Paloma Faith – Stone Cold Sober
YES. WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT…
[Video][Website]
[4.73]
Michaelangelo Matos: “[H]er singing style has been compared favourably to that of Amy Winehouse and Duffy.[5]” — Wikipedia, accessed late June 2009.
[2]
Anthony Miccio: How refreshing to hear a British woman pinch her voice through a jazzy jam about what a unique, spontaneous individual she is.
[4]
Alex Ostroff: I grew tired with this meme somewhere around Adele, but the chorus has some punch and she enunciates “stone cold sob-ah” with relish, so it escapes a [0] and instead gets a…
[4]
Iain Mew: Sadly not actually about her preference for chilled buckwheat noodles. Better than Pixie Lott, worse than Gabriella Cilmi.
[4]
Talia Kraines: Once upon a time Paloma Faith was a crazy lady with bright red lips, compering a tranny lip synching competition in an East London working mens club filled with fashionistas. Now she’s a crazy lady with bright red lips in a song that, had it been released pre-Winehouse, would have set the world alight. It’s a bloody shame, then, that although Paloma dearest was pretty much knocking about with her set of retro ditties about the same time as ‘Back to Black’ came out, a series of label delays (or so we’re led to believe) hindered its appearance by about 24 months. With a theatrical, frantic chorus and plenty of glossy horns, “Stone Cold Sober” deserves much more than its #17 chart placing.
[8]
Matt Cibula: Yep, I’m in, but not because she’s the new Winehouse or whatever, because she’s not; nor even because I like the lyrics, because I don’t, not really. For me, it’s the horns and backing vox, straight out of 1983, that make this a lovely thing. Signifiers!
[7]
Martin Kavka: The first time I watched this video, I wrote this off as yet another lame Duffy/Winehouse clone; the only thing that stuck with me was the expressive pout of her lips. Still, it was better than that crazy Pixie Lott mess. But over the last week, the chorus has grown on me. Chalk it up to the real horns.
[5]
Chuck Eddy: Main inspiration behind her affectation, I bet: Shirley Bassey hooking up with Propellerheads. So as hits containing the word “chameleon” go, not only does Boy George totally clobber her, but so do Slade (see: “Run Runaway”).
[5]
Anthony Easton: I believe that you are sober, because if you were drunk this would be a little more reckless and a little less obsessively market driven.
[5]
Additional Scores
Ian Mathers: [5]
Martin Skidmore: [3]