Do we want to want him?

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[5.80]Crystal Leww: This is basically a Maroon 5 song, who lately has been using “Sugar” to benefit from the current wave of ’70s nostalgia that our little prince Bruno Mars has brought in with Mark Ronson. I’m not mad; it turns out that I like “Sugar,” and it turns out I like “Want to Want Me” too.
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Katherine St Asaph: “It’s too hard to sleep, got the sheets off the bed, nothing on me, and I can’t take it no more, it’s 100 degrees” — a relatable Jason Derulo song! Except I don’t know why he thinks someone else in the bed is going to improve matters; unless they have really good A/C you’re either in for a 4 a.m. walk of shame (or, given that he’s a dude, walk of douche) outta the bed furnace, or a sexy sexy night of feeling like you’ve been cursed by a vengeful sweat-nausea-and-insomnia god. So having Been There Often, and dreading the start of summer, here is some advice to help poor Jason sleep: a) Fans on the bed. Like one at the foot of the bed, one by your neck. You’re Jason Derulo, you can afford the big industrial kind even. b) Fuck a Chillow, go for one of those cooling pads they recommend for women in menopause. c) Soak a bunch of towels in ice-cold water, wrap them in ice, and drape them around your shoulders and back. d) Lie on something stone or metal for a minute or so until you feel both pathetic and warm again. e) Stop trying to be Maroon 5. That won’t affect the room temperature. It’s good advice.
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Will Adams: More a blank slate than a chameleon, Jason Derulo has now had at least seven genres painted on him in order to satisfy current trends. This time it’s a purée of “Jealous” and “Sugar,” all lite-disco and falsetto and adoring of its subject. It’s derivative, sure, but it’s also bright, reasonably catchy, and possibly the best setting for Derulo’s minimal charisma.
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Mo Kim: Jason Derulo is like the ex-boyfriend you can’t hate because, fine, he picked out that fancy outfit in two minutes and the bouquet of flowers he plucked from the neighbor’s garden reeks of improvised thoughtfulness. But damned if that high note in the bridge doesn’t make me giggle and shiver a little; damned if “get up next to you” doesn’t make me want to jump up right here and now; damned if those bargain-bin synths don’t have groove; damned if he doesn’t make you want him as much as he wants himself. Half-assed all around but brownie points for charm.
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Luisa Lopez: I put stock in things like the first day it feels like spring; when Manhattan melts; the sound of small bodies passing through the water of a fire hydrant; reaching into your pocket, your hand filling, a bundle of pennies; root beer; the unexpected kindness of boys. This sounds like every single one of them.
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Anthony Easton: A summery, bubbly ode to sex, built on decades of pop desire but without the self-conscious formalism of “Uptown Funk” or even late Pharrell — even if the falsetto is a little bit Michael Jackson.
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Scott Mildenhall: That’s how Derulo goes: in medias res. Sheets on the floor, immediacy as ever. It’s not the immediate trauma of “I only miss you when I’m breathing,” but once again, allowing for a paratextual signature, he takes you right into his feelings and inside his head. Through the self-evident “In My Head,” suggestions that “you could be my it girl,” and the glorious desperation of “The Other Side,” that’s exactly where many of Jason Derulo’s songs take place. “Want to Want Me” is buoyant enough to suggest it may progress beyond that, but for the moment he waits, as he does best. The ineffable serenity of the “oohs” is no cheap trick.
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Alfred Soto: I like this, which hurt a little because his last couple of singles were garbage. The sampled “ah” fools me into thinking it’s going to turn into “Need You Tonight,” and the falsetto is so high because Derulo is sizing up Adam Levine and liking what it sees, but even so the rudimentary hook and beat won me over. My advice to the Marooned 5: dump the itchy Adam Levine and consider this dude.
[7]

Brad Shoup: What hooked me first were those heavy-gated major-key synthrods on the refrain; it’s the same thing that happened with Karmin’s “Brokenhearted” eventually. But his looseness with the beat completely sold me. It could mean he was billed for 20 minutes’ studio time, or — I’d prefer — Jason’s growing into something more than a guy who makes pop hits. Maybe he’s a pop star, able to bury Adam Levine at his own late game, able to make that Nile Rodgers stroke sound like just another element.
[8]

Micha Cavaseno: NOBODY WANTS YOU dude. NOBODY. KNOWS. WHO. YOU. ARE. Your biggest hits rely on whistles and stupid fake klezmer bro music. Now you’re hitting us with indie electro-disco and a falsetto so garbage that the Autotune is showing definitive signs of strain in trying to make this sound feasible. It sounds like Trey Songz if Trey had the mistaken ambition to make a Maroon 5 song. Somebody stop the gigolo polyglot (copyright of Daniel Montestinos-Donaghy circa 2013) once and for all.
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