And this is our sixth Ciara review, but at least she’s got a Presidential Seal of Approval…

[Video][Website]
[6.10]

Jonathan Bogart: If this is not Ciara’s triumphant return to the charts, I wouldn’t call it an injustice (as some of my colleagues here will). But I would call it a pity. The burbling synth line underpinning her and Usher’s invocations of the Party is too good to be lost to the purgatory of Did Not Chart.
[7]

Zach Lyon: Only one of two songs on Basic Instinct not produced by Terius and Tricky, and somehow not the worse for it? I’ve never heard of T-Minus before but his diabetic 8-Bit manipulation is one of the best I’ve heard over the past few years. There isn’t much else here — “It’s on tonight”/”turn this club into a jungle”/more dancing + death lines (why is this such a popular motif?), all just the height of superfluity. Ciara is wasted, Usher is delightfully spastic and apathetic, they both need their volumes turned down on the track.
[7]

John Seroff: It’s a bit of a coup to take Ciara and Usher, two of the fittest and most explosive pop stars in the world, put them on an 8-bit hook and still have nothing to show for it.
[4]

Alex Macpherson: Ciara’s so great that she can make even her boring cookie-cutter token gesture to pop’s dreadful trends sound good: she possesses just the lightness necessary to leaven the 4×4, to insert a devil-may-care breeziness in place of the usual relentless all-up-in-the-club pound. It’s a mere trifle, though one increasingly senses a certain lack of imaginationmonomania on Ciara’s part, given that she’s already exhorted us to “turn it up, turn it up” on two separate choruses to date, and indeed has used the actual title “Turn It Up” before (an unreleased, Danja-produced Fantasy Ride demo). Of the three volume adjusters, the one that’s eventually been picked as a single is the worst, but that’s pop in 2011 for you.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Ciara’s tendency to distance herself a bit from the proceedings makes her the ideal go-to girl for thumpers like this. Her restraint shows up Rihanna’s efforts in a similar vein (i.e. “Don’t Stop The Music” and “The Only Girl in the World”). But the perfunctory chords and beats leave Usher stranded. Turn it up, by all means, but you’ll be hard pressed to pay attention.
[6]

Martin Skidmore: I am mystified as to why her career has been so downhill commercially, as I have loved virtually everything she’s done, and she’s hardly been short of major collaborators. I’m not sure her voice is especially suited to club bangers, and while this is a smooth enough job, she is outgunned by Usher in his home territory. Not one of her more interesting moments, but I still like it.
[7]

Anthony Easton: Ciara totaally decimates Usher here, doesn’t she? He is totally unneeded, and that amuses me.
[8]

Chuck Eddy: Hearing this in the background oblivious to the acts’ identities, I was thinking, “Not horrible for Guetta-type club-pop bullshit, despite the dumb words.” Was actually surprised to find that it was Ciara and Usher. Has more oomph in the vocals than I’ve grown accustomed to with Ciara. On the other hand, it’s way less interesting musically than “Gimme Dat,” and Usher’s usual so-what isn’t as entertaining as Ludacris in “Ride.” But at least the credited artists mercifully both spare us their (even stupider) sex schticks.
[4]

Erick Bieritz: If an artist is going to perk up listeners’ ears with heavy pitch-shifting over an electric burble, why give up after 30 seconds and play the rest so straight? Better to take the risk of turning into a BEP anthem than to play it safe and submit a C- Taio Cruz impression.
[5]

Pete Baran: A partially deaf person might think this is a Rihanna song, but Ciara is staking a claim back at what she was best at, and this is better than most of R’s recent efforts.
[6]