The Singles Jukebox

pls lmk ok…

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[7.29]

Alfred Soto: Confident and glittering, with a full-bodied production, “Let Me Know” goes for the Keyshia Cole market and succeeds. Future is less obtrusive than he sounds the first couple of times.
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: An interpolation of Lil Jon’s “Lovers and Friends” plus a chipmunk’d sample from Aaliyah’s “At Your Best (You Are Love)” times an assured, sexy vocal from Tamar Braxton equals grown folks’ R&B that yet sounds youthful. The only negative here is Future, who’s not bad so much as slightly in the way — and not needed. Toni’s youngest sister can more than carry a song on her own, as she proved on her fine last album and, by all appearances, is about to prove again. 
[8]

Megan Harrington: An assist from Future is one way to hoist yourself out of the contemporary R&B well you’re drowning in, but, as usual, Braxton’s timing is all wrong. Future’s recent appearance on the peculiarly hateful “Pussy Overrated” has him on the opposite side of this lover’s anthem. He’s thin, autotuned, and faking it on “Let Me Know,” made even more incomprehensible next to Braxton’s full-throated emoting. She deserves better. Braxton wants to modernize her sound and appeal to younger audiences, but she’s not a risk-taker. “Let Me Know” didn’t have to be this unbalanced. Wasn’t Ty Dolla $ign available?
[7]

Jonathan Bogart: Is it really so ingrained in us that the male has to be a subject and not an object that we are giving half a moment’s thought to Future’s “contribution”? He’s a hook singer, pure and simple, aural decoration exactly the way thousands of women have been for songs about dude feelings. Tamar is the star here, and she knocks it pretty cleanly out of the park, taking Mariah’s signature pileup of overdubs and emotions to deliriously baroque heights.
[7]

Micha Cavaseno: Between the new-wave guitars cresting upon the shore while the gulls call out the memories of Baby Girl, with Nayvadius dancing around the stars (who, by the way, has been killing the R&B feature department of late)… I just want to lay down and let the tide pull me off. There’s some rarefied joy in this moment, and Tamar knows it too well.
[8]

Anthony Easton: The call and response is super tight, and her voice is exquisite. I love how public it is, and how it moves from the pleasures of emotion to the pleasures of the flesh.
[8]

Will Adams: The whistle register that pops up at the end lays bare the aspirations of this passable piano-laden midtempo number. Tamar Braxton is more emotive than Mariah Carey has been in this past decade, but Future’s presence feels unnecessary, like gilding a lily.
[6]