The Singles Jukebox

Does Jukebox like?

[Video][Website]
[5.31]

Micha Cavaseno: More and more, Tinie Tempah is determined to remain ever on the pulse. Last year his Junk Food project flew under the radar, despite being one of the few commercial UK hip-hop artists to acknowledge the burgeoning second wave of Road Rap and the grime revival, while still earning himself his seventh No. 1 hit-single with KDA and Katy B. So to see Tinie return to deep tech, a genre that existed briefly in the UK underground only to slowly get phased out by more bait house in the last year or so, is a curious gesture. I know that the Mark Radford types would probably turn their nose up at this, so it can’t be much of a ploy for underground cred in the vein of the mixtape, and its bare glimpse into the top 10 thanks to a passe feel and a whatever Zara Larsson hook makes it a slight misstep as a single. Nonetheless, it’s still rather solid a performance from Tinie, and it doesn’t seem like he’s gotten any less determined to remain one of the more inspiring figures out of England’s urban music scene.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: It’s been interesting watching Maya Jane Coles move, under-remarked upon, from her slinky deep house circa She Is Danger to ruthless beat efficiency. Tinie makes like he never left and Harry Potter and Russell Brand references are still current. Zara’s out on the floor, dancing with intent, recasting the Waitresses’ hit for a girl who uses seen-it-all exhaustion and tamped-down vulnerability as flirting, and even pulling off most of the required emoting. Like most singles anymore, it’s completely out of time; Larsson’s melody has the contours and ad-libs of turn-of-the-century pop, the quasi-screwed outro is late ’00s, and any new house-ish track evokes the 1990s and 2010s by default. Not essential, but gets the job done.
[7]

Crystal Leww: Between “Truffle Butter” and “Girls Like,” it’s become clear that Maya Jane Coles’s “What They Say” is becoming a dance beat that’s much bigger than dance itself, much like Major Lazer’s beat for “Pon De Floor,” which took on a new life after it was used by Beyoncé. Further evidence: “Girls Like” is an absolute thrill of a dance-pop-rap song up until the point where the production switches it up and slows it down. From there, it stalls, and the underwater effect only makes Tempah’s goofiness sound stupid and makes Larsson’s chorus sound less triumphant. 
[6]

Scott Mildenhall: Zara Larsson would have made no sense as a featured vocalist on this about five minutes ago, and doesn’t make much more now. The lack of synchronicity between her and Tinie here (almost as if it was intended to sound like they recorded it separately) is probably for the best, but that doesn’t change how her chorus is completely tuneless, and not in a Waitresses way. The presence of trademark-Tempah naff references like the Rolo one are always a boon, but that aside it’s all just really, really boring.
[4]

Iain Mew: Tinie’s one-liners not only hit a new level of cheesiness, but he repeats them more often to rub it in. Between referencing ancient adverts and his JK Rowling line being outdone by the woman herself, there’s too much to be rescued by his knowing charm or by Larsson tearing into the chorus. 
[4]

Patrick St. Michel: Been a while since a single line has made me want to stop a song completely, so congrats “tell J.K. that I’m still rolling.” Yet I persevered, and was rewarded with a limp bit of garage revival. Maybe I should have taken the warning.
[2]

Alfred Soto: Another quarter, another British top twenty hit for Tinie, often okay and rarely more. If he thinks he’s gonna cross over with a Waitresses quote over a house sequencer he don’t know what we like.
[5]

Anthony Easton: Larsson’s laconic verse — especially the deadpan “what’s your Wi-Fi password again?” — is kind of genius. 
[8]

Jonathan Bradley: The magic of the club lies in how sticky floors and unsympathetic architecture expand with possibility when paired with dim lighting and dance music (and, y’know, booze and all sundry). “Girls Like” echoes this transformative effect: a brisk, spacey loop doubles back on itself before it has a chance to go anywhere, dispelling with timespan as a meaningful factor in the sound: its textures are colored illumination shifting over a pulsing crowd. Tinie Tempah is the kind of rapper such a track needs: not directing traffic or grabbing the spotlight, but yet another dancer, with no fancier footwork than a J.K. Rowling pun. I could do with the “I Know What Boys Like” interpolation though; Zara Larsson is too retiring to make the hook anthemic but the bubblegum melody is nonetheless enough to distract from the groove.
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: Zara Larsson gets the thankless job of singing a variation on the chorus of “I Know What Boys Like,” in what sounds like a bad key for her, because she’s unpleasantly shrieky. Tinie Tempah sounds like he just rolled out of bed, and the track sounds like a reject from a KISS FM comp circa 2001. His worst single by a mile.
[3]

Will Adams: Zara Larsson as house vocalist seems so obvious in retrospect; keep her away from the soppy ballads and let her channel all that bottled energy into a single chorus. Tinie Tempah flows well over the deep house groove, which makes the sudden half-time switch at the end a bit halting and unnecessary.
[6]

Brad Shoup: I guess they like hearing the first verse again. Never would’ve guessed. Tinie rides the haunted bassline and who gives a shit; Larrson’s stranded on a Waitresses hook.
[4]

Jonathan Bogart: A cagey gender-normative Waitresses update for the EDM era probably sounds like a bad thing, but Tempah’s smooth, unruffled flow and Larsson’s best attempt at a house-diva vocal make the burbling electro backing pop brighter and more delightfully than I was expecting. Or maybe I’ve just been out of the 2010s for so long that anything that sounds like the 2010s was going to sound good.
[8]