Not a cover…
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[7.43]
Jonathan Bogart: You name your song that, you know you’re treading on ridiculously reverend ground. More nu-pop armies than you can imagine have died on this hill. And if these five don’t contain anything that comes close to the peril and cracked glory that is Ronnie Spector’s voice, they have something that is, these days, in shorter supply and therefore more valuable: they can swing.
[9]
Jonathan Bradley: Pop classicism lives ebulliently on in the Republic of Korea if the Wonder Girls are any indication. The production — and rap interlude — might be modern, but the moves are at least as old as the Ronettes-swiping title: clear harmonies, handclaps, and a massive hook that insists exuberance and wistfulness should be considered one and the same. How effective is it? So much so that the key change on the final chorus is overkill.
[7]
Jer Fairall: Come expecting a Ronettes cover and get instead a steroidal version of Madonna’s “True Blue,” a canny lineage of a half century of pop traced from its brilliant origins on through its wisest retro-minded updates before arriving at its current maximalist, post-post-modern state, where pop is now less a literate, self-aware version of itself than a hulking Frankenstein’s Monster constructed out of a long history of recyclable (and oft-recycled) parts. If only something less grating than these particular hyperactive synths could have been used as the connecting tissue.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: See, I don’t always swoon in nostalgia whenever someone retrofits older pop forms — in this case, the ’90s diva era — for the synthed-out now. “Be My Baby” is the first K-pop track I’ve heard that sounds plausibly like Teddy Riley might’ve done it (he didn’t), but the ’90s parts (key changes, perks to the melody) and the ’10s (bosh presets, rap breakdown) never meet but run at parallels for the song to hop between, uncertain.
[5]
Brad Shoup: My favorite Mariah mode! That playful pulse updates the Daydream era splendidly, and even if none of the Girls can match her technical ecstasy, they navigate the cadences with verve, converting demand into plea.
[8]
Iain Mew: The blasting synths at the beginning promise a banger which doesn’t ever arrive, although the rap has a good go at it. It’s not too big a disappointment, though, because the song skips along in such a delightfully nimble way. That it manages to sound so light and fizzy despite being stuffed with vocals at practically all possible times is impressive.
[7]
Anthony Easton: The fur collars/muffs on their sleeves might be worth a 10, the modesty lace inserts on their dresses might be worth a 10, the weird gorgeous Kusama style dots on their dresses might be worth 10, whatever is happening with the electronic spiraly bits might be worth a 10, but the chorus, the pitch-perfect Odeur 53 style, nothing-natural-and-nothing-proper, plastic chorus puts it into pure 10. I know I quoted a Japanese Artist and a Japanese Fragrance, and I know Japan is not Korea, so Frank can correct me in the comments.
[10]