The Singles Jukebox

Go play a video game…

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[5.00]

Will Adams: At this point in 2016, the pounding electro house on display in “Ignite,” the uptempo bangers that put Zedd on the map, couldn’t be further from being the face of EDM. The lone artist on the Hot 100 who’s still in the ballpark of 128 BPM is Calvin Harris, and even he’s beginning to feel the pull of tropical house’s gravity. Zedd has tended toward the other end of 2016’s spectrum, the midtempo clangers that have all but taken over. I don’t mind “Ignite” sounding a few years old — I prefer the high-BPM stuff anyway — but the contrived dynamic pulls and dearth of hooks make it hard to stand by.
[5]

Iain Mew: I think of the number of times dance tracks get dragged down by lyrics trying to fit something complicated into a space it won’t go into, or alternately being bereft of purpose, and I’m delighted by the approach here of Tim James going all in on singing a song to spec. It’s a song for a video games tournament, and it’s plainly that, with barely a gesture to widening language for anything else.”Win or die!” It’s faintly ridiculous and, at the same time and in no conflict with that, it’s an awesome fit to a focused, dynamic bit of assembled electronic drama.
[8]

Megan Harrington: “Ignite” is a song with an extremely specific purpose: to make you feel fired up enough to win a video game. I’ve never even played a video game, so I can’t speak to Zedd’s success or failure in this arena. I do like the base, pleasure driven synths, though.  
[7]

Hannah Jocelyn: “Ignite” is completely incoherent — that whole “let’s tease the drop” thing never works and just makes for a stilted structure — even if the eventual release isn’t bad by any means. Also, at least there is a build up and drop and some sort of arrangement involved. Previous songs for League of Legends tournaments (which I’m only reminded exists when I hear about the accompanying singles) didn’t even have that.
[5]

William John: I appreciate the dynamic contrasts as a means of rectifying the notoriety EDM as a genre has attained for unsubtle, airheaded bombast, but unfortunately this is as dankly pallid as the only place it will likely receive any continued airplay: the bedroom of a teenage boy who’s been playing computer games for too long.
[3]

Cassy Gress: I burst out laughing after the first verse when suddenly something resembling “Techno Syndrome” popped up, and then just as inexplicably disappeared again and the song’s little cat feet returned. Tim James’s voice is manipulated from solemnity into joviality on each “win or die, win or die, die die die die die…” And at about 1:30, not fully satisfied by his sudden outbursts of arcade sounds, Zedd straight up cuts the audio altogether, because it would be unconscionable for this song not to distract a player with volume fluctuations and disappearing beats. 
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