Another single, another temptation to write one of the two obvious subhead puns…
[Video]
[4.89]
Will Adams: Icona Pop’s prodigal return to the anthemic, upbeat dancepop that fueled their heavily overlooked album This Is… is satisfying enough. But here the formula, which is just about unchanged from “All Night,” is tinged with an air of sadness. What’s changed in those four years? Perhaps credit it to the times, or more likely the influence of co-writer Tove Lo. The synths are icicle sharp, and the vocal hook is more of a wail, acting out the simultaneous joy and terror of a night out — “If I fall, I deal with that tomorrow maybe” encapsulates the duality perfectly. If apocalyptic pop makes a return, I’d want Aino and Caroline to be the ones to explore the complexity of how we can smile when everything is crumbling around us.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: Rebecca and Fiona for a dance world drained of drama. The titular shouts are to “Girls Girls” what Tupac was to “Girlfriend” or Lesley Gore was to “It’s My Party” — an ersatz borrowed hook, all the more glaring for being borrowed from themselves.
[3]
Alex Clifton: I thought this song was going to be a gay anthem about loving girls, but I guess it’s about straight girls hanging out with their “girlfriends” who are not actually their girlfriends and picking up guys? At any rate, it’s repetitive and bland; there’s none of the firecracker shouty energy that made “I Love It” a banger. Even the drop feels unenthusiastic and half-assed.
[3]
Ryo Miyauchi: Icona Pop aren’t just party-rockers; they’re one of the best pop duos around to represent girl-friend solidarity. But where their past anthems celebrated legendary nights, “Girls Girls” shouts out the ones who stick around when the nights aren’t so glamorous. “Emergency” might have been part of the godawful subgenre that was electro-swing, but I also like to think it made Icona Pop realize what really makes their songs work.
[6]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Straightforward teen pop that I honestly thought was produced by a PC Music affiliate. It sounds like innocuous slumber party music that one might sing into a hairbrush, but halfway through you’d realize how repetitive the song is and force yourself to continue with feigned excitement.
[4]
Alfred Soto: After a refrain or two “Girls Girls” turns into an instrumental with percolating electro textures — hookless Haim (a phrase some will consider a pleonasm).
[3]
Leah Isobel: The lyrics are nonsense, the soundscape is bizarre (what key are the verses even in?), there’s another drop in lieu of an actual chorus, and it’s Icona Pop’s millionth attempt at recapturing a dance-pop zeitgeist that’s pivoted far away from them. And yet, I can’t hate “Girls Girls.” It’s too warm-hearted; all the weird incongruities in the writing and production make it feel more real than a perfectly manicured ode to girlhood. If it’s messy and disconnected, well, so am I.
[5]
Micha Cavaseno: Calling a song like this “cute” might come off patronizing, but there’s a sugary sweetness here in celebration of a common bond. But “Girls Girls” suffers from Icona Pop’s eternal struggle to match the blinding euphoria smash of “I Love It,” and as a result “Girls Girls” still feels like Icona Pop are spinning their wheels. But I’d like to hope they’re finally closer to their chance to stick around.
[6]
Thomas Inskeep: I wish this didn’t have that plinky trop-house trope, but I like the upbeat-ness of it, and I’ll choose to give much of the credit to Icona Pop themselves, alongside Tove Lo. But all that said, it’s still not as good as “I Love It.”
[6]