The Singles Jukebox

Not a Sia cover…

[Video]
[5.12]

Samson Savill de Jong: Dave just reminding everyone that he can destroy them all if he feels like it. This is solid rather than spectacular, but you also get the sense he’s only using a fragment of his power; it sounds like it was casually tossed off within half an hour but there are still bars here (big fan of “My shooter stayed in touch, it came in clutch cah I don’t do manuals” in particular). He’s capable of far better, but I feel like this song is almost daring you to make him prove it.
[6]

Vikram Joseph: Since we last covered Dave, he’s switched up his sincere, empathetic delivery for something that I presume is meant to sound more ominous. It doesn’t particularly work for him; I’m not sure what the metaphor he’s going for here is, this sounds at times like little more than a particularly baleful chemistry textbook. Clunky delivery (“you get hit… with a stick”) doesn’t help, and callow brags about money and women and a shout-out to renowned homophobe T*son F*ry make “Titanium” extremely hard to warm to.
[3]

Alfred Soto: A week after absorbing Polo G’s American hit “POPSTAR,” this Mercury Award winner takes a look at fame and also shudders. Yet he doesn’t get encrusted in his own snot. The electric piano plays an attractive squirrely line, and Dave gets off a wry verse or two (“I don’t need vibrators”).
[7]

Natasha Genet Avery: Lyrically, Dave returns in top form, but “Titanium” is dulled by its lackluster production and monotonous four-note keyboard riff. 
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: Dave’s a great rapper — that, to me, is unquestionable — but “Titanium” is too simple, and accordingly too dull. It sounds like a freestyle, albeit one with a chorus that opens and closes the track, atop a boring piece of music. He can do, and has done, plenty better than this lazy record.
[4]

Tim de Reuse: Each line, Dave’s flow somersaults over itself and then slams into an over-emphasized brick wall. If you’ve gotta base your entire hook on rhyming three times against the title of the track, I don’t think the word “Titanium” is the best choice of centerpiece.
[3]

Nortey Dowuona: We’re already at the IWW era of Dave? Goddamn, I’m old.
[7]

Iain Mew: Dave’s serious mode got a lot of his plaudits so it’s not surprising to see him return with something stripped-back sounding. The problem is that even with decent rhymes, when the subject isn’t weighty enough for the treatment it just emphasises ponderousness. 
[5]