The Singles Jukebox

My TSJ

[Video][Website]
[4.33]

Katie Gill: The problem with heavily referencing another song is that you’re inevitably opening comparisons to said other song, which might not be a good idea if the other song is a classic and yours is terrible. Obviously, this song heavily references Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing),” which is weird because it seems to have forgotten what Jackson’s “P.Y.T.” was actually about. Jackson’s tender when he talks about his PYT. He doesn’t focus on the girl herself, he focuses on what they’re going to do: he has a burning desire, they’re going to dim the lights, spark his nature. He wants to love her gently. Hell, the other acronym in his song is TLC: tender, loving care. Wale spits lyrics like “make war make babies,” emphasizes that his PYT is younger than him, doesn’t know her name, and repeatedly focuses on her ass to degrading effect. The end result is so trashy that I honestly don’t know if he’d be able to pick TLC out of a line-up.
[1]

Natasha Genet Avery: For most of this summer, whenever “My PYT” would come on the radio, I’d be thinking, oh man, I’m gonna blurb the shit out of this song. Wale will pay for this slapdash collage. But as I periodically dissected “My PYT” for its obvious faults (the most embarrassing being that Sam Sneak spells out “mymy PYT”), my resolve began to fade. It feels cruel to come down so harshly on mediocrity, when in reality I grew to love the rhythmic bed springs in the chorus and Wale’s selfless admiration of his love interest (he just “wants to see [her] shine!”). And maybe it’s actually sort of ingenious to sing a relaxed rendition of the “PYT” melody over a still-meaty rendition of the “Sexual Healing” bassline and some Method Man thrown in for good measure? You win, Wale. 
[7]

Iain Mew: Is it really not “N.Y. P.Y.T.?” I wouldn’t have thought that weird at all. The redundancy fits right in, though, with a song which doesn’t quite hang together happily, even though it has some good ideas — Mustard Gaye is a pretty good high concept and the mechanical cranking sound in the background is an infinite improvement on “Bad.”
[5]

Thomas Inskeep: I’d love for both Method Man (for the appropriation of his “All I Need” lyrics) and the estate of Michael Jackson (obvious) to sue the pants off Wale for “My PYT.” Not because he’s done anything illegal, but just because this single, which utilizes elements of both of their songs, is so lazy and uninspired: part “All I Need,” part “PYT,” part “Sexual Healing,” and part Kent Jones’ “Don’t Mind.” The lame lyrics, however, are all Wale.
[2]

Alfred Soto: Remember when Wale sounded promising? A while ago. The bass line, trembling with reverb, is as inexorable as the one in “Fancy,” and when he hues close to the Michael Jackson referents he’s in better shape.
[5]

Jonathan Bogart: I would have a hard time hating this song, if only because that rubber-band keyboard setting makes me smile every time, even if I was particularly precious about Thriller-era Michael Jackson. But twenty-four years is more than enough time to have passed for anything to be fair game for remix and reappropriation, and if anything the pedigree of the samples seems to have spurred Wale to do some of the best work of his underachieving career. Its charm will no doubt have dissipated by the time summer has slipped out of the rearview mirror, but for now it’s good enough.
[6]