The Singles Jukebox

And with this, our second month being BACK!BACK!BACK!! concludes. See you in April, and let us know in the comments if there’s a song you’d like us to cover!

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[5.75]

Julian Axelrod: There comes a time in every young producer’s career where they attempt to become A Name: not a Jack Antonoff-style brand, but a more achievable lifestyle of equal billing on collabs, feature-filled solo albums, and festival slots that feel like DJ sets that feel like mid-career retrospectives. ATL Jacob sounds like a name you’d save in your phone after a one-night stand, but he’s attempting to become a household name. And like Metro Boomin before him, he’s diversifying his portfolio by expanding into international waters. Feid has been attempting a similar breakthrough for nearly a decade, so you’d think this shared hunger would translate into an electric collaboration. Instead, it feels more like a competent brand expansion. Jacob’s busy drums and flickering synths split the difference between Tainy and Owl City, while Feid’s lovelorn croon seeps into the empty space of the beat like Justin Bieber in his Jack Ü/Major Lazer era. It’s not terribly exciting, but maybe it’s working: four hours before I wrote this, Spotify published a “This Is ATL Jacob” playlist. That’s called name recognition, baby.
[6]

Nortey Dowuona: ATL JAKE ATL JAKE TURN INTO A TIGER STOP MAKING FOOD UNIVERSE TOTE BAG REGGAETON PLS
[3]

TA Inskeep: Not sure what makes this autotuned reggaeton single so different, why this has become the global smash that others haven’t. It’s perfectly serviceable and perfectly average. ATL Jacob’s beat sounds like a preset, while Feid comes across as a baby Bunny, perhaps without the personality. Maybe that’s the answer?
[5]

Ian Mathers: “Luna” does what feels like just one thing the whole time but manages to make it a virtue. It helps that the singer sells the performance like a steady undertow of yearning.
[7]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Sad sexy, as in looking hot while being sad? Or sexy sad, as in performing heartbreak so tenderly it’s attractive? 
[7]

Katherine St. Asaph: A pleasant bit of droning sweetness, the kind of thing that Drake has attempted dozens of times but that his inherent Drakeness prevents him from pulling off.
[5]

Leah Isobel: Feid’s sad-robot-boy vibrato gives this open desert of a reggaeton track a pleasantly mournful, posthuman sheen; it’s a mode that always works for me. There should really be another minute or so of [wordless outro vocalizing] to drive home the indulgent drama.
[7]

Taylor Alatorre: The extravagant presence of ATL Jacob makes this seem even more like the product of someone who wants to feel sad, who wants to luxuriate in the recollection of a recent breakup because of the sense of profundity it brings, or because mucking around in our lucid memories is more fun and safe than stumbling through the unstructured present. That’s pretty relatable, even if most of us aren’t able to call up the “WAIT FOR U” producer to help make those feelings manifest.
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