The Singles Jukebox

Featuring Jess Glynne and featuring inspiro…

[Video]
[3.75]

Scott Mildenhall: What lineage: not least Kings of Tomorrow, Layo & Bushwacka! and Julie McKnight, but also Jess Glynne herself. Truly she has reached Lighthouse Family levels of musical self-optimisation, in which one chorus often bleeds into another, converging at the middle of the road in a pop sweet spot. Paradoxically, all she is now is herself. Although Tunde and his mate could do a great cover of this.
[6]

Alfred Soto: When a performer does well after a series of barely competent singles, I’m inclined to praise her. Then the ooh-oohs recall Adam & the Levines and the house piano a nod to music for which she has no affinity. I wish “All I Am” had taken a cue from these casually honest lines: “I’m breaking my silence/Cuz I’ve had a few.”
[4]

Claire Biddles: The spacey synths at the start suggest a more interesting sonic environment than Glynne’s dancepop usually offers, but the song quickly adheres to the sound and structure that she’s used a dozen times. Her vocals don’t overwhelm the song as much as usual, and I wish the vocoder effect during the chorus was used more.
[3]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The problem with “All I Am” is not one of craft. Every individual element of the song, from Mark Ralph’s anodyne synth-pop production to Glynne’s typically skillful and emotive vocal performance, is perfectly fine. Instead, “All I Am” is unsatisfying as a single because of the very core of its being, that unshakable sensation that it was written solely for the purpose of soundtracking middle school graduation montages.
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: I guess “Unwritten” was due to be replaced as the pop song most likely to be repurposed by megachurches.
[3]

Vikram Joseph: This is so benign and edgeless that it could have been a sub-par S Club 7 single. Jess Glynne’s vocals get vocodered to death with fairly awful results, especially on the thin, reedy pre-chorus. Also: “all I am is you”? That’s… not a healthy approach to a relationship, Jess, let’s work on that.
[3]

Ryo Miyauchi: Though it’s still a touch too sappy with its sentimentality, “All I Am” and its sprightly celebration of a tight-knit friendship provides a nice breather from this current pop climate full of gloom, dread and mistrust.
[5]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Not terribly different from Glynne’s other hits, but this one in particular reeks of an unsavory, faux-inspirational positivity. Not to say that Glynne is being disingenuous or isn’t trying to be a light during these dark times, but this feels as encouraging as an image of a sunset with a hackneyed quote on top.
[2]