Calvin Harris ft. Kelis – Bounce
If anyone can tell me what Commodore 64 game music this rips off, that’d be great.
[Video][Website]
[5.64]
Anthony Easton: The ascending energy starting about 3:09 almost convinces me this is something worth listening to.
[5]
Doug Robertson: Calvin seems happy to stick with his template of acceptable in the nineties beats and bleeps, and Kelis reluctant to move beyond her tried and tested vocal stylings, but this uninspired recipe is pretty tasty.
[7]
Pete Baran: As a connoisseur of 8-bit game soundtracks, I can tell you that the hook concocted by Calvin is one that nearly every Vic-20 game toyed with until it realized it might get a bit annoying after ten minutes of gameplay. Here it is flanged, distorted, orchestrated, dropped, faded in and out, sped up and down, and thus wears out its welcome in about forty seconds. A classic of the type of record which you recognize in a club, race to the dancefloor because “you love it,” and then when you get on the dancefloor the horrifying realisation of what it actually is comes over you.
[3]
Iain Mew: The continuing electro-isation (electrolysis?) of just about everything in the UK charts can get tiring, but if it means the melancholy chiptunes that make up most of “Bounce” are now mainstream, that’s kind of awesome.
[7]
Jer Fairall: Feels more like a twitch.
[5]
Alex Ostroff: Flesh Tone was one of the best albums of last year, and proved that Kelis could pull off house with aplomb. Her vocals were by turns emotional, sympathetic, vulnerable and overflowing with warmth, love and self-acceptance – all while remaining commanding enough to control the production, instead of letting it control her. ‘Bounce’ would be lightweight by any measure, but following something as triumphant as her last album with this tepid chiptune paean to partying is disappointing to say the least.
[5]
Michaela Drapes: Harris and Kelis have a powerful blippy alchemy going here. He knows how to feature her best strengths as a house diva (which, I admit, I didn’t actually know she had until just now!), and the delicious bounciness makes me want to do unspeakably uncool things on the dancefloor. Mission accomplished!
[7]
Alfred Soto: It’s a photo finish as to what’s more annoying: the “Simon Says” helium hook or Kelis’ gargling-on-chalk voice.
[3]
Sally O’Rourke: For all the track’s replay value, though, it feels a little mushy in the middle where the Kelis-belted megachorus should be. But even if “Bounce” doesn’t live up to its potential as this year’s summer jam, its beat is buoyant enough to inspire even sweat-averse me to brave the heat and get moving.
[7]
Michelle Myers: Calvin Harris and Kelis really do make a good team. Calvin’s beats are tuneful but never too obvious. His brand of dance music feels refreshingly clever in a pop environment dominated by big, dumb synth lines. Kelis is typically strong and eccentric, but here she reminds us that she can be subtle too. “Bounce,” with it’s glad-to-be-moving-on lyrics, reminds me of early 90s diva house, but it feels entirely modern.
[9]
Zach Lyon: I worry that my ears’ love of 8-bit is beginning to wane. Calvin Harris strikes me as another David Guetta — producer/DJs that do nothing to warrant putting their names before the vocalists they’re making songs for (I’m not against this practice, but it’s always the blandest ones that choose to make albums, isn’t it?).
[4]