The Singles Jukebox

As the Rio Olympics conclude, we consider some Brazilian reggaetón…

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[4.83]

Alfred Soto: Crooning, supplicating, flirting, Anitta is this slight tune’s focal point. But Maluma is beautiful, and he acquits himself with the poise of the sated: hanging behind the beat, murmuring like the Colombian star he is, reminding listeners he’s there or something.
[5]

Ryo Miyauchi: The difference in energy between the two is so jarring. While Anitta works the strutting beat with a glowing voice, Maluma sounds so lost with that awkward, sleepy whisper. It’s sad to see yet another case of a disappointing rap verse ruining an otherwise great dance-pop song.
[5]

Cassy Gress: Poor Anitta. She wants to bang the shit out of Maluma and is trying her hardest to seduce him, grinding on him, inviting him to touch her, asking if it will be yes or no. Maluma, meanwhile, has been woken up from a long nap and is giving her the absolute minimum of attention, in hopes she’ll go away and he can go back to sleep. About halfway through the song, I realized Maluma was supposed to sound murmury and sexy; the thing about that is that sexy murmuring should be right up against your ear so that the plosives give you goosebumps. Consequently, it would be relatively loud; Maluma is mixed low.
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: Human voices singing a cyborg pop song — think Mandy Moore covering Britney. If it doesn’t quite work as a banger, it at least sounds lived-in.
[6]

Jonathan Bradley: Anitta and Maluma are accompanied by a particularly chintzy take on the reggaetón beat — those hand claps sound like they’re being generated by a toy Casio — and the rest of the song proceeds from there. The across-the-board insubstantiality weakens even the parts that might otherwise work: Maluma’s murmuring sounds uncommitted rather than conspiratorial, for instance. Anitta seems as if she’s trying not to get in anyone’s way, though it’s not clear whether that’s by necessity or choice. Three-and-a-half minutes of everyone hoping anyone else will take the lead.
[4]

Jonathan Bogart: I like Anitta a lot, but I like her a lot more when she’s doing her own goofy or stompy music for the Brazilian market, not when she’s trying to crash the larger pop-reggaetón market like a thousand-percent-less-steely Jennifer Lopez. Caluma remains a nonentity who creaks his voice instead of singing; if Anitta had collaborated with J Balvin (oh wait, she did), we might have gotten something interesting.
[5]