Well, the song’s not a miracle, so we could have guessed.
[Video][Website]
[4.00]
Crystal Leww: This sounds like what would happen if someone knew about all the right “parts” of an EDM pop hit and had the assignment of making a song with all those parts. The rap verses are about being a cool macho dude that parties hard and your girl lusts after. The hook actually has no meaning whatsoever; it’s just a bunch of words strung together and sung. The rise and fall of the song sounds contrived. As a result, that bass drop isn’t cathartic, just a cue for the listener to feel like dancing. This song is so lazy that it’s condescending. Did you really think we wouldn’t notice?
[2]
Iain Mew: I love the divebombing synths and stern bass, especially on the full 6 minute version that really gives them space, but the more I listen to Lethal Bizzle’s bit, the more I keep asking questions. Questions like: on your average British night out, is it really the heavy drinker that is most in need of a “no defeat, no surrender” stance? If waking up on a park bench minus your clothes is winning, is it a game worth playing? In January?
[5]
Scott Mildenhall: It’s rather disappointing that there isn’t a word that rhymes with “dench” that means lazy, uninspired or forgettable. This blurb would have been 28 words shorter if there were.
[5]
Anthony Easton: I feel pummeled after listening to this, and the little calm bit in the middle makes it even worse, actively painful to listen to, and not in an interesting way.
[2]
Rebecca A. Gowns: This song is over before it begins — good length for a ringtone! Incidentally, good song for a ringtone! (If you hear the froggy bass drop, you got a call!) Also a good song for DJs to mix in with other songs at the club! I assume that’s what this song was made for (ringtones, club mixes), so, yknow, it fulfills its purpose.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: Oh great, more lyrical valorisation of going out, getting pissed and being obnoxious, set to every pissed, obnoxious record you heard last year and never bothered to learn the name of. Urgently needs a better chorus that does something other than pass the time, or for Wiley to appear in the middle of it when you’re not expecting it. That headache you might get after being out dancing for a few hours can be replicated with one play of “Not A Saint.”
[4]
Brad Shoup: I’ll be squishy for a sec, if that’s cool: in light of the Santa Maria tragedy, Lethal Bizzle’s clubbing-as-contact-sport text — culminating in his boasting “I will not lose” over a skeletal comedown — gives this an eerie vibe. Still, the worst club fires seem to be the province of bands with stage shows, not DJs associated with a ultra-professional brand like Ministry of Sound. As for the sonics: midway through I got a kick out of watching a couple basslines compare serrations. But because Mr. Gonzalez loves chasing interesting textural ideas with arbitrary dropouts and switchups, it’s a moment far too brief. I’d say he’s aiming to keep a dancefloor on edge, but yikes.
[4]