The Singles Jukebox

Clone the drummer some…

[Video][Website]
[4.00]

Anthony Easton: The first thirty seconds or so is pure fronting, and it rings the alarm in true Beyonce style. It’s interesting that it almost takes a minute for the vocals to come in, and that those vocals are abstracted sounds rather than whole words. The problem is in the back half, when any interest falls into a kind of generic discourse. 
[5]

Alfred Soto: Canned ebullience devoid of even vocal spritz.
[3]

Will Adams: The irony is that the track could follow the title’s advice. Everything is tightly coiled, sounding one twitch away from letting loose. The horn blares are precisely placed, and the drums trot but never run wild. “Live a Little” gets close to losing control on the post-chorus, when Florrie lands hard on what the song needs most: “You’re about to BREAK.” Otherwise, it’s as professional as a big band could ever sound.
[5]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: At normal speed, positively anonymous, giddy in the way that music from yoghurt adverts are. At high speed, “Live a Little” insistently stakes the title’s claim and makes you recognise it: do it, live, race to the finish, feel something! Guess which speed the majority of the song is in. (Also: docked a point for trying to bring back wikka-wikka vinyl SFX.)
[3]

Brad Shoup: It’s a funny thing about pop, how “I Turn My Camera On” + “Gonna Fly Now” could negate each other’s energy. All the parts are here: library backbeat, synth fanfare, guitar march. It’s just that assembled, it’s a bit like The Florrie All-Star Tribute to The Go! Team.
[4]

Scott Mildenhall: No matter how many scratches you stick on this record, there’s no hiding that at its core, it’s something that could easily be an Ordinary Boys demo. Not that that need be a bad thing (that one about boys being boys, the Lady Sovereign one and the one about Chantelle — all great), and not that Florrie has been in any way a bad thing up to this point, but on this occasion both are. It’s nice that she’s brought her drumming to the fore, but that and all the other non-electronic-sounding noises serve to make this sound like pop music made by people who don’t like pop music: unfull of the same contractual exuberance as found in that woeful Jonas Brothers single.
[4]