From No Angel to no sales, to this…

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[4.00]Edward Okulicz: Dido begat American Life, which in turn is the only obvious reference point I have for this try-hard strum-a-long. So yes, she’s now her own grandmother, and exactly as good as you’d expect. The chorus shoots for some kind of meaning, but the melody’s as big a lead weight as the words — this could have been written in three seconds, literally. Her voice has one trick (being wounded and regretful, and it’s a superb trick) and “No Freedom” doesn’t use it. Being tasteful isn’t a deal-breaker, but just being tasteful is.
[4]

Iain Mew: I ordered in No Angel from my local indie record shop, hilariously mispronouncing Dido’s name in the process, back when that was a thing that you might still have to do for someone that you’d heard on a TV theme song and a soon-to-be #1 hit. Three years later I was doing my first job picking fruit in the heat of a particularly blazing summer. I listened to Radio 1 a lot. Amongst the Stereophonics and “Where is the Love?”, Dido’s “White Flag” was generally the highlight of my day, sneaking beauty and total emotional desolation in through surface pleasantness. All of that history may be what keeps me hearing a hint of something similar in “No Freedom”. Even as its aimless strings and its unimaginative chorus try their best to say that dullness is not just a disguise this time, there is still something there in her voice that elevates it a bit, and the slow unwinding of the verses is gorgeous.
[6]

Pete Baran: Circular argument notwithstanding, it makes complete sense for Dido to make a stab at a “No Woman No Cry” / “If You Love Someone Set Them Free” amalgam. But like the fiercely independent artist she is, she does it on her own terms. Those terms are dialled down atmospherics and an acoustic guitar and will suit an audience for whom pleasant is as much emotion as they allow themselves this weekend.
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Alfred Soto: The singing and melody are pretty and confident, but her take on John Lennon’s “Love” would work best if she stuck to “no love without freedom” as mantra instead of archly reversing it. They’re not the same thing at all.
[4]

Will Adams: I love Dido, and I love No Angel, which this song’s trip-hoppish drum loop reminded me of, but the chorus here sounds like the musings of a college freshman staring up at his Bob Marley poster for inspiration for his poetry class.
[4]

Jer Fairall: Coming soon to a post-breakup montage near you.
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Brad Shoup: “No Dido No Sigh,” for real. It sounds like she’s being backed by her own YouTube tribute. I can’t even imagine the kind of light buzz that produced the antimetabole this song hangs its hat on.
[2]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: This is all very unassuming Mrs Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong, but would you please write a song for next time? Cheers, Daniel.
[3]

Ian Mathers: Honestly, the first verse, before the beat comes in, pretty much had me. I kept thinking it was going to tip over the edge into maudlin, and I’m still not sure why it didn’t, but it was working. The rest of the song doesn’t live up to it, especially the empty, schematic chorus.
[5]

Anthony Easton: What does it mean that when I look at Dido, I think she should just go away, but when I look at Petula, I am excited about a new track? What does it mean for artists that work the middle ground between novelty and nostalgia? What does it mean that I read this as a female performer for a female audience, but find it isolating (or is that ageist, because I think of this as for women a generation older than me)? Why can I accept solipism in the midst of dance or electro-pop, but I find it grating in work that is softer? If this had been sung by Anne Murray in 1976, or Phoebe Snow in 1972 or Joan Armatrading in 1982, I would consider this utterly genius, but in 2013, it seems unsustainable. Whether for reasons of privilege or the tension between novelty and nostalgia, I hate this, but I feel guilty about hating it.
[3]

Patrick St. Michel: Turns out Dido is one of those artists who doesn’t get any more exciting as I get older.
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