The Singles Jukebox

#mellogang takes another beating :(((

[Video][Website]
[4.88]

Jonathan Bogart: Is it really possible that I’m nostalgic for the halcyon days of “Like a G6”? This follows the same template, with Marshmello in for the Cataracs and Tinashe in for Dev (and Chanyeol subbing for a third FEM verse), but the distance between the brash autotune-sculpted post-Ke$ha sound of 2010 and the bubbly featherwashed post-Omi sound of 2016 is the distance from “Surfin’ Bird” to “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Maybe the latter is more ecumenically open to diverse audiences, more engaged with the zeitgeist of the moment, more intellectually engaged, more professionally crafted. But it’s nowhere near as much fun.
[6]

Juana Giaimo: Quite surprisingly, this song isn’t a complete mess, but the reason may be because everyone settled. Tinashe never sounded as generic — where has her edginess gone? —  while Far East Movement’s  verses are so plain that they pass completely unnoticed. After getting to know the controversy Marshmello can cause, I was expecting some risky movements — he could have at least make something interesting of Tinashe’s vocals. Maybe only Chanyeol could take advantage of it all. His final verses close the track with rough vocals and fast words, imprinting some personality on a song that needs more of it. 
[6]

Will Rivitz: If we’re trying to make dubstep cool again, could we pick a less repetitive song as the standard-bearer?
[4]

Iain Mew: This makes me think of the last “real love” chorus we did and how Far East Movement are setting themselves up as facilitators for others across a range of dance styles in a similar way to Clean Bandit — just with their own verses instead of strings filling the gaps. Tinashe at least rises to the occasion, but they could do with a bit more obvious Marshmello in the beat and a bit less of a subdued update on “Like a G6.”
[5]

Alfred Soto: Beholden to a context and an aural signature, Tinashe sounds marooned on this sequencer-led chunk of Eurofestival pop recorded in America.
[3]

Madeleine Lee: This is such an eyebrow-raising combination of artist names (certainly by design) that it makes a competently executed trappy club song with mundane lyrics sound better for being competently executed. In fact it’s surprising how well these artists blend into the song — good in that it doesn’t distract from the groove, but bad in that no one really stands out. Tinashe is perfect and perfectly anonymous; Chanyeol was never so much a good rapper at good at sounding like a rapper, and his bilingual performance here matches Far East Movement’s own vocals.
[6]

Kat Stevens: This track is based around the gleeful noise you make when you stretch a rubber band over a shoe box and twang it incessantly to annoy your Mum, who’s trying to get on with her marking. As Mum would tactfully say: I appreciate the effort and clear musical ingenuity on display here, and I’ll ‘definitely’ listen to it ‘later’.
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: “Like a G6” may have faded from memory, but at the time it sounded distinctive. This just sounds like a less compelling “Never Forget You.”
[5]