New, from Apple, an app that lets you invade anyone’s privacy, anywhere! [not sponsored]

[Video][Website]
[5.11]

David Sheffieck: I’m not sure I want to understand Instagram hookup culture or even if I’m fully capable of doing it, but “iSpy” makes the process both fraught and fun. The former in the way Kyle presents his theories of who to hit on and why, then spends most of his verse protesting the insults that get thrown his way. The latter in the bouncy instrumental hook and even more in Yachty’s ever-exuberant contribution. This is a feather-light goof of a song, but endearingly so.
[7]

Anthony Easton: This could be suitable for kids, a sweet little ditty about summer time pleasures, low key with a lot of breath, just rising as it absorbs accidental detail, except that would suggest this wasn’t as delightfully deliberate. Extra point for the Oprah line.  
[9]

Claire Biddles: Lilting delivery, actual giggling, getting a “selfie with Oprah” — Kyle is super cute on this track but is let down by Lil Yachty, whose drawl grates with the posi vibes in the second half. “iSpy” is still fun, though, and self-deprecating lines like “a girlie I can get ‘cos she don’t get too many likes” are so real. 
[6]

Micha Cavaseno: The continued saga of Lil Yachty’s rise is at times appreciable; certainly nobody who preaches positivity, playfulness and innocent youth deserves all the vitriolic hatred he’s inspired in elders. But then again, you remember how exhaustingly corny this dude is, and you want to stuff him into his Spongebob backpack and kick his ass into the sea. Kyle, himself kind of a low-level wave rider, places himself in the D.R.A.M. role with some splashes of Chance The Rapper and Drake, recognizes Yachty’s wave is a very strong current to coast along and make a decent knock-off of “Broccoli” in its posi-core carefreeness. It’s the bliss-out rap pop that a generation before, Leland Austin, Roscoe Dash and Travis Porter were not allowed to realize. It’s just now it’s so sugary sweet and so late for me, my teeth hurt trying to swallow it.
[6]

Will Rivitz: The thing about biting Chance and D.R.A.M. as hard as Kyle is doing here is that, if you’re going to completely swipe their flows and speech patterns, your lyrics better stack up as well. In this case, the utter inconsequentiality of Kyle’s verses are an affront to the better rappers he’s drawing influence from. The only reason this isn’t getting a lower score is (and I can’t believe I’m writing this) because of Lil Yachty, whose “All my bitches come in pairs like balls in my nutsack” actually made me laugh out loud.
[3]

Alfred Soto: Both guys pilfer from Andre 3000, Chance, Boosie, and god knows what else. Silly too — nursery rhyme silly, not unless you take Kyle’s promise to turn the “curly-haired cutie” he met on Instagram into his wife. 
[5]

Will Adams: The electric piano swipes are very Sesame Street, and both Kyle and Lil Yachty add to the playful tone. “iSpy” is pleasant enough as background chatter, but as with “Just a Picture,” the social media references choke out the fun like poison ivy.
[5]

Madeleine Lee: The adorable intro and DeMar DeRozan references go a long way with me, which is good because they need that goodwill to get me through the whatever chorus and most of what Lil Yachty has to say.
[5]

Hannah Jocelyn: The intro is kind of amusing, as are the verses, but as soon as the hook comes on wow does this go to shit. I really liked Lil Yachty’s break through “1 Night,” but this is just so stupid. “I spy with my little eye/a girlie I can get cause she don’t get too many likes” isn’t even endearingly crass like “1 Night” or Kent Jones’ hilariously tasteless “Don’t Mind” was last year. Even as everything else sounds breezy, the chorus reveals the whole song to be nothing more than just fucking locker-room talk. That didn’t stop our current President from getting elected, and it’s ushered us into an age of populist correctness, so I better get used to this song. My pet peeve these days is when writers try to arbitrarily connect music with politics, but to me, the dissonance between the lyrics and music feels inextricable from certain recently validated parts of the political climate — where demeaning certain groups of people, especially women, is not just acceptable now but in some twisted form an act of defiance, to just let guys be bros after they’ve been constrained for so long by feminism. What really seals the deal for me is not the political connection, but the line “all my bitches come in pairs like balls in my nutsack.” Okay, fine, it’s the political connection.
[0]