The Singles Jukebox

At long last: Nadine 3.0…

[Video]
[4.56]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Why release this on March 11 when pi day was just three days away? Let’s call it a metaphor for everything about this collab feeling just a little bit off the mark. 
[4]

Alex Clifton: I’m thoroughly annoyed because both Megan and Dua have much better songs about sex that stick in the mind far more than this one. It’s not terrible, but both have set their standards so high that it feels really rote in comparison. Having said that, I’ll give “Sweetest Pie” an extra point because the video is fun/demonic (a combination we need to see more often).
[5]

Andrew Karpan: In what might be most outré record in both of their careers so far — more so even than the Seussian jungle gym of “WAP” — the debut pairing of Megan Thee Stallion with Dua Lipa takes place in a disco haunted by desire, a deep abyss held inside a rubber band-Nile Rogers dress-up that recalls the land of hit Lipa songs like “Physical” and “Levitating.” (The Canadian producer Koz appears to be the big link between the two.) Inside this club at the end of the world, the pair lure wayward men with promises of love scavenged from remembered betrayals. “Don’t be goin’ through my phone ’cause that’s the old me,” Stallion warns. This is the promise of renewal, deferred like dreams. Like a dream, the sweetest pie is the one on the ledge; untouched, heat wafting into the air forever. 
[7]

Ian Mathers: You know, I love pie but by the end here I was beginning to suspect this song is not actually about pie at all! Unlike that Pop Smoke song Dua Lipa is perfectly adequate here on the hook. It’s hard not to wish there was a lot more Megan, though, and that chorus feels looooong.
[5]

Ady Thapliyal: Megan Thee Stallion is trying to reverse-manufacture a pop crossover here from the hottest trends in Top 40 radio, a departure from her usual strategy of making pop radio accept her TikTok-fueled hits without concession. I hope she changes course.
[3]

Stephen Eisermann: Both Megan and Dua are too good, individually, for this track. Together? It’s an insult to them and fans alike. How did nobody on their team point out how beneath them this is? Dua sounds disinterested and even Megan, who is rarely off, sounds like she isn’t really giving it her all. The flow is weird, the vibe is off, and there really is nothing left to say. Maybe it’s better we don’t have our powerhouses team up.
[3]

Claire Biddles: The definition of middling — doesn’t play to either of their strengths, so ends up as a non-committal version of a song that neither can elevate. 
[4]

Leah Isobel: I’m on record as an enjoyer of both of these artists so I want to like this more than I do. There’s a strong first draft energy – the mixing is bizarre, the double chorus wears out a bit on its repeats, and the metaphor feels a little one-dimensional. Like, I think “Bon Appetit” is an underrated Katy Perry single, so I’m not opposed to a sex-as-food metaphor, but this lacks flavor.
[5]

Alfred Soto: Solid + adequate = 3.14
[5]