The Singles Jukebox

A three-time world karate champion, so if the music thing doesn’t work out she can tell employers she actually is a rockstar ninja…

[Video][Website]
[5.22]

Will Rivitz: Anne-Marie is a talented acolyte of the school of #sadbangers, like the breakup song “Alarm” and its bump-and-grind half-time beat and the single-mother empathy of “Rockabye” and its trop-house flourishes, and “Ciao Adios” is no exception. It’s essentially a retooled “Alarm”: boy cheats, Anne-Marie is done, we dance off into the sunset. That said, “Alarm” was one of the best songs of last year, and this captures most of its magic.
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: Anne-Marie’s voice was just there on Clean Bandit’s “Rockabye”; here, it’s actively annoying. Combining a finger-picked guitar with a faux-reggae beat does no one any favors, either.
[3]

Micha Cavaseno: One day, we will live in a world where every pop singer-songwriter doesn’t sound like they’re affecting a demo because they’re hoping Rihanna will pick up their single.
[2]

Juana Giaimo: A year ago, I wrote that people would look back on “Do It Right” as the song where Anne-Marie really began, but the tracks she’s released since then suggest that there is no Anne-Marie. There is no artist project behind her name, just a small collection of songs where she safely tries all the contemporary trends. “Ciao Adios” is tropical house like so many other tracks these days, and not even catchy.
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: Says the BBC, straight-faced: “Anne-Marie says she doesn’t feel any pressure to live up to the heights set by [Ella Eyre, John Newman and Becky Hill].” May we all be given such surmountable expectations. It’s hard to say how much of this B-list alt-pop interchangeability has to do with scanty industry investment in actually developing their singer-songwriters and how much is just those artists’ lack of imagination, but virtually every “alt-pop” artist eventually falls into one or more of these categories: vaguely soulful (Eyre, Hill, Paloma Faith), vaguely offbeat (Alessia Cara, pre-“Green Light” Lorde), vaguely anthemic (everyone, often when paired with an EDM headliner), and vaguely sassy and tropical. “Ciao Adios” is Category IV plus vaguely Latin — the quasi-reggaeton beat goes with the cod-Spanish title, which really should end “I’m gone” — and perfectly okay filler.
[4]

Scott Mildenhall: You might think that the subtle clip-clop appearing sporadically through this shows the influence of “Hotline Bling,” but it is in fact the sound of the titular horse Anne-Marie is showering — given her Lilt-level authentic Caribbean styling, it’s plausible she could be saying “showa di ‘os.” It’s surprising that such a phonetically pleasing combination has taken so long to be used — it sounds like a jolly grab for exoticism from the 1950s, and that jolliness takes it above “Alarm” and the fun vacuum of “Do It Right”.
[7]

Katie Gill: That surprisingly tight production and pretty baller beat doesn’t change the fact that “ciao, adios, I’m done” is just such an awkward phrase to hang your chorus on, especially since Anne-Marie seems to vocalize “ciao, adios” as one single word. The entire song is full of good moments in the beat and Anne-Marie’s voice, but they’re hampered by completely awkward lyrics.
[5]

Anthony Easton: The complex levels of contempt in how she sings “fancy” are profound.
[9]

Alfred Soto: She’s most powerful when her voice cracks at the memory of the guitars and cars that her beloved and his new beloved share, but the light skank takes familiar steps.
[5]