The Singles Jukebox

Have you ruined a pop star’s life? We want to hear from you!

[Video][Website]
[4.50]

Julian Axelrod: Zara Larsson’s is a tale as old as time: an exciting young pop star with a strong voice stymied by boring, B-minus songwriters. The verses on “Ruin My Life” continue that trend, with a sleepy melody and lyrics that could be sung by literally anyone. But that hook is a wonder, and it’s Zara’s clearest spark of personality since “So Good” or “Never Forget You.” The anthemic, self-destructive pop triplet flow is tricky to pull off, but she sells every word. Up until now, she’s made songs that happen to feature Zara Larsson. This is one of the few that actually feel like a Zara Larsson song.
[6]

Tobi Tella: Does this song have anything resembling depth? No. Is the ultra-repetitive chorus a lazy pop music cliche that’s very quickly getting old? Yes. Will I add this to my bangers playlist? Perhaps.
[6]

Alfred Soto: This song has more than a hook, right? Right? 
[3]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: With a hook so brazen and direct, Zara Larsson makes clear that she’s not here for any exposition. It’s all a formality, the verses nothing but anxious babble meant to usher in the blaring chorus. That tedious wait places listeners in her mindset, allowing the wrongheaded decision of “I want you to ruin my life, I want you to fuck up my nights” feel unequivocally desirable upon impact. The calm delivery of those lines informs us that these lyrics aren’t spoken to an ex-lover; they’re a private confession. “Ruin My Life” is thus nothing but the loudest internal scream, the most excruciating pang for love, and it’s through this that she finds some semblance of clarity.
[7]

Iain Mew: The expression of desire-as-masochism is very smartly observed as a thing people say now, enough so that it initially felt to me like it should be given more build up as a pay-off. Actually, though, turning it into a deadening cascade is just right too, a rush of feelings performed until the possibilities of them being real or not become indistinguishable. The combination of all of the isolated sad bits of music that don’t join up to anything and the rounded Imogen Heap-via-Taylor Swift backing vocals do the rest of that work.
[7]

Juan F. Carruyo: The sentiment that carries this sad little tunelet could only be described as dejected. A self-sabotaging mirage of deceit. The equivalent of rain on a Easter bunny. 
[0]

Edward Okulicz: ~Sad~ bangers are a buyer’s market in 2018 and this one, with its single hook stretched as far as it will go like mozzarella cheese, just doesn’t represent good value.
[4]

Stephen Eisermann:  Moody power pop works best when the artists manages to imbue their vocals with genuine emotion, and while Zara does her best to emote appropriately, this feels more like a performance than a genuine emotion. Maybe it’s the undercooked lyrics, maybe it’s thats she’s too green to emote effectively, I just don’t think it really works.
[3]