What do ü mean this joke isn’t fünny anymore…?
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[5.43]
Thomas Inskeep: The opening of “To Ü” has been under my skin for weeks, largely because I couldn’t quite place what it reminded me of so strongly, but I finally figured it out: it’s “Soviet” by Electronic. It’s not the same, it’s not a sample, it’s not even an interpolation, but it’s naggingly familiar, especially if like me you spent the summer of 1991 playing Electronic over and over. Not only did “Soviet” open side two of the cassette, but it was followed by the huge modern rock #1 “Get the Message.” Like Electronic’s Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, Jack Ü’s Skrillex and Diplo are big names by themselves. “To Ü” features vocals from AlunaGeorge, who you’ve doubtless heard plenty of in 2015, thanks to DJ Snake’s remix of their 2012 single “You Know You Like It,” which spent most of this summer all over the radio in most of Europe and the U.S. This is better, though: Skrillex and Diplo pull plenty of their usual tools out of their arsenals, but in pop song-size, and each chorus features different flavors (subtly, but different) following the vocals. The song keeps shifting ever so slightly, revealing new sides of itself with subsequent listens, and the rewards pile up. I know that both Skrillex and Diplo love DJing big/dumb/loud (though much smarter than you likely think), but their best work might be in miniature, like this.
[8]
Anthony Easton: It’s almost a fanfare in the beginning, and I still like how they drop a beat. Like their work for Bieber, the question of how to work over a voice is more interesting than the voice itself — just as in a Cagean sense noise is often more interesting than music.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: I mean the first break is pretty good but the second one is kind of evidence that Poor Dips just can’t help but fuck up when he has a good thing going.
[5]
Crystal Leww: Aluna Francis has quickly established herself as a distinctive voice in electronic vocals, working with everyone from Rustie to Disclosure to Baauer to ZHU. Her voice is thinner than the voices of women like Martha Wash or Yolanda Quartey but holds no less emotional heft or bite when producers give draw back to give her the room to breathe. With bleeting, brotastic EDM on the decline, producers like Skrillex and Diplo are smart enough to try to evolve with the times. Aluna just makes sense as the vocalist you choose to make those sorts of moves. She’s been left in “To Ü,” and she’s pleading in the form of a question, “How do I get back to you?” Skriplo’s production is a little too big for this kind of misery; the EDM bros cannot help but to throw in the extra drums and the airhorn now and then. But then again, their vocalist helps them compensate: Aluna just uses it as a chance to keep repeating her plea, growing more desperate, more frenzied with every turn before settling into sadness at the end.
[6]
Will Adams: I prefer Aluna Francis in her glossy synth&B element with George Reid (or on smoother dance tracks like “White Noise”), but to Skrillex & Diplo’s credit they’ve done well to incorporate her thin voice with their expensive-sounding speaker-popping sounds. There’s a bit of indulgence in the midsection, where it seems like Skrillex just wanted to flex (good to hear some of those buzzsaw synths, though; I’ve missed them), like some musical crevasse separating the lovely chorus.
[6]
Jessica Doyle: How frustrating: to get pulled in by the initial vulnerability of AlunaGeorge’s rushing through, “Believe me, I could live without you but I really don’t want to,” only to end up wandering from set piece to set piece by means of a thoroughly banal throughline.
[3]
Alfred Soto: Based on AlunaGeorge’s way of shaping the fades and distortions, I suspect Justin Bieber is a pop genius after all.
[3]