The Singles Jukebox

And same old shit…

[Video][Website]
[3.29]

Will Adams: Two months would have been too late for a “Stereo Love” rewrite, but two years? The music mimics the original well, but the lyrics are a downgrade; replacing Vika Jigulina’s emo nonsense for Massari’s insipid reawakening bullshit. Inessential.
[3]

Ramzi Awn: I’d like to be able to rep for my Lebanese heritage, but Massari’s voice does about as much for the genre as auto-tune could do for Heidi Montag. “Brand New Day” is a veritable cutting room floor for all mediocre dance tracks from the last decade of sound.    
[2]

Katherine St Asaph: That’s definitely a prechorus with “habibi,” which is Arabic, but this definitely sounds like a worse “Danza Kuduro,” which is not Arabic, or like a worse “Stereo Love,” which is not kuduro. I blame Thomas Friedman.
[3]

Jonathan Bogart: Sure, the little post-chorus snippets of what I assume are supposed to be gestures to his Lebanese heritage are worth two points.
[2]

Anthony Easton: The last minute of this, especially the surf-breaking-on-shore ending, is sunbaked and lurid like the best of Miami, but the rest of it is sort of not present — almost in a superficial way, like he is saving all his energy. 
[5]

Alfred Soto: The tenor voices in the chorus have the right yearning quality; the rest projects the benign anonymity that one expects from Marriott pool bar bands.
[5]

Brad Shoup: Tremulous vocals trying to sell me… an accordion, I think.
[3]