The Singles Jukebox

Do Sugababes also have a song called “Centuries”? I don’t get the theme…

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[4.46]

Katherine St Asaph: Evanescence stans are shedding so many tears over this (you’d think they’d be more self-aware), and it’s great; if Amy Lee wants her own strict machine to ride to soprano-and-sequencer bliss, I couldn’t be happier. What, you thought I wouldn’t like this? Let me put it in perspective: this summer I have listened to basically nothing but Goldfrapp, Alexandra Strunin, Lilian Hak and Sarah Brightman club remixes. The genre is the musical equivalent of The Toast’s Day in the Life of a Femme Fatale, or of autumn at night; it is quite possibly my favorite music in existence, even when pantingly ridiculous, and I’m constantly on the lookout for more of it. Lee delivers more concept than proof, more aesthetic than anything, but I love aesthetic too much, particularly from the last people qualified to deliver.
[8]

Josh Langhoff: Weird nature reveries rule. In this one, Lee feels the earth like it’s new and discovers she’s a hungry hunter, her ballooned head like a whole trembling forest about to teem with gore. Or at least that’s what I thought until I read the synopsis for the Lee-soundtracked War Story, so now I hear Catherine Keener grappling with her experience as a hostage, or something. That explains the “chains.” (There are very few words in “Push the Button,” but each is heavy with portent.) This sad discovery drained the blood from my reverie until all that remained was electro pulse. Still, in the year of “Move That Dope” Lee finds a whole new way to make “Push It” sound sinister.
[6]

Josh Winters: Hilariously campy electroclash complete with half-hearted wolf howls and enough earnest conviction to make up for its lack of urgency. It’s what I imagine Austra performing an erotic seance would sound like.
[3]

Brad Shoup: Even Lee knows the world doesn’t need another song called “The Hunter,” and anyway, “Push the Button” pretty much captures the origin story. She leaves herself with Casio clicks and electroclash bass, but doesn’t have enough magic to pull off the trick. Each phrase is a setpiece.
[5]

Micha Cavaseno: On one hand, Lee’s dip into pagan-EBM isn’t something I want to hate on with intensity, for I think that Lee would do much better in dance music than in songs like “Call Me When You’re Sober”, which felt like an inane grasp at writing a subpar Kelly Clarkson song with occasional riffs. Yet this song is SO DORKY, with Lee just vamping up the old gimmicks, and makes me want to put on a much better song with the same title.
[2]

Tara Hillegeist: As entries into the “once it was an empire, now it’s a niche” field of futurepop go, this one is respectable enough, calling back to the known pleasures of mid-’90s VNV Nation and Covenant without embarrassing either. Whether that callback embarrasses the listener or not is kind of a personal matter.
[5]

Alfred Soto: The Evanescence singer nails her sound: eighties sequencer and woo-woos. But pushing buttons requires a gusto she and her companions have shown elsewhere.
[4]

Scott Mildenhall: This is almost amazing. Just when it seemed the Almighty remix of Katherine Jenkins take on “Bring Me To Life” would be the closest there’d be to Evanescent electropop, Amy Lee gets ghostly over an old Client or Fischerspooner B-side. The bad news: she’s forgotten to write enough lyrics to see it through, and it’s way too driving for it to get by on the intended atmosphere.
[5]

Patrick St. Michel: For all the talk about her “electronica-inflected” solo turn, you’d think Amy Lee could have synthesized up some vocal oooohs that didn’t sound so darn bored.
[3]

Ashley Ellerson: You can’t always treat soundtracks like a musician’s typical output, and Amy Lee has shifted so far from Evanescence’s sound that you might assume someone else is singing. That being said, “Push the Button” has a ’90s alternative feel (“Head Like a Hole” anyone?) that some crave and others despise. Honestly, this sounds like a song made perfectly for a film, but it wouldn’t stand too strong on its own or on an official solo album. Lee should at least get credit for stepping outside of her comfort zone; from what I hear, the Aftermath soundtrack may be better than War Story itself. Evanescence fans should consider giving “Lockdown” a chance with its heavier rhythm and cross their fingers for Lee to bring back the band.
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: If Stevie Nicks were making EDM-influenced goth today, and were about 40 years younger, she might, possibly, sound like this. 
[5]

Will Adams: Fallen came out right as I entered its target demographic; I was a cynical fifth grader, posting dark poetry on Yugioh! forums, doing homework on the floor while the CD spun on a Sony Walkman, and sticking my tongue out at conventional pop. “Push the Button” sounds like the straw man I’d created: cheap, hokey, and verging on ridiculous. There’s no reason that Lee’s voice can’t work well with electronics — it has before — which makes it all the more unsuccessful.
[3]

Sonia Yang: I will be sorely disappointed if this does not become a bad Halloween party DJ staple.
[2]