América! Fuck… yeah? Kind of?
[Video][Website]
[5.86]
Josh Langhoff: This is the theme song to an appealing telenovela of the same name, whose basic premise seems to be, “No matter how funny it is for a man to take a secretarial job and wear a pink shirt, he’ll do it for the love of his recently-discovered daughter.” They’ve milked this for an impressive 150+ episodes. The song moves with linear TV-theme simplicity (prelude, Sierra sings, synth solo, Sierra, synth) that, in its pop song context, gives it a gravitas far removed not just from Jesús García’s secretarial hijinks, but also from a maximalist pop zeitgeist where more = more: more guest stars, textural shifts, song parts, clatter, whatever you can throw onto a track. Often I love that stuff. But “Manda,” with its restraint and its clear-eyed awe at love’s power, could almost be a hymn.
[7]
Alfred Soto: The electrosalsa doesn’t quit: a collision between present and unexpected present that pays off on the dance floor. I wish I frequented clubs in which this thing played.
[7]
Iain Mew: The bouncy main synth riff is a barely retooled version of when we last encountered 3Ball MTY and Sierra with credits the other way round. I still love it and, as pleasing as her singing is, wish there was more of that riff and its energy here.
[5]
Brad Shoup: The 3Ball sound on autopilot is still pretty versatile. Still, this feels like an inexpert mashup; Sierra doesn’t get let into the really fun sections.
[5]
Jonathan Bogart: América’s first venture being on the other side of the ft. from 3Ball sounds like the novela theme it is, with romantic melodic longueurs keeping the tribal-by-numbers rhythm from actually grabbing hold of the hips and forcing the issue. It’s better than the closing-credits version, I’ll give it that, but it’s still a cheesy, lamestream-media version of an exciting youth movement.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: This sounds like a slightly less energetic – but still plenty in motion – of the other song they did together I really liked. I’m OK with this.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: Feels a bit like 3Ball might be a bit one note. For mine, the differences between this and the older yet fresher “Intentalo” are all points against “Porque El Amor Manda,” aside from Sierra’s perfectly fine vocal. The heavier, faster beat threatens to drown out an okay song (the opening seconds make it sound like a more than okay song, actually), but it makes what was a very distinct sound for 3Ball sound very generic, like it could have been thrown at J.Lo three weeks ago.
[4]