we’reNotAsKeenOnNiallHoran though
[Video][Website]
[4.86]
Stephen Eisermann: This song’s composition is so reminiscent of “Pretty Baby” by Vanessa Carlton that it just feels like a more modern take on the track. Fortunately for me, I love that song, so when this inevitably goes #1, I will be in bliss listening to Niall take on MOR. It helps, too, that this song doesn’t push his voice out of his (admittedly limited) range, so he comes across as sincere when delivering this pretty little song about longing for a lost love.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Why would Niall Horan waste time waiting for Ed Sheeran to return his texts when Horan can write a decent simulacrum himself?
[4]
Ryo Miyauchi: A broken-hearted Niall’s a more calm soul than I expected, though his togetherness doesn’t exactly make “Too Much to Ask” better. Even similarly polite piano-rockers like The Fray had some gruffness in their voice. The most he does to convey hurt is curse exactly once like he’s been saving his best hand. With such paced and impersonal delivery, he sounds like he’s telling a heartbreak that doesn’t belong to him.
[5]
Anthony Easton: This would be a lot more interesting if done by a third tier Nashville contract player; at least they would sing less flat, and know how to integrate a piano line properly.
[2]
Will Adams: “Too Much to Ask” is remarkably numb for a production that evokes the warmth of Afterglow-era Sarah McLachlan. And it doesn’t help matters that its opening is nearly identical to a far more moving song from this year.
[5]
Edward Okulicz: Thin but heartfelt, and a sturdy and earnest composition sung with a tremble that’s somewhat believable. Workmanlike, like a less annoying Jamse Blunt, but even more, it sounds like it could have been an album track off Take That’s still-great Beautiful World, though Horan’s no Gary Barlow. Yet! Point off for the gratuitous and unneeded swear, though.
[6]
Scott Mildenhall: Not that it’s a competition, but imagining it were, who out of One Direction would sell the most of their debut album? Insofar as almost no-one sells albums these days, that’s a bit of a moot question, but were this the days of yore (about a decade ago), “Too Much to Ask” would be the ideal of an inoffensive troubadour’s record-shifting third single. It’s not quite David Gray, and it’s not even quite James Blunt, but it shares their taste for gentle catchiness. It’s almost dull, but unpretentious and sweet, and it’s coming out in autumn. It’s not impossible that Jason Orange could win this one.
[6]