The Singles Jukebox

You’re blowing it all out of proportion, you two. Or not blowing it out enough, possibly.

[Video][Website]
[3.38]

Nina Lea Oishi: Meghan Trainor is annoying. But “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” works because it feels genuine rather than cloying, stripped-down rather than fake or overblown. For once, Trainor’s not shoving the whole doo-wop revival thing in our faces; she’s not putting on her strange vocal affectation. There’s a refreshing lack of Trainor’s idiotic political takes (see: “All About that Bass,” “Dear Future Husband”). Maybe it’s enjoyable because the track sounds more like a John Legend than a Trainor. Legend adds class to the affair, as usual. The result is a song that’s much less memorable than “All About that Bass” or “Lips are Moving,” but it’s actually better off for it — a breezy, sweet confection, rather than a messy candy glop of annoying.
[7]

Micha Cavaseno: The stupidity of that paper-thin bit of digital snare while Trainor lays on the post-Brill-cheapness of her ‘soulful’ vocals is trite to the point I want to take the spaghetti-note strangling throat of John Legend and smack it with this keyboard, for endorsing the corn of this retro-pop-plod of nothingness.
[1]

Thomas Inskeep: In case you needed reminding that Trainor’s voice is thin and personality-less, “Lose You” is here to remind you. Singing against Legend does her no favors. And enough with the faux-’50s schtick already; I’ve defended Trainor in the past, but she’s clearly proving herself to be a one-not-very-good-trick-pony.
[2]

Scott Mildenhall: Why do they sound so sad when there’s no hint of anything actually being wrong? Could it be that this dirgelike song is so wanting of a tune that they’re struggling to imbue it with any emotion whatsoever? The tragedy of having to record in separate studios and the audible reality of never actually meeting? (Subs please check.) It’s the flipside of “If Tomorrow Never Comes” – the boring one.
[4]

Patrick St. Michel: Meghan Trainor’s schtick before this song — the ’50s, but 2015! — was super goofy but even at its most awkward Iggy-ness, it was more charming than this boring poodle skirt of a song. Hyperboring piano man John Legend, to his credit, somehow makes this all the more snoozy. 
[2]

Anthony Easton: Awfully polite, but a better use of her voice than the most recent ones, though how it slides down into John Legend’s knight-for-hire aesthetic suggests that it isn’t as interesting as her or her label might want. 
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: Trainor, conscious that adult contemporary stations will be her home in five years if not now, settles down into Jason Mraz mode. Whether you find that an improvement or a downgrade, either way it’s a move toward middling.
[4]

Alfred Soto: Look, you hire John Legend because He Means It. You get the guitarist to anticipate a final verse with flamenco flourishes. Yet you still show up.
[3]