Speaking of two No. 1 hits in the UK…
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[5.50]
Scott Mildenhall: Three people have sung on two UK number ones so far this year: Featuring Jess Glynne, Serious Artist Sam Smith and Kelli-Leigh. First uncredited on “I Got U”, she once again provides sample replay services here, firmly putting the fun into functional. Justice for Kelli-Leigh! That said, she’s not the only name missing — the male vocals may be co-writer Daniel Bedingfield! This whole house-UKG-house thing is eating itself in a full circle and it feels reasonably enjoyable.
[7]
Patrick St. Michel: So smooth I swear this was the creation of an especially crafty PR firm. Just read this dude’s bio: born in Chicago, grew up in the UK, somehow absorbed dance-music styles representing both locales and became an adult capable of merging them into a subtle, gliding chart-topper. The Toni Braxton sample just flutters there, adding the sweetness it has to without detracting from the way this grooves along. Whoever ironed this one out in time for summer deserves some love.
[8]
Alfred Soto: Decent house keyboards, but we’re at the peak of the ’90s revival. We need more!
[4]
Will Adams: I hate to keep invoking Disclosure at every deep house turn we take, but their ability to weave gorgeous layers into their mixes while maintaining a breezy simplicity will always trump meandering and assembly-line filler like “I Wanna Feel.”
[5]
Brad Shoup: If I were a canny producer, trying to pump out generic house for budget compact discs and beatmakers, I would first choose a name that sounds like it has summat to do with Chicago. Then I’d drop marbles on a piano. Maybe I already am a canny producer?!
[3]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: The relentless vocal hooks evoke a mania of sorts, but it’s too clipped, too clean, too polite. There’s nothing wild to revel in. You can’t go starry-eyed when the love has been turned antiseptic.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: Robin S to the white courtesy phone!
[5]
David Sheffieck: While it’s not quite the earworm that “I Got U” was, this further cements Kelli-Leigh’s bonafides as a reliable hitmaker able to command attention in songs that work as well delivered over headphones as they do when dropped by a DJ.
[6]
Megan Harrington: “I Wanna Feel,” like “I Got U” before it, is another strike for the C + C Music Factory resurrectionists intent on Martha Wash-ing Kelli Leigh. It’s clear that this song was built around a Toni Braxton sample too expensive to own, so they’re knocking it off with the help of music’s premier fast fashion vocalist. Puppet vocalists are as disconcerting as they are enduring and “I Wanna Feel” comes off more like a simulacrum of humid summer nights than a lovelorn memory.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: Like Jess Glynne, Kelli-Leigh has now sung on two UK No. 1 hits, just on a work-for-hire technicality: no artistry beyond “sound identical to Toni Braxton” (its own skill, as singers can tell you), no expectation of promo, no Black Butter signing or debut single. It’s less a Martha Wash situation, more like agreeing to ghostwrite the third Hunger Games; I’m sure there are others like her, they just haven’t made blog posts for nerdy Internet music fact-checkers to find. Anyway, like so much UK pop-house this is baby food: Secondcity’s My First House Piano Loop, My First Juxtaposed Vocal Samples. But this one works despite the sloppiness; Kelli/Toni’s half-pained seduction plays off dude’s electrosigh in a way that evokes more than its component parts, and house piano loops are evocative anytime.
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