From the department of follow-up singles to big hits we missed first time round…

[Video][Website]
[7.10]

Alex Ostroff: My brain has mentally slotted “Tangerine” next to about half of Carly Rae Jepsen’s Kiss, not because they sound remotely similar but because it manages to capture the same spirit at its core. Love has caught Yemi totally unaware, eclipsing all previous understandings of the word and the only proper response is to sing, every note and every line revealing more of this discovery, piling harmonies and percussion towards the sky, ascending to bliss and then disappearing.
[8]

Patrick St. Michel: Songs capable of sounding like how new love actually feels — stupidly thrilling, jittery, always ready to trip over itself and land on its face — are always welcome, and Yemi Alade singing “your love is sweet like tangerine” is especially alluring. Selebobo’s production helps the cause quite a bit, thanks to those synth blurts and the Auto-Tune vapor trail coming off of Alade’s voice. But ultimately she sells the thrill all her own, zipping through this and adding those fantastic “suka”s in the back.
[8]

Micha Cavaseno: Over a back-beat that sounds like the first springs of life for a toy robot, this track skips and stutters to life in a flurry of pizzicato and staccato while our vocalists spring to a more sure-footed sense of life. It exudes excess illumination as it spins along, dashing along in a world in-between rhythm so that it seems impossible to follow, but everywhere you turn is a right step somehow.
[8]

Brad Shoup: Well, it doesn’t do anything with that timeshifting-music-box effect, but this thing oozes good vibes. I love the harmonics that result from combining Alade with a dude’s voice, upgrading an already-killer melody.
[8]

Katherine St Asaph: A sequel, or victory lap, to previous single “Johnny” — same producer, callback in the video — with slightly diminishing returns but way more citrus-bright infatuation.
[7]

Will Adams: Like the fruit, compact and bursting with flavor that goes down quick and easy. Not sure how polyrhythms fit into the metaphor, but those are always welcome too.
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: This is what I think of when I think of contemporary Afropop: a slightly soca-ish hip-slanging beat, lyrics partially in English and partially not, and a sunny disposition. It’s solid, but doesn’t blow me away. 
[5]

Alfred Soto: The synth sounds aren’t fresh but Alade is. Sweet and not cloying, lovebuzzed without being a sap, she sings like she’s discovering the possibilities of the human voice one note at a time.
[6]

Anthony Easton: Last night I went out to a concert, and met a friend there — the band’s back up singer was singing some gorgeous oohs, and Travis leaned over and said how much a good ooh would make your night. We went out for drinks with a bunch of people afterwards, and the bartender had some excellent music playing. I forgot which song, but a lot of oohs happened, and we sang along. Lots of things happened at that show, and it was a highlight of my time in Montreal.This chorus proves Travis’s thesis: songs are so much better with a chorus that resists explicit language in favor of abstract joy. 
[9]

Iain Mew: Both vocalists are great, but the song is a bright burst that skips along so lightly it barely leaves a trace. A small pleasure as well as a sweet one.
[6]