Not a Kelly Clarkson cover…
[Video]
[5.00]
Will Adams: I wish the menacing house chords that open “Walk Away” stuck around more, but the BIG LOUD DROP is too BIG AND LOUD to avoid taking over the whole song. It’s got the same kitchen sink approach as “Starships” without the annoying perk, and like the Nicki Minaj song, it’s a bit too crowded for its own good — there was no need for the na na’s budging in during the second verse. Overall, though, I don’t mind the clamor; a more polished rendering of 2012 radio pop is fine with me.
[7]
Ryo Miyauchi: From the megaton drop to the “live for tonight” motto, this is straight out of 2011-2012. But with current EDM-pop stuck on a perpetual balmy chill, a throwback to more intense dance music energy isn’t half bad. It also helps the beat works to serve Tóc Tiên, not the other way around — a misstep a lot of EDM 1.0 could’ve learned to better.
[5]
Iain Mew: I’m still always here for chaotic drops which first interrupt a song and then turn out to be the entire point, and the multi-stage rocket launches in “Walk Away” are joy upon joy. That Tóc Tiên’s punchy performance makes the warm-up so entertaining in its own right is a fine bonus.
[8]
Nortey Dowuona: The drums. Again. I can’t stress enough how the oomph of the drums dropping out of the sky feels as if they aren’t as buoyant as the producer felt they were. The piano falls apart under any inspection and the singer herself sounds at if she is being devoured by it all. It feels like when you’re locked in a closet with a broken school bell that starts ringing any old time.
[2]
Micha Cavaseno: It’s pretty solid R&B & EDM influenced pop sounding like shades of the Sonic the Hedgehog “Casino Zone” at first, before sadly dissolving into the most generic sort of trapstep breakdowns for the big chant chorus. The best moments are the opportunities where Tóc Tiên tries to vocalize and keep herself at the center of the whirlwind before those eye of the storm climaxes, but sadly routine demands we overlook any chance to establish an impression.
[3]
Alfred Soto: The keyboard pattern intro evokes Katy B, and the androgynous vocals are ideal, but “Walk Away” doesn’t deserve the manipulations in the chorus, let alone the drop.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: A turbo-charged — really, turbo-pop — Vietnamese spin on K-pop that sounds exciting. And the best pop records should sound exciting, right? Somehow, this manages to make pneumatic work. Really work.
[9]
Crystal Leww: “Walk Away” sounds like something that CL would have done in 2015, which was already something three years too late. If I wanted to watch an Asian girl with dreadlocks rap badly, I’d just to go to an ASAP Ferg set at Pitchfork Festival. This is unnecessary.
[2]