At least you’re dressed for it…
[Video][Website]
[3.00]
Scott Mildenhall: Ditching his previous John Martin of choice, Eric Turner, for the real thing, Tinie finds himself at odds with his hook – Martin’s bleatings about the kids being united and never being divided or something don’t really tally with Tinie’s solipsistic “I made it, but it isn’t actually always that good and to be honest I still don’t really know what it is” chat, and even that itself is muddled. His words suggest ambivalence, but the way he uses them doesn’t present conflict. Rather than it being good but bad for Tinie, it just seems like its good and bad, heading straight from boasts of platinum to phoning an ambulance without any kind of explanation why.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: The actual sonic blueprint of “EDM” remains vague, but what connects the Avicii’s and Skrillex’s and Zedd’s of the world are the sense of “epicness” flowing through the music of each. From the climactic structures to the music videos to their journey-like live sets, EDM thrives thanks to a desire for events to be more memorable than they really are (think also of that unfortunate trend a few years back where making a grilled cheese constituted an “epic win” and getting a bad haircut was an equally epic “fail”). Some artists can pull this off — Tinie Tempah, along with producer iSHi and epicness ringer John Martin, can not. “Children Of The Sun” is banal boasts wrapped up in needless orchestra strings and a chorus that is laughably over the top. It is the sound of an artist trying to capitalize on a trend, but looking like the goofiest dude in the room.
[1]
Alfred Soto: All I need to know is what a third-rate Dizzee imitation and a fourth-rate Enrique Iglesias clone sound like.
[2]
Iain Mew: Even the announcers on 4Music on TV here, who normally keep their snark to extra-musical elements, have been making fun of the similarity of “Children of the Sun” to “Written in the Stars”. The template could hardly be any more obvious, especially once Tinie and John Martin are throwing their arms up on top of buildings in the video. Musically it’s a big improvement on the template, though, with Martin sounding less bombastic than usual and his parts slipping neatly in rather than tearing the song apart. It’s just a shame that Tinie doesn’t have anything as funny or interesting to say this time.
[5]
Brad Shoup: Can I just make a request? Please stop using the loping beat with the treble pushed way down. I don’t care that you’ve mastered the underwater effect. It’s dreadful. I missed a whole orchestral section that was probably very majestic.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: Coming into the northern hemisphere winter, what Inspiring Sporting Montage is this nonsense chorus supposed to be soundtracking?
[3]
Jonathan Bogart: A drippy song turned cataclysmic by a disgustingly smug music video.
[2]