And we’ll blurb if we want to…
[Video]
[5.17]
Kylo Nocom: This is still “Welcome to the Party,” so it’s still great, but do yourself a favor and listen to the original. “Baby welcome to the party” has the perfect phrasing for one of the most compellingly fun hooks of the year. Nicki and Pop Smoke comfortably partner up, the former’s self-serious badassery leading into the latter’s more convincing ferocity. Both performers are in top form, and together with 808Melo’s corrosive bass wobbles they have boiled up a menacing beast of a tune, begging to be played in cars and at parties everywhere.
[9]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: The grimy UK drill beat casts a sinister haze over the song, its undulating wobbles granting a harsh edge to Pop Smoke’s rumbling voice. Nicki provides the right sneering tone, but it’s Pop Smoke’s slurred delivery that made the original so captivating; she stands out on her verse, but he knows there’s more weight in sounding like an extension of the beat itself. The occasional vocal sample bits and unsheathing sword sound effect are small but essential details, much like Pop Smoke’s snarled “Uh?”
[7]
Alfred Soto: The beat is UK garage filtred through Vince Staples’ Summertime ’09, and Pop Smoke has a tone that honors his name. The rest is Gravediggaz with an ebullient Nicki Minaj as welcome guest instead of party crasher.
[5]
Will Adams: Nicki’s flow here recalls “Only,” and it works a lot better this time since the beat actually has a pulse and she’s actually trying. Which makes it all the more disappointing that she’s hitched to a song with this bad (and offensive) of a hook.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: Always nice to know when I can stop listening to a song after line two.
[1]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Despite a rocks-for-brains dumb, overlong hook (Pop Smoke calls himself “retarded” and “a thot” in the span of what feels like 32 bars), the metallic, vague menace of “Welcome to the Party” works to a surprising degree. Nicki sounds great, which makes sense because this beat is basically “Motorsport” with less treble, and Pop’s actual verse (which is shorter than his hook) is captivating if uninspired boast shit. But still — if your song is going to be mostly hook, it should be a good one.
[5]