The Singles Jukebox

Disco has made me rich, and now they’re after me…

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Kayla Beardslee: ATTENTION LISTENERS: Do you love the feathery disco glitz of “Say So” but want a Dr. Luke-free substitute with slightly more lyrical weight? Do you want to invest in the music of a charismatic R&B performer who’s gotten rich enough writing for other artists that she can approximate creative freedom in her solo work? Do you enjoy watching artists improve with every EP? Call 1-800-EXP-RNCE and use promo code NULUV to gain fast-track access to the discography of Victoria Monét today!
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William John: April’s “Dive” was probably enough for Victoria Monét to be discussed merely in superlatives, without reference to her more well-known colleagues. She’s in the company of more friends on “Experience”, but any questions as to who is bringing the most star power to the table are answered by the end of her first breathy line. She exudes control and poise, even when her words indicate otherwise, and it’s a delight to hear her sleekly navigate her way through S.G. Lewis’ parade of trumpets and fistfuls of glitter. Khalid’s mumbled verse is virtually unintelligible, but well positioned; when Monét’s airy pre-chorus sails in afterward, all sins are forgiven.
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Alfred Soto: “Tell me what you came for,” Victoria Monét asks. Honey, this. This. Honey-baked disco reliant on kick drum and the singer’s modest mirror moves, “Experience” boasts no wasted gestures and has the clean anonymity of many dance classics. 
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Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Disco-pop that leans so far into the gloss that it becomes featureless. Everyone’s talented enough to coast, but even In These Times ™️ we should do better than the bare minimum for dance tracks. At least the outro horns are nice!
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Katherine St Asaph: “Lightning, this is what you came for,” goes another song on this theme; “Experience,” then, is the post-storm mist. As disco it’s diaphanous, more head than body, skimming over all feels — even the hook, “I’m hoping that experience can get you to change,” is held at an “I’m actually at capacity” emotional remove. Monét’s voice is a natural fit, light as Bath and Body Works spray — which will inevitably have her compared to her mentor, but the effect’s really more Cassie. Khalid, with his grainy-earthy voice, is not such a natural fit, and I can’t imagine the level of vocal-production mechanics necessary to turn him into a backing-vox sigh — but somehow, they did it! Sadly, no such vocal molecular gastronomy was applied to the horns, which couldn’t sound more General MIDI if they came with a tech spec.
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Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Victoria Monét’s “I’m all out of love/You gave it away” hook is feathery light and lovely–so why does Khalid have to come in and drown the mood? His enunciation on the second verse is so swampy that I can barely understand a word. It’s a shame, because Victoria Monét is more than strong enough to stand on her own, and by herself, this could have been so much fun.
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Oliver Maier: Monét is content to continue being the person who reminds you that Ariana Grande exists, and Khalid is content to pour honey over proceedings. I can’t make out a word he’s saying, but I don’t suppose it matters. Utterly forgettable but plush and pleasant in the moment, and not the shallowest disco throwback single in recent times if I do “Say So” myself.
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