Zara Larsson – Ain’t My Fault
It wasn’t she…
[Video][Website]
[5.25]
Hannah Jocelyn: Firstly, loving the sassy-Muppet aesthetic of the drop. That aside, I like the sense of humor in this song too — there haven’t been a lot of people singing lines like “You just made me trip, fall, and land on your lap” lately. All that, and her rapping is quite convincing! This is a massive improvement on the vastly overrated “Lush Life” and even “Never Forget You,” because Zara’s finally stumbled on a voice that fits her — somewhere between Tove Lo, Rihanna, and Demi. And, um, Jason Derulo, if that sax riff is anything to go by.
[7]
Alfred Soto: The sampled brass (playing a sly insinuating K-pop melody), stray reference to Uber, and Larsson’s insouciant “nope nope”s are thrilling even when I prefer she claim the credit: “You’re damn straight it’s your fault for being attracted to me.”
[5]
Iain Mew: The moody sax and peppy beats give me definite 4Minute/Sistar vibes, but it’s still something comparitively unusual. Zara Larsson works the tension of those parts up and down well enough to skate over the less inspired bits elsewhere.
[7]
Jonathan Bradley: It’s a bold move for Zara Larsson to underplay the crumpled, vaguely Eastern-motif twisting through “Ain’t My Fault” — better songs have been built on less — particularly when she commandeers a not particularly inspired chorus that fails to take off as spectacularly as it needs to. This ends up riding on sass, and she doesn’t lack for that, but for all the good ideas coursing through the runtime, from the school bell that punctuates the opening to the clapping, hollering rhythm, they end up off balance in combination.
[6]
Katie Gill: Zara Larsson is good at belting. That’s what she brought to “Never Forget You” and I’m pretty sure that’s the main reason she was hired for “This One’s For You.” The problem is that the belting’s only about one-third of the song. The rest of it is pseudo-rap/pseudo-patter song verses over music that sounds like a Fifth Harmony reject and lyrics that are basically an extended version of the blame game.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: This pop mish-mash wants to be about four songs at the same time and doesn’t do any of them particularly well.
[3]
Olivia Rafferty: She woke up like this! She woke up like this! It’s bouncy, but doesn’t ring clear in a way that makes it memorable. All I can hear is someone playing catch-up with Beyoncé (which, by the way, is near impossible).
[5]
William John: “Ain’t My Fault” features perhaps the ugliest horn preset in pop since Cheryl’s “Crazy Stupid Love” and borrows a few too many cadences from Rihanna, but if enduring it is the price we must pay for the release of Larsson’s long awaited new album, then I will do so unwaveringly.
[5]
Always happy when this comes on in the club. Love the beat, love the “nope” sing-along part, and then there’s the great belting part there at the end.
Then I remember I’m a dude, and this song is pretty much victim blaming all the way through, and I notice I look like a rapist singing it. So I kinda shuffle off the dance-floor until next song, humming the lyrics as I stand there.
This was definitely a grower. I wasn’t too fond of it when I first heard it but now I kind of like it. Not as instant as Lush Life and Never Forget You were.
What’s the sax sample from some 90s dance track?