CanCon crossover ushers in the Year of Light. And by “ushers” we mean “DJ Got Me Falling in Love”…
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Scott Mildenhall: It’s 2009! It’s 2004! It’s, er, neither. Others have elaborated on the apocalyptic nightvisions of the R&BDM that mutated from those years, but this is the flipside: sunset not as portal to death, but preface to guaranteed light. Raghav’s optimism is infectious, so unabashedly exuberant that the club quite literally cannot handle him, and even Nelly seems to be buying into it, with all the money his Periscoped-in appearance provided and more. Abishek Bachchan doesn’t sound quite as at home, but does at least contribute to the kind of valuable culture clash Raghav once briefly brought to British pop.
[7]
Brad Shoup: His modest melisma finds a match in a synth twinkle. The underlying melody, played pizzicato, brings some of that “Call Me Maybe” goodwill, but the guests are just leavening.
[5]
Thomas Inskeep: It’s unsurprising that Raghav had his biggest successes in 2004-05, because this song feels stuck there, sporting super-generic pop&b production, and no less than Nelly — who sounds oddly like Bubba Sparxxx here — on the rap break. Indian playback singer Abhishek Bachchan shows up, too, to drop a bridge, but like Nelly sounds airlifted in from another song.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: It’s going down. I could maybe be persuaded to yell “timber.”
[5]
Patrick St. Michel: Serviceable feel-good pop that teases EDM bigness before settling for the same territory as “Good Time.”
[5]
Alfred Soto: Pizzicatos and four on the floor beats sound like Saturday night if not quite Sunday morning, but the riff doesn’t do the here-comes-the-sun bit like I want, and Nelly might as well be auditioning for a spot in the Black Eyed Peas.
[3]
Iain Mew: It stretches not much substance a long way, but I can’t imagine really taking against it. The way that the guitar riff comes barrelling in, dorky and unconcerned, gives an impression of throwing yourself totally into enjoyment that most party pop gets nowhere near.
[6]
David Sheffieck: The rare charity single that sounds effervescent enough to work as a song in its own right. And the titular tie to its cause is just about clever enough to overcome the vague platitudes of the lyrics.
[7]
Ramzi Awn: Breaking the dawn has been a concept for quite a while now now. So has “I can feel it in the air tonight.” I can feel it in the air tonight, too. It feels weird. And wrong. And the stars don’t look pretty. I pulled an all-nighter last night — I know what the sun looks like. This isn’t it.
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