The Singles Jukebox

From winning 2017 to scoring Jet comparisons in 2018, but we still love a bit of Kesha.

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[5.11]

Katie Gill: The excitement is palpable in this song and I am HERE for this. The Struts deliver on the glam aesthetic and sound that the band’s name implies. Add in Kesha, who’s an old hand at these dirty rock and glam sort of songs, and it’s practically a perfect match. Admittedly, the verses are a little just there, but the chorus is earwormy as hell, that bass line is downright sexy, and those backing ‘whoo!’s are perfectly placed.
[7]

Katherine St Asaph: Kesha’s world-torching return to rock! Shame it’s just going from fronting the Dap-Kings to fronting Jet.
[6]

Ian Mathers: In which the Greta Van Fleet of all the ‘cool rawk’ UK bands that I was never quite sold on even when I was a teenage Anglophile prove perfectly capable of muting and/or dragging down a still glorious voice. If they were just backing Kesha instead of singing with her you could bump this up 3 points or more, easy.
[3]

Alfred Soto: Beyonce’s “Sorry” impressed rock bands, including this hunk of British blooze-bluster. Wouldn’t Kings of Leon return Kesha’s texts?
[5]

Alex Clifton: Look, any band that sounds like The Libertines/Fratellis/mid-2000s British indie rock that lets Kesha have the rock feature she’s always deserved that explodes into a chorus with ample “whoo! whoo!”-ing is going to score well with me. I know there’s a lot of discussion these days on throwback “rock tracks” (cough, cough, Greta Van Fleet) but I think my problem with those sorts of songs is that they always sound like they’re apeing to sound more “classic” without any of the fun. Rock should be fun, goddamn it. A good rock song should make you want to do your best air-guitar impression and feel like you’re full of sparklers. The Struts not only hit that mark but surpass it, and I look forward to adding this to every party playlist I make in the future.
[8]

Ramzi Awn: I feel like I’m watching the trailer for a new vampire show on Netflix. In a word: canned.  
[2]

Stephen Eisermann: Sexy, funky rock productions fit Kesha well and here she manages to elevate an already pretty fun track. The back and forth between Luke Spiller and Kesha feels fresh and their vocal chemistry is palpable: hot stuff all around!
[7]

Taylor Alatorre: There’s a freedom that comes with the willingness to not be taken seriously, but along with that freedom comes the expectation that you’ll use it to poke at some cherished norm, or at the very least put on a good circus. When Kesha brought on Lou Reed to do her take on 70s trash rock, she got him to talk about Rick Santorum having sex in a sweater, which felt like quaint trollbait at the time but is actually fairly radical even by today’s pop star standards. Here, Kesha’s role is that of the Struts’ life support machine; her scream before the final chorus is either a desperate effort to liven the mood or an expression of primal frustration that this sexless stomper is all she has to work with. If you’re gonna throw all notions of good taste aside and then turn around and record FOX Sports bumper music, what is even the point?
[3]

Andy Hutchins: This being my first exposure to The Struts apart from whatever commercials I’m sure subconsciously introduced me to “Kiss This”: It must get utterly exhausting to do impressions of eight better frontmen (and more better bands) at once. Fortunately, Kesha’s closer to a one of one, and her doing Jagger is novel enough to make what could otherwise be a Jet cover compelling.
[5]