The Singles Jukebox

Tell us about your relationship, Kimberley.

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Alfred Soto: Giving fewer fucks than she ever did, K Michelle gives the kind of vocal performance of which cults are made. Much of her appeal rests on her projection of realness. She’ll belt, she’ll strain to hit notes, she’ll rap, for god’s sakes — anything to persuade listeners that her ex’s kids are as ugly as he.
[8]

Juana Giaimo: “Crazy Like You” shows such vocal control from K. Michelle. The melody of the verses has a lot of rhythm and interesting flow, and then the rap bridge cuts out the sweetness of the more melodic chorus.
[7]

Micha Cavaseno: Were there justice in the world, K. Michelle’s paeans to the messiest of relationship dramas would have gotten her the fawning of your Sza types. Unfortunately, her career has been hampered by her age and adherence to a form of R&B not characterized by meandering over non-musical production meant for millennial self-indulgence, so she’s often been subjected to an ever under-regarded core genre audience. “Crazy Like You” is frustrating because, on one hand it’s actually run of the mill for her, but on the other, the sheer strength of her vocal performance and her songwriting is yet again a reminder that we don’t deserve her particular kind of vicious mania if we just continue to let her fall by the wayside. Hell, even the rap verse is exceptional compared to what I’ve seen placed on pedestals of late. Just why is the kind of R&B that would’ve been the edge of brilliance just a decade ago from the sea of tubby tuneless songwriter ‘auteurs’ with no star power bloggers would fawn over, being done right, somehow not worth our time?
[8]

Claire Biddles: There’s some zingers in here (“I would spend your money up/But you don’t even make enough”) but musically “Crazy Like You” is too smooth-R&B-by-numbers to match the petty lyrical potential. 
[5]

Jonathan Bradley: K. Michelle’s unvariegated wail matches the vaporous synth billows that pass for melody in “Crazy Like You.” Her rap cuts through the haze, but, even if its welcome, nothing about it is memorable. Any passion here is only un folie à deux.
[4]

Edward Okulicz: While generally this is a musically uninteresting song about a woman dragged down to the level of a shit guy who’s not worth her, I’m taken by the lyrics. I love the line “hope your kids just as ugly as you” — the chorus makes it pretty clear that she’s going back again and again, yet there’s an implicit admission that he’s going to cheat on her, multiple times, or leave her for good, and have children with another woman/other women. It’s such a violent relationship narrative, with the final verse being the lie she tells her about snapping out of it. The lyrics are all drama, in a good way, and one that the song itself isn’t.
[4]

Stephen Eisermann: Deliciously petty and very well-sung, “Crazy Like You” is catharsis in R&B form. The chorus is anthemic in part beause of the passion with which K Michelle sings and in part due to to the unique arrangement; both parts work in harmony and the result is a chorus that begs to be sung at the top of your lungs. 
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