Best eHow article yet!
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Thomas Inskeep: Congrats, Cash Cash: you managed to turn Reyes, a decent singer, into just another cog in your EDM-pop machine. *slow clap*
[2]
Cassy Gress: Oh, Sofia. You haven’t given up; I can hear it in the scratch of your voice on those high E’s and in the starkness of those F7 chords and in the handclaps. I know someone who’s not there yet, who’s still in the pre-chorus, and it breaks my heart to hear this.
[8]
Katie Gill: Man, this is LOUD. I know that it’s supposed to be a club jam and Sofia Reyes is doing her best “singing while also screaming a bit to show she can emote” but wow, even before the break it’s just so loud. On a different note, this is the second song with a terrible drop I’ve heard in two weeks (though thankfully, this only had one abysmal drop at around 2:40). Don’t make this be a trend, people.
[5]
Brad Shoup: Those second-half joke-shop horns are rancid. They’re also the most memorable part of a tropical house track that’s so hellbent on authenticity it begins with a count-off.
[5]
Will Adams: It’s like it doesn’t know what to be. The dotted eighth chords are smooth house to file beside Calvin Harris’ latest, Reyes’ vocal has its acoustic origins intact (why the count-off?), and the buzzy synth towards the end is more in line with Cash Cash’s previous, heavier work. As loud as it’s been mastered, “How to Love” barely makes impact.
[5]
Peter Ryan: Reyes manages to bring both fluttery airiness and grit to her vocal, a balance that far more established dance vocalists struggle to strike, and she slots perfectly into Cash Cash’s unpretentious backing. It’s a smart move for everyone — this definitely works on the dancefloor and could easily dominate summer Top 40 — but for Reyes in particular it’s a savvy reintroduction, further bolstered by the Spanglish option. I’m not even that sad about the prospect of her outgrowing Prince Royce.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: Version one of Sofia Reyes is the first solo female to top the Latin Pop Songs chart in five years, and the last one was J. Lo. Version two of Sofia Reyes is another interchangeable vocalist, complete with that phlegm-hocking Ellie Goulding cadence that signifies smarts. Version three is a conduit for even more sidelined songwriters; in 2016, with few and puzzling exceptions, the pop market only allows female singer-songwriters if they’re writing over EDM templates and preferably if they keep the melody upbeat even if they’re penning therapy confessions. You decide which is more interesting. (Either way it’s not Cash Cash.)
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Crystal Leww: Bebe Rexha’s had a couple of hits since then, but in 2013, she was just a featured singer with vocals and a credit (!!!) on a Cash Cash EDM-pop track. I thought the genre was dying then, and while I’m not convinced that it’s not, three out of the top 10 songs in the country right now are definitely EDM-pop. Katherine was right; EDM threw itself into the marketable feminine and it’s uncomfortable and it feels bad. Those Chainsmokers fuckers profit off the talents and femininity of Daya only two years after they made fun of women, and the dance community is super comfortable laughing at the fact that they’ve got a dude problem without fucking doing anything about it. This kind of dude-created, faux-femininity reeks of falsehood. Rihanna has a problem with it on “Needed Me,” which sounds like Drake trying to solve his own issues with a bad bitch. “How to Love” sounds like every dude who thinks he’s complicated and can fix a complicated woman’s wet dream: “I know I need somebody so I can learn how to love.” Are you fucking kidding me? The fact that her vocals are processed to the point where she sounds a little robotic at parts is almost a little too on the nose. This is a male creation of a woman working out her own emotions, not a young woman actually coming into her own feelings. The worst thing? This sounds fucking good. I’m going to go out and dance to this in a club later this year, I’m sure. I hope Sofia Reyes becomes a god damn star after these bros get off on their own fake deep shit.
[6]
Taylor Alatorre: Did you know Cash Cash used to be an emo-pop band? It’s true! They did the Warped Tour and everything! This fact never fails to fascinate me, because out of the dozens of nominally punk bands that were basically doing straight up dance music at the time, these guys were the only ones prescient enough (or greedy enough, take your pick) to make the full transition into festival EDM. So whenever I hear one of their songs, I strain my ears to try and find some trace of that MySpace-era DNA in their current sound, which would at least help them stand out from the crowd at Ultra. But alas, this is just another “progressive” house ballad with “Love” in its title, sung by a powerful female vocalist who deserves better. Their assimilation is complete.
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