The Singles Jukebox

We could spend all day debating who should be on what side of the “featuring” here.

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[6.17]

Crystal Leww: M.O aren’t big stars just because of bad timing and SEO, right? Summer-y, breezy, and again, capitalizing on the cool sound of the times, “Bad Vibe” just feels like it should be a hit — at least heard somewhere in public beyond the confines of my bedroom walls. 
[7]

Micha Cavaseno: In some respect, I don’t think M.O. are popular enough a girl group to so readily allow themselves to be a vehicle for artists such as Lotto Boyzz and Mr. Eazi to be showcased for a non-Afrobeats audience. Yet at the same time, if the production had reflected that and they’d simply gone with featuring one of the two acts for a guest verse after their own efforts it’d be pretty marginal sort of benevolence, so in a sense I guess this act of generosity really deserves a lot of praise even if it might be to the girls’ benefit. All the same, the track is a v. functional banger that bridges out of Afrobeats without getting too commercialized, so it suits me fine.
[7]

Nortey Dowuona: Nice chippy synths and light touch skittering drums lift the flat and whiny singing of Lotto Boyzz and the soaring harmonizations of M. O., while sinking the anonymous purr of Mr. Eazi.
[7]

Will Adams: An ensemble cut in which it’s hard to decide who’s meant to be the main focus, “Bad Vibe” is a competent enough slice of Afrobeats-pop that skates by with mostly vibe and no modifier.
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: “When you step in, you have finishing moves,” goes the Lotto Boyzz verse. How about M.O stepping into the pop game? At one point, around or before “One Dance,” Afrobeats tracks were a great finishing move for R&B aspirants and girl groups all (if not, frustratingly, for the sound’s progenitors). But in the pop game, it’s become a victim of the new meta: overdone into expectedness.
[5]

Stephen Eisermann: Fun little bop that finds the ladies of M.O. playing second fiddle on their own track, with Lotto Boyz bringing their natural swag and Mr Eazi laying down some Nigerian flair on an otherwise generic track. The girls’ chorus is peppy and fun and works well when contrasted with the gentlemen’s huskier voices, creating a great back-and-forth quality. It works in large part due to the features; is this even still an M.O. single?
[6]