The Singles Jukebox

Anyway, back to songs we don’t like!

[Video][Website]
[3.60]

Micha Cavaseno: The same way former mentor/career model Wiz Khalifa’s amorphous nature tends to frustrate his fans, Mac Miller’s absolute blank slate nature is downright baffling. For many, his perpetual dumbfoundedness and laconic frat-rap past seem to undermine any strides he makes, of which there are many! That said, his ever conscious desires to improve as a producer, rapper and now singer are often scorned just due to who Mac Miller is. For what it’s worth, there is little to nothing here on “My Favorite Part” that is worse than say, anything on a Q-Tip solo album or Pharoahe Monch’s Desire. Maybe Mac’s grating, back of the throat grinding tone is certainly shit, but we’ve let other rappers get away with worse. And at least we get Ariana, right?
[4]

A.J. Cohn: Given the fizzy, silly delight that is Ariana Grande and Mac Miller’s previous duet “The Way,” I had high expectations for this track. And in theory, this song, which is like a stoned, slow jammed “What Makes You Beautiful”, is something that I would like. But that Grande is stuck harmonizing, while Miller’s strained attempts at singing are foregrounded is honestly offensive. Also offensive–to my sensibilities, at least–is the idea that occurred to me while listening to this: that “Side to Side” might be about Miller.
[4]

Crystal Leww: “The Way” is one of my favorite pop songs of the last decade. This is like if you got Zack Snyder to direct the sequel: let’s make everything serious and moody and arty and devoid of the joy that made the original so good. 
[3]

Will Adams: Every problem from “The Way” exacerbated: more Mac Miller (here singing like he’s hungover), more throwback simulacrum, more mistaking smoothness with lethargy, and all for a sweet nothings song that seems fine until you realize its core just another take on that old “you don’t know you’re beautiful and that’s what makes you beautiful” chestnut.
[4]

Alfred Soto: While the keyboard doodles and worries like J. Dilla-era Tribe, Mac Miller and Ariana Grande sing as if they were in the same room; better yet, Grande’s part is bigger than the “ft.” deserves. I’m not sure what they’re singing about, though, and I doubt they are either.
[6]

Elisabeth Sanders: Every time this song ends I immediately and completely forget what it sounds like.
[2]

Will Rivitz: Mac tries to be Anderson .Paak and gets about halfway there; Ariana tries to tone down her slow-jam-destroying warble and gets about halfway there; this song tries to be a sublimely sultry, funky love jam and gets about halfway there.
[6]

Scott Mildenhall: Mac Miller sounds like someone has stuck a pin in Phil Mitchell and got him to try and sing the verses of “Got To Have Your Love”. Phil Mitchell is not a well man! Whereas “Dang!” had a surprising vitality, this is so inert that it could be argon. It’s “Sensual Seduction” as reimagined by someone whose imagination should be confiscated, contained and scientifically tested for its lack of vividness.
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: I guess this is the secret to getting Ariana Grande to not oversing on a track: pair her with a vocalist so lazily awful that Ari barely has to open her mouth to outsing him. There’s an obvious flaw here.
[1]

Megan Harrington: It’s impossible to settle on the worst part of “My Favorite Part.” It might be Mac Miller’s congested, mumbled singing. It might be the conceit that Ariana Grande, tv and pop star, isn’t aware of how beautiful she is. It might be the lukewarm vinyl crackles and burnt out lightbulbs masquerading as mood lighting. The best part is easy: in a landscape overrun with contract couples and showmances, this pairing is just rank enough to feel real. Their flirtatiousness is stomach churning but it’s the song’s only appeal. 
[2]