I was going to use a picture of surprise US Open fourth-rounder Monica Niculescu, but then she got beaten.
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[5.67]
Al Shipley: As far as R&B twists of Biggie beats go, Keyshia did much better things with “Juicy,” but Ashanti did worse with “One More Chance.” Now that we’re exhausting all the obvious hits, though, I’d like to hear a diva try to belt over “Warning” or “Gimme The Loot,” if only for comedy value that would exceed this track’s meager virtues.
[4]
Jonathan Bogart: I’m not going to complain about late-90s r&b revivalism. I am going to complain about the two least appealing things about the late ’00s: Rick Ross and airhorns.
[5]
Alfred Soto: What the hell’s going on in this thing besides a four-minute tour through a hall of R&B mirrors ? That Monica sounds as professional and perfunctory as usual is only part of the problem. A disappointment after last year’s excellent “Everything to Me.” As for Rosé, savor the credit.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: There’s an entire book (that Retromania so far is not) to be written about revivalism in R&B, about lush vs. spare and about the art of the sample. You don’t need to read, write or be concerned with it to hear how much Monica yearns through this, or to want to do anything to find Missy Elliott more bars on which to appear.
[8]
Brad Shoup: Man, it is cruel for Elliott to put herself in the intro and then disappear. While Timbo is out chasing diminishing returns, Missy’s harkening back to R&B from the previous couple decades: the RZA-lite piano dust, the Blige quote. Not that her approach is necessarily better, but she does have someone to transcend the material. Monica sounds fantastic, shifting cadence effortlessly, in complete control.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: I can’t deny I got annoyed that Monica teased us with Missy and then gave us Ross, but nor can I deny how age (relatively speaking, she’s only 30) has warmed and smoothed her voice so gorgeously she could be filling in for Mary J. Blige. The pianos give this a beautifully autumnal feel, too.
[7]