We’re back! (Almost!) Here’s the last three songs of our March coverage that had yet to go up when our outage occurred…
[7.55]
Alfred Soto: It doesn’t take long for the Nigerian rapper to nestle into a spot between the trap beat and the chop ‘n’ serve Sade sample. How the sample serves the track — a complement or an irritant? — doesn’t get resolved, thankfully.
[7]
Julian Axelrod: The beat doesn’t have the depth or drama of the Sade original, but Rema’s whining croon has enough pathos to make Ms. Adu proud. The tender flip is even more impressive when you consider he was making apocalyptic trap bangers less than a year ago.
[7]
Nortey Dowuona: The drum programming from former drummer P.Priime, is smooth, gentle and simply lovely. The kick/snare/kick-percussion/snare rhythm keeps steady, but the loop never feels too rigid or too weak, sturdy yet with the space and little detailed percussion riffs, allowed moments to breathe and shake. The Sade sample is also lovely, slipping all over the mix, popping in and out whenever Rema needs to lean back from leading the line, but Rema himself carries it without fail, his tenor voice smooth and smartly kept in its range, which allows him the ability to shadow it with certain echoes mixed gently in certain open spaces and to add neat harmonies by Leandro Hidalgo.
[9]
Jel Bugle: I enjoyed the bubbly twisty computerised sound of the vocals, they flow nicely, I’m not following what is being sung, I don’t think it matters — Rema delivers them nicely over some simple beats. I enjoyed the sound of the soul of the computer escaping the machine at the end of the song, blowing away.
[7]
Leah Isobel: The sample is some real low-hanging fruit, but the bursts of crowd noise, the cuts applied to Sade’s voice, and the strings indicate a more architectural approach. It’s a frame for Rema to skate around inside, draping silky melodies all over the track. This could go on for another five minutes and I wouldn’t be mad.
[8]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Was considering giving this full marks just because it doesn’t absolutely desecrate some of Sade’s finest work — but I don’t grade on a curve, and this is good enough as is; P.Priime’s big annoying synth solo at the end gives this a reason to exist beyond just recreating the pleasures of smooth jams past.
[6]
Ian Mathers:It should feel this rare to weave the live vocals and sampled ones through each other like this (not call and response, something different), it works pretty damn well. Deliriously smoothed out, naturally and otherwise, even that closing sine wave siren thing.
[8]
Melody Esme: Simple, blunt, mellow, lively, all at once. The sample puts in the work, contrasting against the minimalist rhythm and offering texture and weight to what’s, ultimately, a nice little love song. Sounds great. Sounds like it would be even greater if I were a bit intoxicated.
[8]
Tim de Reuse: Lovingly flips its main sample into an mesh of choppy piano and disembodied oohs; Rema’s vocal performance, mixed low and echoey, blends in and weaves into a dense thicket of sound, culminating every few bars in a quiet, understated swell of strings that melt into the spaces of the mix like butter. Refreshing and heady. The first sip of a drink you’ve been waiting for all day.
[8]
Mark Sinker: An amiable comfy easy sexy jostle in among tropes and tongues super-local, semi-local, pidgin corporate and global, ancient and modern — until the closing moment, when that little plasticky synth wriggle seem to break free of all the tugging interests and poses for a moment.
[8]
Taylor Alatorre: Just put Sade in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame already.
[7]