The Singles Jukebox

Approximately eight squillion months after it first became a hit, the Jukebox finally tackles this Romanian monster…

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[5.57]

Frank Kogan: Summer dance haze, with a woman who’s as hazy as the Romanian panpipes at the start, and an Azeri accordion sample that’s a kissing cousin to “Lambada“; too bad this didn’t borrow the lambada’s massive hip sway, but it’s vaguely haunting on a vague and sunny day.
[7]

Martin Skidmore: Romanian trance with added accordion may not sound like a winner, but this is very likeable. The female vocal is sweet enough, and the music is well controlled, but I think it’s probably the sampled accordion tune that has made it such a huge smash across Europe.
[6]

Chuck Eddy: So, I gather those world music woodwinds or hurdy-gurdies or whatever they are wafting through should get classified as “Romanian gypsy music,” or something? Anyway, I cringed at the thinnness of the voices here at first, but eventually the National Geographic stuff and beauty of the Euromelody won me over. Totally get why this is a hit all over the world, save the stupid U.S.
[8]

Kat Stevens: I was so happy when Samim’s “Heater” flung accordion techno into the charts a few years ago, and it somehow stuck there like bright pink silly putty on a whitewashed wall. Three years later, the putty has long since been peeled off and re-used elsewhere, and all that remains on the chart wall is a sad greasy smear.
[2]

Jonathan Bogart: Sure, you don’t need an ending if your music is only ever going to be heard in the middle of an endless mix. But if you’re going to release it as a single, you need to stick the landing.
[5]

Michaelangelo Matos: Before I looked closer at the names I took this for RenFest Eurohouse, and it’s immaculate enough to work as such even if it’s not. Whatever you call it, it’s relative subtlety attracts: they lay the cheese on in contained strips rather than shredding and dumping.
[6]

Ian Mathers: Hilariously enough the MP3 I have of this is tagged as “ft. Alicia Keys” instead, which would be a bold step forward for Keys (gaining a Russian accent and singing on serviceable but undistinguished Romanian chillout music, I mean).
[5]