The Singles Jukebox

So at this rate we’re due a Conor Maynard EP where he’s rebranded as CNRMND and has a duet with like Madison Beer released via Instagram DM…

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Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: It’s a little weird that we’re reviewing a mediocre album cut off Purpose in 2018, but who am I to judge?
[4]

Will Adams: I can only assume the reason Conor Maynard is uncredited is so some listeners might think it’s Bieber. Can’t fool me; too much reliance on a trop-house template that would’ve sounded stale even on Purpose, not enough expensive-sounding sounds.
[3]

Alfred Soto: The Bieber playbook: avarice disguised as sincerity, boring electronic gewgaws, odd demeaning hook intended as compliment (so she’s an Advil?). 
[2]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: To think that a lack of romantic fulfillment could manifest itself to the point where one considers it a “disease” is pretty bleak. That this idea was written as an anthemic chorus for thousands to shout out in unison? Extremely bleak. I’m all for music as wide-scale ideological poisoning, but the details laid out in the verses dilute the message. The first verse paints this entire thing as shame-filled born again transformation: people are unaware of their “broken[ness]” until finding someone who is revealed to be their savior. Hearing Conor Maynard shift from obliviousness to retroactively claiming his past was akin to “circling the drain” is both dispiriting and irreconcilable. Just give me three minutes of the deadened chorus blaring through my speakers.
[3]

Katherine St Asaph: Much like “Faded Love” and “Love Lies,” much better in a sleepy, pretty way than it has any right to be — “it,” in this case, being a sadsack tropical house love song by Alesso and Conor “head back, lay it down like a Vegas girl” Maynard.
[5]

Iain Mew: The muffled, melancholic beeping and the space Alesso gives it takes me back to the era of Calvin Harris & Kelis’s “Bounce.” To fit with current times, “Remedy” doesn’t work at an interesting angle to the feeling of the synths, but in the same direction with more force. That’s a much less compelling prospect even if it didn’t also sound like Bieber doing a lazier “Clarity,” but at least the foundation is enjoyable and by now novel again.
[5]

Ramzi Awn: “Remedy” is strong proof that the whole is not always greater than the sum of its parts. Maynard delivers a beautiful vocal, but the melody is subpar, and the single sounds like a dozen others. It also borrows its share of cliches–being “broken” is as insignificant a revelation as they come.
[4]

Thomas Inskeep: Paint-by-numbers identikit EDM-pop that’s both terribly boring and boringly terrible.
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Stephen Eisermann: It’s nothing revolutionary, but I quite enjoy this understated single. Conor Maynard’s vocals may not be all that distinctive, but his voice matches Alesso’s subdued production well, here, and that “I believe” hook just won’t leave my mind.
[6]

Taylor Alatorre: There is just too much singing on here. Conor Maynard has a perfectly serviceable voice, but I doubt he’d allow a dance song on his own album in which his voice tracks along with every square inch of the synth melody, giving it no room to breathe on its own. Not that the melody, or the lyrics, are anything to write home about. “I believe that loneliness is my disease” is the most “tell, don’t show” description of heartache I’ve heard in some time, with “believe” serving no purpose other than to mirror the next line. Dembow snare rhythms deserve better appropriation than this.
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