If Lily’s not careful she’s going to be Dido.
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[4.86]
Jonathan Bradley: A sulk wrapped in a whinge wrapped in a glottal stop, being serenaded by a robot that’s two years overdue for a software upgrade.
[0]
Jonathan Bogart: Look I just like worlds colliding okay?
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: Lily Allen’s crooned for Professor Green, Wiz Khalifa’s sweetened Tinie Tempah for the States and Cee-Lo for lulz, and T-Pain will endorse anything that pays him. Ergo, “5 O’Clock” is not shocking. It’s also not necessary for anyone but the two people — one of whom is T-Pain — who heard “Who’d Have Known“‘s vagueness and got blue balls.
[4]
Mallory O’Donnell: Amongst the minor but significant R&B sub-genre of post-club fuck anthems, “5 O’Clock” is strangely refreshing in its use of an innocent, lullaby-like backing track over which to rhyme “sleepin'” and “creep in.” Other than that, it’s a tough sell as anything other than a novelty. Part of the problem is Wiz, who creates third party confusion. The other part is that Lily Allen and T-Pain are both distinctive enough ‘vocalists’ that it’s hard to imagine the anonymous (or highly personal) participants in the described scenario that are usually essential to making a song like this resonate.
[5]
Anthony Easton: Lily signed off on this? The money must have been really really good — because the violence to the lovely domestic comfort of the original remade as a fuck anthem for club blasters — minor keys do not equal profoundity, and TI’s autotune work has nothing left to offer anyone, if it ever did.
[2]
Brad Shoup: I’ve liked damn near everything T-Pain’s thrown at us, especially when he goes the extra mile to paint a conflicted state. “5 O’Clock” catches him going off on sexual obligation in an R. Kelly mode — but Teddy’s dewy-eyed humanity stands starkly from Kells’ formalism. The singer’s down to fuck, down just to say “good night”; she’s there regardless, and that’s about all he needs. Khalifa takes a victory lap, but his into-the-red verse pales next to T-Pain’s melodic strokes, although he nails his one sung phrase — just gorgeous. I have no issue with his Allen appropriation, except for one thing: they left off the harpsichord.
[9]
Alex Ostroff: “Who’d Have Known” is an absolutely stunning track, and easily my favourite on It’s Not Me, It’s You. Naturally, to hear it appropriated for a song about horny girls texting T-Pain was a bit shocking at first. But it’s not entirely without its charms. If Allen’s song nervously articulated the tentative first steps of a relationship, T-Pain’s describes something equally unexpected and pleasant – a perpetual post-club booty call that could be something more. Wiz might insist that he’s calling because there are too many girls in the club to pick just one, but the production and details are filled with affection. Lily is uneasily hopeful, and T-Pain and Wiz are in denial about why they’re actually coming over every night. Regardless, they’re out in the club, and keep on thinking ’bout somebody else. They got it bad
[7]