole mess of dark ocean waves.
[5]

Jonathan Bogart: I don’t think I’ve ever heard a tune that more accurately embodied EDM as house-meets-stadium-rock. This isn’t a bad thing; both house and stadium rock have their massive crowdpleasing appeal because they conjure very broad and universal emotions in extremely unsubtle ways. House is traditionally about collective transcendence; stadium rock is traditionally about how cool the guys on stage are; but both of them are sneakily, and reliably beloved because of it, about heartbreak.
[7]