Bingo never gets me in the mood to fuck Keith Sweat songs, but this is not the Singles Kinkshamebox…
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Katie Gill: I’m predisposed to like anything Keith Sweat because I’m charmed by his one song type that he executes fairly well and has refined to near perfection: the sex jam. But for a song that’s hitting every single checkmark in Keith Sweat Songs To Fuck To Bingo, it’s really odd that Candace Price is doing the lion’s share of work. Still, she’s doing an amazing job and downright carries the song at certain points. Not that Sweat isn’t doing an equally good job…but well, it’s a bit disappointing that Keith Sweat isn’t the star of a Keith Sweat song.
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Ian Mathers: The vocal processing here doesn’t really work for me (it feels more like it’s papering over something rather than adding anything), which is a shame because this is otherwise a pretty straightforwardly pleasurably slow jam, albeit one where it feels like the “ft.” credit ought to be switched.
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Alfred Soto: An R&B star at home with ballads and the uptempo, steel-spangled New Jack barnburners with which he made his name, Keith Sweat returns with a deepened tone lavished on a serviceable quiet storm-er that should do well on adult R&B.
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Alex Clifton: “Boomerang” has the spacey, sexy slow jam vibe going for it–I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to apply the phrase “baby-making music” to something, but I guess this is what people are talking about–but the whispers and moans and breathing in the background are overwhelming for me. I think with some additional restraint this could’ve been really good, although thankfully it never gets to 50 Shades of Grey extremes with the amount of murmuring that happens.
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Thomas Inskeep: Did you know that every single studio album Keith Sweat has released has hit the R&B top 10? That’s 12 of them, dating back to his 1987 debut. And that’s a damned impressive streak. (And they’ve all made the top 40 of the Billboard 200 as well!) His forthcoming 13th will likely continue the streak, considering that “Boomerang” just recently hit #1 on the Adult R&B chart, as well it should, based on this single. This rides a deliciously, painfully slow grind with some trap drums and piano, and really, the credits are reversed: newcomer Price gets the first verse and chorus to herself, Sweat comes in for the second verse, they take the second chorus jointly, and from then on Price and Sweat’s voices do a bit of a pas de deux for the remainder of the song. Crucially, however, Price gets the ending to herself — this is really her song. No matter though, because we all win; this surprise delight is the best R&B slow jam I’ve heard this side of H.E.R.’s “Could’ve Been.”
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Katherine St Asaph: Candace Price has a rich, Kelly Rowland-ish tone, the sort of voice that the R&B industry has unfortunately set a one-woman quota for a decade-plus. But Keith sounds inescapably fusty, and a boomerang is not a particularly sexy image (especially in 2019, when it just evokes email schedulers) A lush anachronism.
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