The genericisation of promising female pop stars continues unabated…
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[5.20]
Katherine St Asaph: Former UK house omnivore signs with Epic, is assigned to Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub, recreates “Starships,” aspires to be Sabi. Sometimes labels really are evil.
[3]
Alfred Soto: I love synth string stabs when they support a singer who isn’t so heartless.
[3]
Iain Mew: I haven’t enjoyed A*M*E’s own songs that much to date, but I was impressed by the personality she brought to Duke Dumont’s “Need U (100%).” “Heartless” once again has her make the best of limited opportunity, being as it is a bit of derivative assembly line pop that could have gone to almost anyone. Its chief template seems to be a combination of “Only Girl in the World” and the boring bits of “Turn Me On,” with a teasing snatch of “Aerodynamic” at the end, and it could easily have been forgettable. Between “you got my heart running like Usain” and the giddy rapping, though, A*M*E brings enough life to save it.
[7]
Patrick St. Michel: The voice making “Need U (100%)” one of the year’s best is here, and flashes of the charisma that made last year’s “Play The Game Boy” so immediate come through here. But the majority of “Heartless” is just a lukewarm stab at EDM-pop, the whole thing constructed to sound good wedged in the middle of a loud DJ set but without the charm A*M*E has shown. Saving grace – that late bridge where the electro thump-thumping goes away and a military march takes it place reminds us she’s capable of far more interesting music.
[6]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Aside from a rap interlude befitting of the Wee Papa Girl Rappers, this could be literally anybody riding the standard issue neon rise’n’fall programming. On one hand, it’s a sign of the artist showing her versatility, moving over from synthpop (“Play the Game Boy“) to housepop (“Need U 100%“) and now to Guettapop in an attempt to cover as many bases of popular dance music as possible. On the other hand, tripe is tripe.
[3]
Brad Shoup: I wanna pay tribute to one of my favorite pop production tricks, one that’s well-represented here. I love when a staccato synth chord rapidly decays, catches itself, then transforms into another chord. It’s a cheap bit of drama that hasn’t lost its fun for me. Of course, that I noticed it here probably means I wasn’t pulling much from A*M*E’s performance, which splits predictable time between dead-serious and hands-in-the-air-isn’t-this-great modes. I actually prefer the bosh.
[5]
Crystal Leww: It’s a little lazy to automatically compare anything by a female pop artist that contains some form of rapping to Nicki Minaj, but “Heartless” sounds like it could be at home on the second half of Roman Reloaded or The Re-Up. The bits of the songs are cut and pasted together and blended together instead of necessarily sounding like they were created all at once. In particular, the two rap bits are set over slow downs or beat change-ups much like “Whip It” or “The Boys” (and wow, I love the rapping over the snares). A*M*E lacks the rapping ability of Nicki Minaj, but she certainly doesn’t lack personality or singing ability to pull off a pop tune. This is just so much fun, even for a song about a heartless boy! The only gripe I have is how the song ends. It just ends, with no ad-libs or indication that we’re on the last set of the chorus. It just lacks the bite of the rest of the song, helps it go out with an abrupt whimper rather than the bang that it deserves.
[7]
Scott Mildenhall: This doesn’t feel like the transformation of the voice of one of the biggest records of the year so far into the charismatic, fully-fledged popstar that she could be; it feels like the announcement of Nicki Minaj’s overflow service. There are a few sparks – the Bolt reference in particular – but it runs short of ideas after little over a minute in, and by the time it remembers it had one more with the middle 8, it’s too late. Even the last-gasp guitar flourish is disappointingly not elaborated on; barely audible. Given she knocked out the aforementioned smash hit almost literally in her sleep, she’s clearly capable of so much more. Hopefully this won’t prove to be a waste of momentum, and hopefully won’t be her last chance
[6]
Will Adams: A*M*E is charming enough to sell garish, but she is far more interesting in the just-left-of-center pop of “Play the Game Boy” than shooting for radio house.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: Could have been easily, if cruelly retitled “Play the Game, Girl” because she sure can. As an entry into an already crowded market, “Heartless” is certainly above average in the big female-fronted club-dance-pop stakes yet you get the feeling more could be done with the song and the singer, it’s more half-remembered and somewhat-enjoyed track 15 on Club Hits Compilation CD than hit single. I say this because the rapping over the broken-down drums is the best part by a mile; you can hear her, rather than an idea of how to sell her by some label bozos.
[6]