The Singles Jukebox

Pop, to two decimal places.

Labrinth – Last Time

The web’s #1 resource for “labrinth katakana”. How’s THAT for Search Engine Optimisation, eh?


[Video][Website]
[4.10]

Katherine St Asaph: Ever wondered what it takes to get rejected by Taio Cruz?
[3]

Edward Okulicz: Labrinth, remembering that that vocoder effect Imogen Heap used on “Hide and Seek” sounded amazing on Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say,” puts the same thing over his own voice, turns it up to 100%, turns the rest of the track up twice as loud, and my headache up to about ninety times that level. Also, he misremembered, badly.
[5]

Iain Mew: There are a few really nice touches in “Last Time.” The musical punctuation between each line of the chorus and the way it morphs from twisted electronics first go round to strings the second time is enjoyable, and the whole “I’m taking off!” section takes things to an ear-catching level of abstraction. The rest of it is slowly winning me over, though after the wit and excitement of “Earthquake,” it’s still a bit disappointing how close it is to being a Taio Cruz song.
[6]

John Seroff: Lab, dude, this is really awkward but we simply don’t need any more overblown, privileged, hyper-optimistic, vaguely exotic, Transformer-voiced reiterations of “I Gotta Feeling.” There’s only so much room at the inn and Taio just isn’t checking out on time.
[5]

Jer Fairall: England’s latest gift of unwrapped fruitcake to store next to the Taio Cruz that we’ve still barely touched from last year. Not to mention that we haven’t even bothered to check on how the Jason Derulo is holding up after all this time.
[3]

W.B. Swygart: So for the first minute and a half, this is Labrinth’s most average single so far (“Earthquake” was that rambunctious that I’ve basically forgotten “Let the Sunshine” happened), by virtue of being the one that sounds most like Taio Cruz. Crucial thing, though: this song is not by Taio Cruz. He would never allow himself that awesome burst of canned strings on the third chorus, or a hookline as unashamedly naff as “At-tur-luss on the dancefloor”, or that lovely bit of autotuned acapella, where Lab sighs “You never know what’s outside your window…” and for half a second I think he’s actually resurrected Bucks Fizz. No, Taio would never let something so off-trend happen. Which is why he fucking sucks. “Last Time,” however, has a big candy heart at its core; Lab ain’t trying to impress you by singing about the places he could take you, he’s realising there’s such a lot of world to see. Cos it turns out Labrinth is an enormous dork. Whoever would have guessed?
[8]

Anthony Easton: I love how he sings “Ibiza,” and the nursery-rhyme simplicity of the London Town verse, and the general restlessness of it.
[6]

Michaela Drapes: Wow, this sounds like aural vomit. I feel violated.
[2]

Sabina Tang: The instrumental has some potential, but trying to hear it is like chasing sunspots around the obliterating death ray blast of how awful the dude singer’s Autotuned voice is – and I am deducting ONE WHOLE POINT for the nonsense katakana in the lyrics video. Japanese doesn’t exist for the sake of regrettable tattoo designs, you arse, it is a real language that people read and write.
[0]

Brad Shoup: I kinda feel like Janet Jackson’s “Runaway” renders this song useless.
[3]

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