The Singles Jukebox

Pitchfork gives music 6.8, but we give not having money [3.91]…

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[3.91]Josh Langhoff: Preteen singer bravely stands up to bullies, thoughtfully gives all the credit to two Swedish dudes.
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: Vocals meant to sound like a chorus of kids on the playground is bad enough. Auto-Tuning them is even worse.
[1]

Taylor Alatorre: My inner child resents being condescended to.
[3]

Will Adams: The context is important, if not only that it speaks to Galantis’s approach to vocals (in that they’ve now made Julia Karlsson and 10-year-old Reece Bullimore sound exactly the same), but that it places all the attention on the lyrics. Apart from the populist rumbling of the title, what situation could an adult identify with here? Getting mugged outside the club? Paying $14 for well drinks? No, this is about Bullimore not getting bullied and standing up to all those lunch money trolls. The bouncy house production is easy enough to swallow, but the idea of 21+ spilling their drinks and devoting their entire being to this is surreal and ridiculous enough for me to give cordial approval.
[6]

Scott Mildenhall: Such is the strength of Galantis’s penchant for pitched-up vocals, not indicative of any age or gender, that an illusion is shattered with the knowledge that “No Money” is sung by a literal child. On a fresh listen, yes, it does sound like a 10-year-old boy, and yes, it is about not giving a bully your dinner money, but that not necessarily being apparent merely means Galantis are the Necker cube of pop. On a more concrete level, they might be taking quite a simplistic attitude to bullying, but it’s at least a positive and non-pious one. Three hits in, they’re still carving out their own inclusive and wonky niche very successfully.
[7]

Jonathan Bradley: Perfect for when you really need to tell a panhandler to rack off, only with a bit of tropical flair. Sassiness is suited to something like Icona Pop’s “I Love It,” where the impudence is enhanced by the message, but unless your mates are really that deadset on bludging off you all the time, the hook’s intensity seems petty. As tropical house goes, “No Money” is more a vacation daydream than an island getaway; the synths are big and sticky like electro-pop retrofitted with the newest dance trend. With less yelling, maybe I could dance more.
[3]

Ryo Miyauchi: Is this going for laughs? Or is this going against the grain? Is this… and there’s the bright beat to make me no longer care about my questions. Is the reason behind why they have no money a punchline? Or an excuse to shout things at people? And there’s the beat again. The song ends and, well, I still don’t get it, but I don’t worry enough to revisit it any further.
[4]

Crystal Leww: Corny festival tune from an era that has passed us by.
[3]

Patrick St. Michel: This is designed to be heard in a setting where the lyrics don’t matter beyond something to maybe scream along to for a bit, and on that level “No Money” does its job well, building to the big drop and then getting the most out of it. But this crosses the border ever so slightly — so, I take this is about some sort of school lunch bullying? Are people standing out in fields so zonked out they aren’t going to wonder “why are we losing it to a teachable moment?” You have one job and that is not to distract listeners before the big release, and ya blew Galantis!
[4]

Will Rivitz: I can’t do it. If this had come out four, maybe even three years ago, I could get down to it, but it’s 2016, and I just can’t do it. The market’s been oversaturated with insipid, piano-heavy pop house for years. Kygo and all the wannabe-Kygos on SoundCloud beat the “tropical” (urgh) steel-drum lead to death in a matter of months, and that was a full two years ago at this point. I dig the cheeky nods to jackin’ house, like the ragged breakbeats and the James Brown “Whoo!” but one of the reasons we don’t hear this (or Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be,” or Tiësto’s “Wasted,” or anything else along these lines) on the radio anymore is because we’re all sick of the sound. The sooner Galantis moves back to the genuine euphoria of “Runaway,” the better.
[3]

Alfred Soto: Appropriate for a Summer Olympics 2016 TV bumper.
[3]