Thursday, May 16th, 2019

Diplo ft. Cam – So Long

In which Diplo rides until he Cam no more…


[Video]
[5.44]

David Moore: So what is Diplo at this point? Electronic Dinner Music?
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: Since country radio continues to be reluctant to play women, can you blame female artists for pursuing collaborations that might actually pay off? (Country radio: “Of course we can, why wouldn’t we?”) And so we end up with another single whose closest tie to country is that it is a world of Chainsmoking. But exhausting as that may be, it isn’t the problem. The problem is how Cam and Diplo each make the other sound so damn boring.
[3]

Alex Clifton: Not a combination I expected (or, frankly, asked for) but Diplo’s production here is much chiller than I feared and it’s nice to hear Cam on a feature where she feels valued, as opposed to the Pat Monahan sex cult disaster of last year. I hear shades of Clean Bandit in the strings but “Rather Be” wears its heart on its sleeve. “So Long” is more subtle than that; I’m bobbing my head around, but I don’t want to scream out the words. I do, however, want to listen to it on repeat and am excited to have this soundtrack my summer roadtrips.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Get ready for an onslaught of country-electronic crossovers in the wake of “The Middle.” Cam’s work with Diplo, though, avoids the arena. The manipulation of stringed instruments is some of the producer’s most adventurous work since Usher’s “Climax.”
[7]

Ian Mathers: YouTube’s algorithm follows the Nudie suit drag of this video with a freshly-bearded Mike Posner doing an acoustic “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” (for me, at least), which still kind of feels like a subtweet whatever you think of that song or Fucking Diplo in general (especially when Cam’s performance here is so low-key winsome and charming).
[6]

Taylor Alatorre: 24/7 lo fi hip hop country radio – beats to relax/study to.
[6]

Iris Xie: It’s B-level JC Penney’s but for the ‘young teenage section’ music, and that’s what makes it work. It demands very little from the listener, with a thumping but not overwhelming beat. Also, the same perky Type-A fiddle from “Rather Be” comes back for its encore performance, except it is pushed to the background as a way to keep the listener’s interest for an otherwise unobtrusive song. The song puts forth the objective that it’s a bit passé now to have such big build-ups and drops, for its no longer post-2012 euphoria anymore and we are now hurtling towards something far more exhausting and nefarious. Capitalizing on the malaise, Diplo nerfs any possible emotional escalation through a low-energy “chill-ish” chorus and a pre-mature end. “So Long” is an EDM-pop song for when you don’t have the energy to deal with anything at all, ever, now, or in the future.
[6]

Stephen Eisermann: What does it say about Cam’s talent that this track – one so severely undercooked I hesitate to call it a full song – still manages to better than most of Diplo’s latest collaborations? Cam’s a goddamn treat and elevates even the most pedestrian material. 
[5]

Will Adams: Diplo cashing in on the yeehaw trend — in reliably cartoonish fashion — is hardly a surprise. What is surprising that this is happening simultaneously with him releasing far more interesting material in a different genre. But Diplo’s always been the enterprising sort, so “So Long” will get the push. The fiddles are probably meant to sound jaunty, but they just sound tired. Cam is probably meant to sound yearning, but she just sounds bored. Same here.
[4]

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2 Responses to “Diplo ft. Cam – So Long”

  1. I will not tell you how long a agonized over the appropriate stand-in for “claret” from this Xgau review of “Kid A” before giving up entirely:

    https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=5231

  2. The Pat Monahan Sex Cult Disaster is my band name