Super-like of mine…
[Video]
[4.86]
Thomas Inskeep: Based on an acoustic guitar lick and a synth drum loop, “Commitment”‘s biggest problem isn’t its instrumentation (though that’s kinda boring), it’s these generic lyrics: “I just need someone to love me when it’s hard to… I need good sex and commitment.” How, uh, deep. And you know what Monica doesn’t sound? You got it: committed.
[3]
Nortey Dowuona: Synths drool over the Nolan bass synths and hammering drums. Monica’s gentle, firm voice flies in and out without stumbling or leaning.
[8]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Monica’s performance is as impassioned as it is natural. As she lists off what she wants from a man, her desire is wrought from the pain of past relationships. Unfortunately, the production seems like an afterthought. The guitar loop and rumbling bass and throwback percussion are all watered down to the point of being distracting. Don’t mistake sparse arrangements for emotive ones.
[4]
Alfred Soto: “I need good sex and commitment,” she says in the song’s most memorable clause, followed by several more excerpts from her therapy sessions. Mary J. Blige patented these confessionals twenty years ago. Toni Braxton classed them up. K. Michelle fucked them up. Monica hollows it up — my kingdom for a melody adequate to the prose.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: “I need good sex and commitment.” Man, who the hell doesn’t? It’s remarkable how “Commitment” sounds simultaneously like settling — notably missing from Monica’s list is actually loving someone — and like a plea for a caliber of partner that exists about as much as R&B radio airplay for this sort of arrangement. (In a depressingly common trend for R&B veterans, despite Monica’s pile of hits and Grammy nominations, “Commitment” is self-released.)
[4]
Iris Xie: I didn’t really expect a Ginuwine cover in the form of an exasperated Monica in 2019, but I’ll take it. Monica sings with a jaded, older frankness, knowing that states extremely clearly what she needs. She’s older, she’s been through the heartache and has been singing about giving all of her love for a while. She doesn’t have to worry about whether she needs to “Take Him Back” now. She is so damn over it.
[5]
Julian Axelrod: The kind of earnest, well-intentioned Tinder bio that would make me swipe right but never message.
[6]