The Singles Jukebox

A second dance, perhaps?

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[5.43]

Katie Gill: Man, starting off by rhyming “Mamacita” with “familiar” is a reeeeally bad sign. It’s a cute song with great instrumentation and great trumpets, but that can’t really save the terrible rhymes.
[4]

Thomas Inskeep: It’s easy to like, and hard to hate, Tinie Tempah. Over the course of six years he’s made himself the biggest rapper in the UK, largely because he makes solid, commercial-but-not-pandering singles. His last single “Girls Like,” even though it was a UK top 10, was a rare misstep to my ears; “Mamacita” shows him back on form. With an assist from Nigeria’s Wizkid — who’s now officially the biggest African musical export in decades between this and the globe-conquering “One Dance,” and good for him — this gets the party started while still retaining cred. 
[6]

Alfred Soto: Splendid use of “dungarees,” but the rest of this piffle reminds me of “Rico Suave.”
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Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: In an obvious nod to his Drake feature “One Dance,” Wizkid throws Kyla’s “I like your style” line, unnecessarily, ruining the hook a bit for me. He recovers in the drumless mariachi-tinged bridge and in the last verse, but the damage is done by then. Too bad, ’cause this is also the most fun Tinie Tempah’s sounded in years. 
[6]

Jonathan Bogart: I’m never not going to fall for cross-border interpolation, am I? The track is UK urban, but the rhythmic bed is Congolese soukous, which has its origins in Cuban son (misnamed rumba), and Nigerian Wizkid is playing pan-Caribbean. I mostly just wish English-speaking people would stop hearing Latin rhythms as cheap holiday signifiers and start hearing them as a reason to fucking dance.
[7]

Will Adams: It’s nice to actually hear Wizkid this time ’round (and not submerged in the deep end of a pool like he was on “One Dance”), even if the song is about as impactful as a weak tequila sunrise served in a plastic cup.
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Katherine St Asaph: The crossover of Wizkid is one thing, instant yet under-remarked upon; the continued crossover of Wizkid via such a dated track tamps the momentum a bit.
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