The Singles Jukebox

“Rock City put out 8 mixtapes between 2008 and 2011, and many of them contained the acronym ‘PTFAO’ (or Put the F*ckin’ Album Out) in reference to the fact that the label had not given them a release date for their album.”

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[3.71]

Thomas Inskeep: How to make a mediocre pop-reggae track even worse: just add Levine! R. City have written some fine singles like Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop” and Nicki Minaj’s “Only” — they should’ve kept one of their good songs for themselves. 
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Alfred Soto: The authors of “We Can’t Stop” came up with this “Stereo” mishmash, apparently intending to turn Adam Levine into a human being (again).
[3]

Brad Shoup: Look, a lot of families are dealing with a loved one in the prison-industrial complex. But no one should have to settle for Adam Levine, the poor man’s Charlie Puth. R. City come up with these weird, muted Zimmerblats that detonate under Adam’s feet. “The Way I Are” this aren’t.
[4]

Nina Lea Oishi: It’s actually rather impressive how R. City can make a song about being locked up in jail and unable to support his girl so sickly saccharine. Add [1] because Adam Levine doesn’t sound like an annoying jackass for once, subtract [1] because Adam Levine sounds boring.
[2]

Will Adams: I had to rewind the opening chorus to check that it really was Adam Levine singing. He hasn’t sounded this good in years; it’s either the melody sitting in the middle of his range, or that he isn’t singing his usual brand of noxious sentiments, or both. Beyond that, “Locked Away” is nothing special, just some major-key reggae-pop, but I’m still floored at Levine showing restraint for once.
[5]

Scott Mildenhall: When Bruno Mars bemoaned how his girlfriend wouldn’t catch a grenade, throw her hand on a blade or jump in front of a train for him, the theatrical derangement was hard to miss; compelling. In an act of laughable dunderheadedness, meanwhile, the appealing surface-level sweetness of “Locked Away” conceals a neediness that seems thoroughly sincere. Surprisingly, Adam Levine played no part in writing it and its barrage of heavy hypotheticals, but for all his efforts in the “misconceiving possession as romance” game, he wholly deserves the honour of singing on it.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: Magic! and Omi cracked open the doors to this, Clear Channel C-4’d those doors wide open, and Adam Levine smirked his way through the opening. There’s even a template: “Dead and Gone” by T.I. and Justin Timberlake. I mean, this is pop radioland, right? Where Adam Levine signifies wistful and reggae signifies summery adult contemporary and the phrase “locked away” signifies nothing that’d upset the censors. “Locked Away” is so built to its niche, so tailored to provoke the feeling of bored ubiquity from listen one, that it’s hard to even get upset with it. It’s just there.
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