Armin van Buuren ft. Trevor Guthrie – This is What It Feels Like
Don’t you hate when the portraits on the movie poster don’t correspond to the credits layout? So do we, sometimes.
[Video][Website]
[4.50]
Iain Mew: Guys, rave Coldplay has already been done much better than this. By Coldplay.
[3]
Anthony Easton: I never trust people who are unconscious in their attempts to work through the epic. This is so unironic, that I am basically allergic.
[4]
Brad Shoup: Trevor runs late on the phrases; I like the thought, but I’m sure the remixes clear that right up. A bit weird to hear a wannabe anthem talk about “the show” — seems a bit gauche for an electronic experience. Could Ryan Tedder not summon the requisite feels? Or did he already have eight arpeggiated pop songs like this in the pipeline? OR… is this song about the life of a lonely feature credit?
[5]
Scott Mildenhall: Just one look at Trevor Guthrie in the unintentionally hilarious video — long hair, shades and an unmistakeable air of “rock music isn’t really working for me right now”, driving through a desert in a sports car in America — will tell you that this is “EDM.” He sounds a bit like Enrique Iglesias, and in that finds greater similarity with the undisputed king of nondescript bosh vocals, John Martin, whose fee has presumably increased. The best word to describe the song is “serviceable.” Van Buuren seems to have been looking to make a hit, and now he has one.
[6]
Will Adams: Pop crossover singles from trance albums are nothing new, nor are Armin’s dude-singer anthems. But given the recent success of a similar song, the timing might be just right for this to break through. “This Is What It Feels Like” is better, too. What good trance does well is layering, and Armin employs it here, even with the reduced tempo. He sweetens Trevor Guthrie’s crooning with winding falsetto lines and stacks synths to add depth. This is the attention to detail that’s missing from so much of house music.
[7]
Patrick St. Michel: Oh, great timing Jukebox, this guy’s playing a music festival I’m going to next weekend. Thanks for reminding me I don’t need to see him.
[2]
Trevor’s no Sophie Ellis-Bextor, but at least he got a better tune out of Armin, and face it, despite the cheekbones, did YOU think we’d ever hear from him again in any sort of ‘relevant pop’ sense? Ooh, it’s kind of crazy, indeed.
I’d rate “Not Giving Up On Love” higher than this (the extended mix, at least). I had no idea who Trevor was until Wikipedia told me he was in soulDecision.
The Giuseppe Ottaviani remix of this song is quite good. It bumps up the tempo and makes it 10x more ravey.