Cher Lloyd ft. Mike Posner – With Ur Love
“Swagger Jagger” jacked.
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[6.83]
Edward Okulicz: The death of a talent show novelty and the birth, or at least first appearance for sale, of a real pop star with real charisma. What Mike Posner is doing for Lloyd’s coming out party is anyone’s guess, but he doesn’t sound like a sex pest, so I guess there were no legal grounds to have him removed. If “With Ur Love” were a colour, it would be half pink and half whatever colour sunshine is.
[8]
Iain Mew: Expressive voice fights against dull words, tune, Mike Posner; just about wins; returns to muttering “da da da da dum” and makes that sound just as much fun.
[6]
Brad Shoup: Cher’s “Paper Planes,” right down to the fake paramilitary violence (kinda sounds like she’s saying “you got an AK and you’re blowin’ dude”) and that great legato melody line during the second verse. The wending, half-time pre-chorus melody is a delightful bonus, an extra gesture on top of the Supertramp bassline and schizo Greek chorus. The Poz shows up to wipe his -8 charisma modifier all over the proceedings, but Lloyd’s generosity of spirit vanquishes his gormless cameo.
[9]
Katherine St Asaph: The U.S. (one imagines) scrubs Lloyd with the Max Martin quirk-eraser for all “Swagger Jagger” marks, but she still miraculously sounds like herself. She also sounds like Rihanna crossed with Nina Persson and the track like “Paper Planes,” both excellent sounds. Yes, the lyrics are a depthless song-title catalog, and Mike espouses as mature a view of dating as fellow Dook alum Karen Owen; of course he giggles at third base. Neither interrupts the fun.
[7]
Jer Fairall: Cher Lloyd projects a beatific enthusiasm unmatched by any of her peers aside from Nicki Minaj, but her second single suffers Nicki’s tendency to drown out that personality in so much feeble mush.
[5]
Jonathan Bogart: There’s a lot of Nicki Minaj here (the singing Minaj, not the rapping), and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I just wish the personality of the “da-da-da” intro and outro had stuck around for the whole song.
[6]