British R&B starlet fails SEO test…
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[4.86]
Martin Skidmore: This is definitely annoying me, from the very stuttery production to the chipmunk sample. She’s a decent enough R&B singer, if not terribly interesting, Giggs’ guest rap is too downbeat and glum, and the song fizzles with some terrible lyrics.
[3]
Anthony Easton: “We got to be on the low/don’t let anyone else know” followed by a chorus of “be with be with be with you boy” is the gayest thing a straight woman has sung since Diana Ross did “I’m Coming Out”. However, Ross can sing.
[4]
Michaelangelo Matos: At first I thought this was New York, that obnoxious spawn of VH1 reality programming, rather than short-for-Nyomi Gray, hook girl for the U.K. chart-chat stars. The barely-audible stuttering sample that provides the title hook is the kind of thing no U.S. station would play, not that any of them should, and Giggs really doesn’t add a damn thing.
[5]
Zach Lyon: I have this fascination for songs in which the singer interacts with the sample — dialoguing with it, letting it finish lines, etc., rather than just having it there to provide vague commentary. I love to hear that needless fourth wall broken down, so “Be With You” is pre-packaged for me. But then there’s the content itself, specifically the interaction between Ny and Giggs, that takes it higher. It sounds like Giggs was brought in to write a verse after the song was already recorded, and he just listened to it and decided, awesomely, to play the Other Man and turn Ny’s narrative on its head. Or maybe it was planned that way, but it doesn’t sound like it; her verses are done with such innocence and assumption, like the listener is expected to sympathize with her (at one point, she gives HIM shit for complicating things). And then Giggs comes in with a voice and delivery that sounds so soft and actually-sympathetic (I imagine it would sound awful in any other context) that Ny becomes the guy in “From a Table Away.” His verse isn’t even good, but I like the idea of it so much.
[8]
Kat Stevens: I have to keep reminding myself that this isn’t Keri Hilson singing. The similarities in both her vocal and the melody is uncanny. Also uncanny: the helium hook is charming and not annoying!
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: I’m so sorry, but I can’t be with you either. It’s not you! You’re a good singer, don’t get me wrong; I you mean well. It’s just those ParadeOne synths left lying around, and the Doppler siren you pull out when those don’t work, and then that chipmunking you do to your voice after all else fails. It just isn’t working, you know?
[4]
Jer Fairall: Just because this choose-between-two-lovers scenario would likely be deemed sexist drivel if it were coming from a male singer doesn’t mean it couldn’t work in the hands of a skilled songwriter or sympathy-inducing performance. None of that is displayed here.
[3]