The Singles Jukebox

Other potential shampoo taglines: “No More Tears Left to Cry,” “Shampoo’d Up,” “Delicate”…

[Video][Website]
[4.86]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: This is just “No Roots” again, down to the title that sounds like a faux-edgy shampoo brand. Second time through is less interesting, as always.
[5]

Alfred Soto: Hi-hat + “I can feel it in the back of my tongue” should = euphoria. So why does Alice Merton sing as if she’s more comfortable with a concept like “Speak Softly”?
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: Best to think before you lash out, else you get hit with a lawsuit for lashing out with the riff to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” Except today’s lawsuits aren’t about biting the notes so much as biting the vibe, which the mildly rocking “Lash Out” does not. But even the mildest of rock can earn you a sleeper hit from people who long for Real Guitar Music (but sniff at country and Warped Tour and other places it does exist). And the mutedness makes some sense, since the track’s about not lashing out, deploying a lot of the tricks “Tongue” does. It works, within confines.
[6]

Iain Mew: I’ll happily take it that she intended to make something that sounds like The Ting Tings minus the fun. I just wish I had any idea why. It doesn’t even really go with the identity that “No Roots” established.
[4]

Edward Okulicz: Alice Merton is too plummy and measured in the chorus to make me believe she’s going to lash out against anything. If she evinced some actual anger, or just gave up and went full disco, this would actually be a great song. As it is, it’s stuck halfway between the rage of a rock song and the liberating glee of disco.
[6]

Dorian Sinclair: I have an anger problem, which is to say: I have a problem getting angry. Even in situations where outrage would be wholly justified, I can’t move the needle much beyond “frustrated,” if that. Maybe this lack is why I’m drawn to “Lash Out” — maybe my imagination is captured by its expression of something so alien to me. Or maybe the song is just a bop.
[7]

Ian Mathers: It’s almost painful that, no matter how sincere an expression of rage and/or catharsis this is, it still feels like it’s been focus-grouped to an unmoving pulp.
[2]