The Singles Jukebox

Not to be confused with MØ.

[Video][Website]
[6.17]

Katie Gill: Because I didn’t figure this out until halfway through the video: M.O isn’t MØ, who’s the singer featured on DJ Snake’s “Lean On.” M.O is a British girl group that’s exceedingly annoying to google, but I eventually found their wikipedia page which told me that M.O was the main support for Little Mix on their 2014 tour. That makes a lot of sense. This is Little Mix run through Autotune, good enough to get a few plays on the Hot 100 but generic enough to be forgotten soon. It’s hard for girl groups to make an impact on the popular consciousness the same way that boy groups have due to a ton of reasons that I don’t have enough space to talk about. So it just KILLS me to write that M.O is probably destined for obscurity, especially because this song isn’t bad, it’s just not great. Then I hear that horrendous autotune at the beginning of the chorus and that half-assed steel drum backing and, yeah, it makes sense that they won’t make it big like Little Mix or Fifth Harmony. Sorry, M.O.
[6]

Will Rivitz: I’ve seen a lot of people touting Fifth Harmony as the Important Girl Group of the past few years, but despite the group’s charisma and incredible voices, nothing they’ve done so far has quite clicked yet (though “Work From Home” is growing on me fast, thanks in no small part to its sheer inescapability). I think “Who Do You Think Of” helps me understand Fifth Harmony’s draw, though, since it sounds like everything people have hyped the group to be. There’s a lot of crossover between them and M.O – stage presence, tight harmonies, palpable joy – but whereas 5H’s stuff has always fallen flat to me, “Who Do You Think Of” is exuberant in all the right ways. The quasi-dancehall sound fits the group’s voices, and if your booty isn’t shaking by the time the reggaeton beat hits in the chorus then nothing will make it move. Plus, the steel drums don’t sound tacky as hell. Who knew that was even possible?
[8]

Ryo Miyauchi: The production is on trend and top notch. The world can always use steel drums, the processed bass line in the second verse keeps me on my toes, and the pitched-up hook echoes weird enough to let the title stick. But M.O. coasts a little too comfortably on their slick backdrop to truly be remembered. And this is a single about a love that lingers even in solitude. Shouldn’t they be more of a presence?
[6]

William John: M.O have been a bit luckless. The explosion of “Lean On” last year means they’re likely to be forever confused with the very different Danish singer, and they’ve become expert false starters — “Who Do You Think Of?” could be either their first true breakthrough or their eleventh promo single, depending on the way things go. This still doesn’t approach their best look – the sheer ecstasy of the Rich Harrison-aping “For A Minute“, the song of several summers ago that never was — but the interplay between the drums military and steel here is lethal, and their voices work just as well in harmony as when they circle around each other, exerting their sovereignty over the club like a Bolton phalanx. I want them to succeed because they seem too talented not to, but then again, so did Neon Jungle and we all know how that worked out.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Although it sports the dreaded steel drum preset, it’s got more sass than current Shakira thanks to a loopdeloop chorus.
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: UK girl group keeps trying and not succeeding, this time with a cheap Major Lazer copy that doesn’t manage to nail what people seem to like about Major Lazer. 
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