Shine on you…or something
[Video][Website]
[3.86]
Katherine St Asaph: Sia’s really cranking out those demo vocals now, huh? Wonder which next-best metric Def Jam used to hear “Midnight City” first. Oh, come on — if they can be this cynical, so can I.
[5]
Anthony Easton: The piano introduction is fantastic. Even the difference between the rise of the chorus and the plain verses has no real drama, and the attempts to repeat the same line over and over is mostly obnoxious and lazy. The points are mostly for the introduction.
[5]
Jonathan Bogart: I think at this point I’m just happy to hear something from her without the klaxony build-and-blare.
[6]
Alfred Soto: “A vision of ecstasy” she has the temerity to sing. With those piano chords a more…present singer than Rihanna would have aimed for diamonds and stars.
[3]
Patrick St. Michel: This tries really hard to be an anthemic song, with a very slow instrumental build up and Rihanna stretching her voice out come the chorus. “Diamonds,” though, never actually arrives at anything warranting the slow-burning build, just sort of getting louder before petering out. Without a big finale, this is just meandering pop made up of a bucketload of cliches.
[3]
Brad Shoup: Part of the reason I was able to ride out the Great Rihanna Glut of 2011 relatively unharmed was my love for her voice: her insouciant drawl, the croaked “eh”s, whatever personality I think I’m receiving. But here she uses a two-pronged attack of her throatier register and a childlike reading on “shine bright like a diamond.” The former eclipses any grandeur with a near-comic sincerity; the latter just sounds off. More than anything, it sounds as if she’s bearing down; perhaps it’s because StarGate gave her something more or less restrained. Strings curl in and out, the synth burbles in the corner; the kick drum was recorded well, for what that’s worth. I’m a little concerned about this next record; we could be in for a long winter.
[2]
Iain Mew: It is becoming increasingly standard for pop albums to get re-releases with extra material as a way of extending their life cycle (next logical stage: the box set!). The thinking seems to be that while no one is buying albums, if that list of singles on the sticker on the cover can be made even longer then maybe it might change a few minds, and if not then at least the [whatever you’re calling your fanbase]s will buy the same thing over again. As a fan of albums and of not ripping off your fans, I’m pleased to see Rihanna continuing to offer yearly new releases as a successful alternative. For all the talk of overwork it doesn’t even involve that much more material! I have a bad feeling about “Diamonds” as lead single in that strategy, though, because there’s so little to it that it sounds more like a tacked-on bonus track than anything else she’s ever done. Even “Take a Bow”, which actually was.
[3]