The Singles Jukebox

Throw your hands up at us!

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[6.89]

Claire Biddles: I am HERE for this Pussycat Dolls horns revival.
[7]

Katie Gill: Even if you acknowledge “Independent Woman” in the lyrics, that doesn’t save this song from being a pretty blatant rip-off, just with a brief touch of the horrible horns of “Worth It,” sound design that’s less of a wall of sound and more of a tidal wave of sound, and enough autotune on the chorus to choke a horse. The worst part is we’ve heard a better version of this song from Fifth Harmony before: remember “BO$$?”
[2]

Mo Kim: I love the glittery stomp of the four-on-the-floor beat and the way the pre-chorus moves from sparse reflections on getting hurt and getting back up to the almost urgent tenor of “Destiny said it / you got to get up and get it.” Too vaguely written to move my heart but well-constructed and sincere enough to move my feet.
[7]

Alfred Soto: The chorus is a catchy cuss, but I get the impression it was written first. Not much else is going on except duplicating “Run the World (Girls).”
[5]

Thomas Inskeep: Lukas Loules has worked with the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen and the Wonder Girls, Alexander Kronlund has multiple credits with Britney (including her transcendent “Lucky”), and Tinashe is, well, Tinashe. With resumes like that you’d think they couldn’t miss, and you’d be right: together they wrote “That’s My Girl” as a female empowerment anthem, so it’s appropriate that it references “Independent Women Part 1” — only this is much better. The production by Kronlund and Loules is BIG and STOMPY and BOW-DOWN ANTHEMIC and does a lot to help deliver the song’s message, and the ladies of 5H work the hell out of it. Keep up putting out singles like “Work From Home” and this and not only will they have a legacy, it’ll be assured. A fierce, female Backstreet Boys (stronger together than the sum of their parts) is exactly something the pop world needs, and Fifth Harmony is filling that role nicely. 
[8]

Olivia Rafferty: Yet again heralded by what must be Simon Cowell’s favourite sample sound — pop music’s own Sweaty Squonking Saxophone — Fifth Harmony stomp on back for another knock at the charts. The song sits comfortably amongst the rest of their latest offerings, but what really stands out is the way those extensions are absolutely stacked up on the chorus vocals. It’s rich, it’s explosive, and it’s a little bit cathedral organ.
[8]

Katherine St Asaph: I wonder how many girls actually feel empowered by so-called “empowering” songs. When I hear I’ve been working “so damn hard” I think about sending work emails at 5:30 a.m., when my brain’s turned to fast-moving oatmeal, and wishing for nothing more than to be allowed to sleep. When I hear about my supposed “flawless body” I have enough sense of external perception to know that’s plainly false; girls and women have their flaws itemized and weaponized at them daily, and more are either invented or (more likely) discovered constantly. If there’s a girl in existence who can shrug off being continually played, I haven’t met her; when I’m down, I usually get slapped down further. As a teen songs like this just seemed like reminders of how much better than me pop culture’s idea of an acceptable girl was; as an adult, it’s not much better. Yet as a song this is pretty great: the best of the still-needs-rehabilitation Back to Basics era, without any of the annoying stuff in Fifth Harmony’s other singles. The horn sample’s kept to a dull squawk, the vocals, while still arranged like a choir director who’s just given up on his singers to ever blend, are solid, particularly the molten-steel vocoding of the chorus. Still wish artists would invoke “Independent Women (Part 2),” the subversive version, rather than the version whose ideal of confidence is inserting oneself into a Charlie’s Angels ad, but this will very much do.
[8]

Edward Okulicz: Throws a bunch of female empowerment anthems into a blender until it’s liquid but it’s a creamy and sweet smoothie. I make out bits of Destiny’s Child, Ariana, Girl Thing (!), Little Mix and more. Reminds me most of one of the worst of its type: Meghan Trainor’s “Me Too,” except pretty good.
[7]

William John: An accelerated, musical iteration of the “Ugly Duckling” parable. At the outset, lumbering horns accompany frothy feminist platitudes; so far, nothing new. Then with the bridge comes dramatic transformation: the horns beget soaring synths, and tour de force Normani Kordei invokes ghosts of girlbands past, pushing towards the refrain with a relentless, Biles-esque confidence. With the arrival of the chorus comes a flattening of tempo and a reorganisation of the horns — they are now less waddling ducklings and more graceful swans, wings outstretched, headed skyward. Banded with stomping percussion and an echoing vocal, the result is breathtaking. There are less than ten words in this chorus and yet with all elements in perfect, golden ratio alignment, Fifth Harmony turn it into one of radio pop’s most formidable calls-to-arms in recent memory. An extraordinary song that not even Camila’s unfortunate wailing could ruin.
[10]