It’s a hard world to adjust to, where Calvin Harris is someone we actually like…
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Thomas Inskeep: I’d like to personally thank whoever gave a crate of old records to Calvin Harris, because his 2017 releases a) sound nothing like anything he’s done before, b) are the freshest music he’s made since I Created Disco (a decade ago!), and c) keep getting better. “Rollin” sounds like his take on G-Funk via Dâm-Funk, with Khalid out-Frank Oceaning Frank Ocean and Future rapping nimbly for once, and the sum is greater than its mighty strong individual parts. I suspect this is gonna be one of my personal 2017 summer jams.
[10]
Claire Biddles: Snaps to Calvin for this Khalid feature: a perfect guest vocalist for his newly chill summer sound. I loved Ariana Grande and Frank Ocean on “Heatstroke” and “Slide”, but their superstar presences were (rightly) a little distracting. On “Rollin,” Khalid’s vocal and the sun-streaked sound go together perfectly — this could easily be a cut from Khalid’s debut album American Teen (one of the best albums of 2017 so far, FYI) bumped up with a Future verse for radio. I had to deduct a point for that slowed-down rave piano on principle, though.
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Alfred Soto: It sports an attractive brightness, but you can’t dance to it even with the house piano and the Bowie-esque synth. Besides, who’d dance while Future mumbles and Khalid fumbles?
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Ryo Miyauchi: Future becomes a parody of himself while he sits way too comfortable against this soft-rock back drop. He reaches for luxury brands to fill space, and the so-called “monster” blaming his codeine intake for his lack of inspiration just sounds tacky.
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Crystal Leww: 18 Months practically defined the EDM era, but Calvin Harris has had a hard time dealing with the era’s downfall. “How Deep Is Your Love” put a temporary pop-house bandaid on his faltering sound, and “This Is What You Came For” was just a way to keep his name around with a magical collaboration. Both songs are great, but it’s clear that Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 is going to be singular in its sound. Even if it’s just sourced from Black dance music, Calvin Harris has always been able to put together a banger.
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Micha Cavaseno: Do millennials have an alternative to the yacht? Because that’s the vehicle Calvin Harris is crafting these gems for. Over a groove that sounds like a modern day version of Kool & The Gang’s “You Don’t Have To Change,” Future gets to sound relatively inspired and Khalid gets to actually sound soulful. How infuriating is it that Calvin Harris gets to be the guy who did what Daft Punk couldn’t get right?
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Katherine St Asaph: Calvin Harris is nothing but market-savvy, and a blatant niche he found: “Lose Yourself to Dance” with stronger guests than Pharrell. Even better: Khalid’s last verse provides the bitterness at the bottom of the cup.
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Hannah Jocelyn: Like “Slide” and “Heatstroke”, this is effortless and smooth, but by nature of being a kiss-off, “Rollin” is a little bit more aggressive. The beefed-up beat energizes Future, whose whole thing is that he never sounds energized, as he experiments with different flows. The pitched click track is the kind of little detail I’ve enjoyed in Calvin’s recent singles, and where “Slide” had the “I might!” hook, this has an ethereal, even affecting vocal line in the background, courtesy of Khalid. “Rollin” sometimes gets a bit too petty for my tastes, especially in the outro that might as well interpolate “Gives You Hell,” but it’s still the best single he’s released from this era.
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Anjy Ou: Harris’ move to this funk and soul sound is super unexpected to me, but also seems like a necessary refresh. While something inside me still screams “appropriation!!!” you can’t deny the guy is good, and he’s bringing black artists along for the ride so I’m not too mad. I love the juxtaposition of Future and Khalid here — Future provides his typical heartless hedonism, and Khalid reveals the emotions that all that hedonism is trying to cover up. Harris’s production toes that line effortlessly, providing both an emotional throughline and a nostalgic balm for the soul.
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Will Adams: I’d be disappointed in this being the third consecutive offering of randomly accessed Memories were “Rollin” not the best one so far. Unlike the good time churn of “Slide” and “Heatstroke,” this is actually evocative. Khalid’s late night drive sets the scene: pushing 85 on the freeway, six empty lanes splayed out into the horizon, streetlights and exit ramps blurring into one monotonous stretch as the piano cycles its chords again, as the ceaseless kick anticipates your oncoming headache. Future’s verses replay the events, coding them into memory. Somewhere along the road, the coda coalesces, and the blur vanishes to reveal the end of the night, the end of a relationship.
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