Fitz and the Tantrums – HandClap
Am I the only person who keeps typing his name as “Fritz” still?
[Video][Website]
[3.50]
Alfred Soto: Although released last spring, “HandClap” sounds like a track passed from Volkswagen commercials to pop ubiquity without ever charting. It could’ve been recorded in 2011 or 2007. It offers nothing but its vaguely catchy meaninglessness.
[4]
Hannah Jocelyn: “Moneygrabber” and “Out of My League” are underrated pop songs — the former classy and effortless, the latter ornate and overproduced in the best way possible. Naturally, when they actually try to ‘sell out,’ recruiting hitmaker Ricky Reed and way-less-consistent hitmaker Sam Hollander to make them a hit [duh], it results in something less catchy or interesting than either single. “HandClap” falls more in line with “The Walker,” so designed for syncs that the YouTube comments consist entirely of what “brought them” to the video, whether through a WalMart back-to-school commercial or over the Target PA while shopping. I will give “HandClap” credit that it’s less annoying than “The Walker,” but that’s only because I forgot how much I hated that song until I listened to it again and cringed at the first sound of that fucking whistle. Instead, “HandClap” utilizes chopped orchestral samples, a hook line nearly identical to “Bedrock,” and a chorus that shouts out James Brown before launching into something completely un-funky and soulless. Baffling Interpolian guitars and random shouts of “turn it up” attempt to fill space to no avail. It’s not terrible — the verses recapture some of the energy of their earlier singles — but it’s fundamentally cynical, and a depressing listen in more ways than one.
[3]
Mark Sinker: Didn’t Chuck Eddy write a book about the history of the handclap? Marshmallow-quirky song not worthy even of tiny entry in same: the claps at issue might maybe do minor sample-service as a loop somewhere.
[3]
Micha Cavaseno: Fitz and the Tantrums are the worst sort of music; professional jingle-writers who recognize the value of a good TV licensing. They’re built for making singles that get used as backing in commercials, reality shows, trailers… They aspire to make songs that are inherently inoffensive and devoid of character, but understand the uses of earworms and sections that can serve different purposes, such as dramatic building swell bridges for emotive choruses and taut verses crammed with nosy nagging. Oooh, I can already hear Michael Fitzpatrick’s nasal blatherings scoring Renee from Mob Wives rummaging through a dresser in ill-advised attempt at getting to ‘the truth’! The fact is, what makes them worse than their closest peer (Neon Trees) is while Tyler Penn’s songs often feel ready to sink under his overblown theatrics, Fitz has only the barest residue of a personality. When he talks of someone else’s sex, making people do things, other humans… he sounds like someone who doesn’t interact with people. He seems like the kind of guy who probably keeps human body parts as trophies… You know what? Let’s keep that kind of guy busy making the bad songs.
[2]
Mo Kim: I can see the dramatic breakdown before the instrumental hook working well on a sufficiently dim prom floor, and the hook that follows it straddles the line between goofy and martial expertly. The verses, sadly, do not quite carry the interest that the chorus does; consider this more of an awkward high-five.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: I suppose this is my limit: commissioning handclaps to do what whistles did, with meaningless surrounding songstuff that, unlike “The Walker,” doesn’t even pretend to be anything else. Or perhaps my limit is David Guetta’s “Sexy Bitch” for programs that can’t say “bitch” even censored.
[3]
Jessica Doyle: So it’s Fitz and the Tantrums gone full EXO. (Or full CLC, if you want to make a joke about switching concepts.) Only the hard work of the choreography is outsourced, and there’s no Chen or D.O. to take over after the prechorus. There is Noelle Scaggs, but she barely appears; if she’s going to keep getting so few lines I’m going to start rooting for her to pull a Kris.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: The groove is ruthlessly efficient. The verses pop with energy. The hooks nag. The chorus uses claps as a crutch, and hasn’t got anything else. If you caught a third of this song on the radio, I can see why you might stream it and send it up the Hot 100, though.
[5]
This song is on HEAVY rotation at my local Planet Fitness, whose playlist seems to comprise entirely of “lesser known affordable pop songs that are high energy but easily ignoreable b/c you don’t go to the gym to listen to music.”
Fitz and the Tantrums fall into that category of band for me that really only come alive on stage. I saw them at a JBTV taping a few years ago and really enjoyed it, but I can never quite connect with their recorded stuff. This is easily one of their worst singles, not least because it sounds so dated.