OG HomeTown…
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[5.30]
Jonathan Bogart: More hot-blooded than I expected from a member of Westlife, which still doesn’t make it all the way to to being warm-blooded.
[5]
Scott Mildenhall: Markus Feehily was always the best one in Westlife. He invariably seemed in only a liminal state of wakefulness when they rocked up to (or sat down on) GMTV, before proceeding to give effortlessly strong vocal performances, even when not miming. For an ex-member of Westlife — a band whose last top 10 was literally called “Safe” — the bluster of “Love is a Drug” might seem “a bit much,” but their best singles were clifftop extravaganzas, and so with his voice it makes perfect sense for Feehily to return with something so histrionic. The familiarity of the sample has potential to be a hindrance, but in his hands it’s as hard-hitting as ever.
[8]
David Sheffieck: It almost gets over on its urgency and sheer operatic force, but there’s a dire lack of a hook here — what’s a drug if it doesn’t make you want to try it again?
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: More strings! Louder Markus, louder! Yeah a chorus, why the hell not?! That’s emotion!
[2]
Alfred Soto: Who let the choir off the bus? Why didn’t he cover Roxy Music?
[4]
Micha Cavaseno: I don’t know if its the fact that I got a weird eagerness to hear what I thought might be a Roxy Music cover and then I got let down by my own mistake, or the fact that I’m pretty sure this is like, just a kind of whatever-whatever attempt at a blue-eyed soul record to that one song from the soundtrack of The Matrix Reloaded. Either way, I’m afraid me and this song are not gonna see eye to eye, and if this dude keeps yelling in my face we’re gonna have some issues.
[2]
Mo Kim: “Love Is A Drug” is about as subtle as its title: we get a full orchestral swoop in measure one of the song. Markus Feehily caterwauls like he’s auditioning for the lead role in a TV musical. The climax invokes a choir to back him up. Yet if it’s not a nuanced song, it’s certainly a compelling one, like everybody involved is stuck in a bad high school production that they’re trying to sell through sheer performative willpower.
[6]
Josh Langhoff: This song shows tremendous disregard toward people actually lying in gutters. Feehily’s “problem” is having all this sex and then not shutting up about it. The gospel choir is either enabling him or a hallucination of his fevered syphilitic mind. I mean, what’s not to love!
[8]
Madeleine Lee: I’m a sucker for a dramatic minor-key string arrangement, but I’ll admit that this song could’ve been sung by anybody. Luckily, it went to this anybody, and he sings the hell out of it.
[9]
Thomas Inskeep: Butt-head: “Uh, he’s really excited.”
[5]