The Singles Jukebox

Like DJs should need an excuse to drop Whitney in the club…

[Video]
[5.82]Katherine St Asaph: If 2015 is going to be full of fizzy pop-RnBass, 2015 is going to be amazing. I love synth cowbells; I love the playful back-and-forth; I love Lil Jon as a standard reference; I even love Jeremih flirting with becoming J.R. Rotem by turning a Whitney song about sexless loneliness into an obvious hook about getting laid. It’s more respectful than Lifetime was.
[8]

Crystal Leww: It’s 2015, and I’m kind of mad that Jeremih turned Whitney’s legendary hook into “I wanna take shots with somebody (shotsshotsshotsshot!),” but I’m also not mad at all. Listen: in lesser hands, this would be downright insulting, but Jeremih sounds like a flirty rascal, Natalie La Rose sounds like she’s having fun toying with these boys’ emotions, and The Futuristics have provided a rework worthy of the two of them. It may be cold outside, but baby, it’s warm in the club.
[8]

Mo Kim: Between Jeremih at his most charming and Natalie La Rose dialing up the sweetness before doing an 180 and out-Iggying Iggy in the bridge, this track emanates understated warmth with heaps of enthusiasm. A welcome blast of summer in the throngs of January.
[8]

Jonathan Bogart: This would probably sound better in summer, when its moseying resonance has some open air to fill; here in winter, it just sounds claustrophobic, too lazy to aim for the urgency of Whitney or even of LMFAO.
[6]

Jonathan Bradley: Good job on recognizing there was room on radio for another Jeremih-helmed ’90s rework of ratchet&B. His dominance over the track is that of someone who’s spent time in this space before, and to prove his comfort he turns straight from singing to ordering shots. (Shots, shots, shots…) Maybe it’s still too soon to have LMFAO/Lil Jon nostalgia, but “Somebody” sure does remind me that it’s been a minute since finger-snaps and that 808-cowbell ping have been at the pop charts’ forefront. And Natalie La Rose? She hasn’t seemed to notice that her co-star is trying to hustle her to the exit; she’s too intent on dancing after the house-lights have switched on. The disconnect is fitting.
[6]

Brad Shoup: The “shots!/shots, shots, shots” bit makes me angry. Like, it catches me every time. It’s  the faked energy, the naked hook-stealing, the way it derails Jeremih’s Whitney riff. It’s cheap heat, and I much prefer La Rose doing her weird breathy Iggy thing over the Eurodance bassline.
[5]

Alfred Soto: Manipulated vocals, elastic sequencers, Whitney Houston interpolation, and genuine frisson between the billed singers turn this into an above average VIP anthem. But does Jeremih look at Chris Brown as a model?
[7]

Micha Cavaseno: Jeremih is here sounding like he’s attempting Chris Brown and resulting instead in Sean Kingston, a grim affair with the laziness of the Whitney interpolation. Meanwhile Natalie sings fine, but just doesn’t seem to have any sort of presence here.
[2]

Will Adams: Jeremih’s flipped Whitney quote is pretty silly, but Natalie La Rose is confident enough to take control of “Somebody” despite not getting a chorus, which is a pretty stellar feat.
[6]

Anthony Easton: This is really boring, and the lyrics should either be sexier or more bratty — one-night stands and impromptu afterparties have never sounded more polite.
[2]

Alex Ostroff: Def Jam continues to drag their feet on releasing Jeremih’s album, but while we wait, he continues to drop features on R&B tracks boosting the profile of women like Natalie La Rose and Tink, who ultimately outshine him. Jeremih’s here to snag our attention and let La Rose do the rest. “Don’t Tell Nobody” was one of my favourite songs from 2014, and “Somebody” doesn’t reach its heights of emotional or structural complexity, but I’m not going to complain about fun, frothy, flirty R&Bass joints in the dead of winter.
[6]