The Singles Jukebox

Now I think it’s time for us to have a toast…

[Video][Website]
[5.00]

Hazel Robinson: Having been obsessed with Pusha T’s astoundingly nasty verse on “Runaway” for a lot of this year, this is not what I wanted at all. Not even up to Pixie’s normal brashness-mistaken-for-boldness, it tootles along without ever seemingly leaving the “intro” stage. It seemed unlikely that anyone would overproduce her to reduce her personality, but some nanophysicist here has.
[4]

Iain Mew: I presumed that the title was going to be the biggest open goal here, but then Pixie gets introduced with the words “We take it to the next level / so effortless.” The song is the exact opposite of effortless and a total slog to get through its endless laboured choruses. It’s also not even next-level compared to her previous limited singles. 
[3]

Katherine St Asaph: Pixie Lott has a use! Yes, by all indications, she’s proven herself as badass as a clover stem and is more shaky than fierce here; yes, the lyrics are like whatever; yes, Pusha T’s all too aware of the collaboration caliber he’s getting. But I’ll listen to that buzzy, nod-along backing track no matter whose it is.
[7]

Brad Shoup: The Just Blazy production suits Lott way better than previous efforts, allowing her to step with the throb and forgiving most venial sins of projection. But someone’s got to tell Pusha T that getting the Gas Face isn’t a proper trademark.
[6]

Jer Fairall: The horns sound less like 21st century soul than a cast-off from Christina Aguilera’s Back To Basics, and the song is certainly Xtina-grade trashy, but this girl’s weak, slightly trilling voice has nowhere near the presence to pull off the sass that she’s clearly aiming for. Pusha T is here only because someone has to be.
[3]

Jonathan Bradley: Pusha’s declined severely over his G.O.O.D. Music days, but the grainy ruthlessness in his voice can still deliver something able to masquerade as a well-written rap. It helps that he fits unexpectedly well over buzzing electro-pop. Too bad he gives this hook singer so much time on the mic.
[6]

Jonathan Bogart: I like the processing that turns her pushed-rasp on the chorus into a sort of white noise, the trashy, glittery treble of the production, and the oddly perky self-presentation in the video. I can’t say that I know who Pixie Lott is (or Pusha T, aside from Kanyeismo), but I don’t mind them at all.
[6]

Mark Sinker: I cheated to check the video, but I wasn’t sure I remembered what Pixie looked like. Was this why my interest was never caught before? The tune has pretty-growl glints of imperial-phase P!nk, which inclines me to approve, except my watching momentum drifts off her onto the contrast throng of black-clad dancers. No attentive forced-labour army of choreograbots, but a clutter of hired hardbodies, milling round undirected and not very interested, and I agree with them. Pusha T’s early line, “we turn heads like the Exorcist,” implies we’ll end up facing the way we were before they arrived, and this turns out to be true.
[5]