The Singles Jukebox

Pop, to two decimal places.

Fuse ODG – Million Pound Girl (Badder Than Bad)

Or a 1.6081 million dollar baby…


[Video][Website]
[5.50]

Patrick St. Michel: A sweet bit of hyperactive dance music — she dances so well dude wants to marry her — that goes on a little longer than it should.
[5]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Fuse ODG’s “Antenna” had a fear of emasculation, communicated with a howl. It sounded like good times, performed with the antsiness of bad ones. “Million Pound” is the logical next step — slower, sweeter, less bombastic and more accessible. Perhaps as a rebuttal to his dunderheaded paranoia on “Antenna,” Fuse pulls out his lovey-dovey moves. He motions to “all the pain I’ve caused” his paramour, but can’t go anywhere else with the song beyond that, so repeats it for the next three minutes. At some point, dude has to stop saying sorry and get on with things — nobody likes a whiner.
[4]

Brad Shoup: Perhaps the chimes support the line about the ring. I don’t know what goes with “you always stay ahead like a hoodie on me”. A dish of corn presented as a romantic dinner. It’s kind of endearing.
[6]

Iain Mew: Following D’Banj’s “Oliver Twist” last year, the belated chart success of Fuse ODG’s “Antenna” and “Azonto” marks a trend of African pop succeeding in the UK (under the label applied here of Afrobeats). I don’t think Wyclef Jean is enough of a draw here anymore to put much of it down to his appearance on the former. “Million Pound Girl” establishes Fuse’s vocal charisma even better and I especially love the creative fun of “you always stay ahead like the hoodie on me.” The reason that I’m less keen and not sure it will achieve the same is that it keeps the simple production without using that to propel as catchy a chorus. It gets a little samey for me before the end section finally brings in more variety.
[5]

Edward Okulicz: Labelling very hooky and accomplished pop like this as Afrobeats is useful for talking about a movement where African pop enters Western discourse, but less helpful as a genre descriptor for all the different kinds of records in it. This actually sounds more Caribbean than the actually Wyclef-assisted “Antenna,” for starters. “Million Pound Girl” jumps out of the speakers with its ebullient and downright goofy tone (noticeable even before I’d processed the lyrics — they’re not even secondary to enjoying this) alongside its near-oppressive sunniness, and for once I feel sorry for people in the northern hemisphere who aren’t hearing it under blue skies.
[7]

Crystal Leww: The music video for “Million Pound Girl” is great because it depicts a bunch of normal, non-professional people living room dancing, garage dancing, sidewalk dancing, and beauty salon dancing. They are massively dorky looking and the goofy-looking grins on their faces prove it, but it’s a much more accurate depiction of how the majority of consumers who listen to Fuse’s music actually enjoy his music. That’s the thing about good music though: it compels you to move in all sorts of, maybe possibly not totally appropriate settings. The first time I listened to this, I had a big stupid goofy-grin plastered on my face, too.
[6]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments