The Singles Jukebox

I guess every superhero need her theme music…

[Video][Website]
[6.08]

Eleanor Graham: THE SOUND OF CORBYN’S BRITAIN.
[7]

Anjy Ou: Stormzy bigging me up while I declare that I rule the world with a country rasp over electric guitars and snare drums? Yeah, I dig it.
[7]

Katie Gill: “Power” is a big, strong, loud Spice Girls girl power song, perfect for playing at full volume and screaming it with your girlfriends. It’s pure, unadulterated, fun and sparkly pop music. It’s also a bit of a hot mess: I have no idea why they shoved poor Jesy with baby’s-first-rap-verse. But it’s a BEAUTIFUL hot mess, the music equivalent of putting on all your make-up because fuck it. It’s campy in it’s messiness, perfectly reflected in the aesthetic of the video itself. The main flaw is that Stormzy verse. Poor Stormzy is trying to work something workable out of the girl power theme but it just ends up sounding silly.
[7]

Alfred Soto: As much as I like Stormzy, who’s had a terrific recent run, his verse works as effect if not affect. The clatter of guitars and Little Mix’s call-and-response vocals is an aural demonstration of the muscle-flexing lyrics. 
[7]

Lauren Gilbert: Little Mix’s history with guest raps has been mixed at best, but this one actually adds to the song. It transforms Another Empowerment Anthem for teen girls to yell along to in the car to a surprisingly good duet celebrating awesome women and the men who love them all the more for being able to handle their shit. It was a stronger track on its own than either “Touch” or “No More Sad Songs,” and the driving beat makes Stormzy’s guest rap “complement your vibe, girl.” As always, Jesy Nelson is a national fucking treasure.
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: Now, this is what GIRL POWER sounds like in 2017: forceful, potent female vocals singing (and rapping) about how women have the power, with huge, positive attitude reminiscent of Spice Girls and Girls Aloud at their peaks. Man of the year Stormzy drops by to deliver a verse in praise of women — “you can be a woman and a boss and wear the trousers,” he raps, underplaying his vocal, recognizing that this song isn’t about him — and the chorus explodes in turbo-pop fireworks. This is a celebration, and potentially an anthem. 
[9]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Had to make sure that seeing those pink Vetements/Manolo Blahnik boots in the recent Blackpink music video didn’t color my impression of this but “Power” sounds undeniably like K-pop: the wonderful stylistic shifts; the extended pause, followed by the self-assured “my turn”; the SM-esque “whoa-oh-oh’s” during Leigh-Anne’s part. I’m most enamored by the malleability of the introductory guitar line and stomping, how it sounds obviously country when coupled with Perrie’s southern twang but not so much elsewhere. I imagine many will be turned off by the chorus since it makes “Power” sound like standard family-friendly Girl Power fare, but it’s surely intentional. All this talk of climaxing first, clearing browser histories, and not being submissive in bed could come off heavy-handed or awkward, but it’s the chorus that reminds us of what Little Mix are doing here: normalizing the notion that the bedroom is a place where a woman can — and should — feel empowered. 
[7]

Alex Clifton: Jesus, the production is so garbled with this track that the lyrics are nigh impossible to parse out. Perrie Edwards spends the first thirty seconds screaming so loud that it took me a moment to realize that was her voice, rather than a pitch-shifted sample. The last minute of this song is a mess — too many layered vocals to the point where they swallow one another up. There’s supposed to be a sexual self-empowerment message in here, but it’s useless to have a song about your power if nobody can understand you. Points for catchiness and the inclusion of Alaska, Willam, and Courtney Act in the video, but Little Mix can do far better than this.
[3]

Jonathan Bradley: From Perrie Edwards straining like her opening verse is an X-Factor audition, to the engine-roar sound effects, “hold up” interjections, and bumpy riffage, “Power” is so relentless as to be exhausting. This is an arrangement that doesn’t grow bigger as it goes on, but just acquires more — and more — and ever more gruelling more. Stormzy finds the pocket at least, and I’m charmed by his rhyming “browsers,” “houses,” and “trousers” in succession, even if “you can be a woman and a boss and still wear the…” sounds a bit like he’s moments away from going full Sheryl Sandberg.
[4]

Micha Cavaseno: You know what’s the ultimate irony? When the formulaic dance breakdown comes through, you expect a drop. Except it doesn’t drop, they strain to hit some sort of extra extra extra highpoint. Its a series of high-points between Little Mix and the song they’re furiously pushing upward higher and higher, a team struggling with Atlas-like gravitas. Stormzy’s relatively low-key performance here both ends up serving to emphasize and undermine the ladies; yes, he’s graciously bowing out of trying to one-up everyone. But he’s the only person who sounds comfortable and relaxed for a moment.
[3]

Ryo Miyauchi: A majority of drop-based gags in pop have had little to no shelf life. Little Mix’s “Power” is no exception, but I come to this group to hear this sort of vocal-warping, bass-surging silliness with their message of self-empowerment than their let’s-get-serious method of delivery like “No More Sad Songs.” Overdone, certainly, though what would be Little Mix if they weren’t?
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: Little Mix have gone from trying to be Fifth Harmony to trying to be Jessie J circa “Bang Bang.” This is the one and only time I’ll call “trying to be Jessie J” an improvement; savor it.
[7]