The Singles Jukebox

Sigrid and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

[Video]
[3.67]

Edward Okulicz: I’m a casual fan of both Sigrid and BMtH, in that I generally like most of their singles without having ever bothered to investigate their deep cuts. But I don’t like this one — boy/girl duets over thick guitars are super-satisfying, and I appreciate the positivity of the message, so it’s not that the ingredients themselves are bad, and you definitely need sugar to make a cake, so it’s not too corny for it’s own good. It’s the execution that’s off here, sung with almost no passion as if it was in fact about making a cake. It could be a bored early 00s alt-rock thing, and that wasn’t a high point of the genre or the time period, and definitely not in 2022.
[5]

Micha Cavaseno: In the last year, I learned all too late that Bring Me the Horizon (a band I was too young for) went from middling Hot Topic deathcore posterboys to the Linkin Park that Linkin Park abandoned the chance to be b/c ‘Rick Rubin’ or whatever. That was aided and abetted by Oli Sykes producing “Experiment On Me” for Halsey, warning me of her later album and basically giving me the foxcore version of Hanin Elias-fronted Atari Teenage Riot. Now, being 2nd wave Mike Shinoda, that inevitably means he was going to have his Fort Minor period, and of course it would be the American Apparel Skylar Grey of Sigrid wimping him up for a payday. It’s also funny enough to know that after the fake-indie leanings of her early outings, Sigrid’s now out here making “Fight Song” type Top 40 for diaries and self-help anthems. Turns out two musicians I initially wrote off for a long time I was wrong about: Oli Sykes is a very creative and ambitious sort when he wants to be. And Sigrid was worse than I ever could’ve imagined.
[3]

Will Adams: For the first half I was worried Sigrid and Oli Sykes had both fully succumbed to P!nk-style inspiro-stomp. But then the arrangement filled out on the second chorus, and the message felt more urgent. It’s still not enough to save this wasted collaboration from being terminally maudlin. At least Daniel Powter’s pick-me-ups sounded cheery.
[4]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: I have no doubt that the sentiment behind “Bad Life” is genuine, but the heavy-handed execution inspires Julia Michaels levels of cringe. This is equally baffling from a vocal-perspective, with Sigrid going fully High School Musical-core. Someone please give Oliver Sykes a cup of tea. 
[2]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Doesn’t even have the trainwreck-fascination quality that a collaboration of this kind should have — instead, it’s a song that exists in no particular niche whatsoever, neither a self-serious bit of pop metal or a fun pop exercise. There must be something more interesting that this pair could’ve come up with, right?
[3]

Lauren Gilbert: Is it only slightly more sophisticated than “do you ever feel like a plastic bag”? Yes. Is it somehow both a Female Empowerment Anthem and also dad rock? Also yes. Did I listen to it while driving to Kohl’s on a too long day? Also yes.
[6]

Nortey Dowuona: The best part of this song is Sigrid and the rest of the band who didn’t abuse their ex-wife.
[6]

Alfred Soto: “I’m my own worst enemy,” Mr. Horizon wails, bathroom mirror encrusted with snot and mung. 
[2]

Tobi Tella: Lord, the pop-punk revival forces Machine Gun Kelly back into our lives and now this?! I will personally deliver Lexapro to families across the nation if it means we can get rid of songs like this.
[2]