The Singles Jukebox

Lil Wayne featuring literally everyone except Drake!

[Video][Website]
[3.80]

Iain Mew: The division of labour applied to an average Twenty One Pilots song. Variety aside, it’s surprising how little the specialists are able to add.
[5]

Hannah Jocelyn: At least two of these credits aren’t so weird; Imagine Dragons and X Ambassadors are both once-promising bands that Alex Da Kid shaped into indistinguishable overproduced sensitive-bro behemoths, and Mr. Da Kid himself helms this track. The rest of the list is definitely abnormal, though surprisingly, it doesn’t sound that cluttered. Even though the chorus is predictably mass-vocaled and overdriven, there’s a nice sense of space in the verses almost never present in Alex’s productions since the Dragons became successful. Unfortunately, once Lil Wayne’s solid verse (“Dying slow but the devil wanna rush me/I’m a fool for pain/I’m a dummy”) ends, there’s almost too much space, with only some dull ad-libbing from Sam Harris closing out the song as it awkwardly peters away.
[5]

Katie Gill: This is the record execs going “congrats on getting on the soundtrack, your theme is the Harley & Joker relationship!” and the artists beating the theme to death at the expense of anything remotely resembling a good song. Points only given because that’s an annoyingly catchy chorus.
[2]

Crystal Leww: The tone of Suicide Squad seems to be “Whatever Teenage Boys But Like More 14 Than 19 Think Is Cool,” which is also what the cast of this song looks like. This is extremely cheesy, but I can see what it’s going for. Everyone involved here know the demographic and the tone and what they’re trying to go for and executes on it beautifully. It’s not my demographic, and it’s not intended to be the canon, but I do respect the purpose and I respect the dedication. My favorites here are Ty Dolla Sign, who continues to be one of the freshest, consistent brands in hip-hop music, and surprisingly, Logic, who is just having as much as possible with the format.
[6]

Alfred Soto: Pleasant commercial hip hop with a woo-ooh-ooh hook that complements the organ and gives each star a chance to show his ability to merge into a whole. If it’s not a hit, who’s the sucker?
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: A more accurate title: “Sucker for Drudgery.”
[1]

Mo Kim: Much like a gaggle of freshman boys chortling as they stretch a condom over a banana, this collective fancies themselves subversive for the most pithy aphorisms from the Book of Top 40 (BDSM as a lyrical motif is 50 Shades of Yesterday, and the appeals to underdog scrappiness would work better if they didn’t read like the scrawlings of an angry middle-schooler exposed to Fight Club for the first time). Much like any of those boys in bed, they talk a game that they can’t even finish, opting instead for a slow fade to the void at the center of this production.
[3]

Edward Okulicz: Wow, think of how much more sense this would have made if, instead of Imagine Dragons, it was Fall Out Boy. Then, consider that it’s actually better this way. Actually, Adam Levine was probably the first choice based on that nagging/annoying chorus. But I like everyone’s verses fine (Wayne deserves his spot at the left of the credits, too) and I’ve been humming the “I torture yooooou!” bit for the last two weeks.
[7]

Brad Shoup: Still wrapping my head around the concept of Suicide Squad as something salable, though a crap posse cut does help to sharpen the edges. Wayne’s the only one with a conceivably lunatic verse, but he matches the cartoon-graveyard stroll of the track. It sounds like Wiz is missing 8 bars; if he gave them to Logic I’m gonna be mad. And, incredibly, Dan Reynolds discovered a 51st shade of gray.
[3]

Cassy Gress: First off: is anyone from Imagine Dragons or X Ambassadors actually involved with this other than their vocalists? There’s no auditory evidence of it. Secondly: nobody other than Logic and Wiz actually sounds like they care. Dan Reynolds yelps some Evanescence reject lyrics and Sam Harris shows up at the end to mumble (nobody already on the track could have done that?). If this is supposed to be a movie about the bad guys saving the day, featuring notable crazypantses Joker and Harley Quinn, and your music video features everyone in jail with fire and straitjackets and stuff, shouldn’t the song itself sound a bit more creepy? This sounds more like a completely sane person who has been pretending to be crazy for hours and is too worn out to put in the effort anymore.
[1]