A pretty good week for the hyperspecific subgenre of “critically acclaimed works involving long Southern road trips…”
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Alfred Soto: With the synths chiming and the drum machines thudding, “Feel the Way I Want” positions itself as a retro move in which insouciance is its own reward. I don’t get a sense of who Caroline Rose is.
[5]
Camille Nibungco: Caroline Rose has the aesthetic sensibilities of a fourth Haim sister but with catchier pop hooks, like those of an underproduced Saint Motel song. However, the simple thematic message of “just be yourself,” underscored by the melodic electro-pop keyboard instrumental breaks, puts me in such a nostalgic groove for simpler times.
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Hannah Jocelyn: Did not expect a pivot to monogeneric synth-pop after the under-appreciated chaos of Loner. This will probably find a bigger audience, but it’s basically Haim covering “Gone,” except half as good as that sounds. I’m about as bored with lines like “I’m so in love with myself/It’s so romantic” as I am with “Pretending not to be popular/even though I’m a pop star.” She pulls it off, but it’s enough to make me want to learn Tracery and write a script about this kind of thing.
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Katherine St Asaph: Landfill indiepop, definitely, but seems more like landfill indiepop of the Hype Machine era, not landfill indiepop of the Spotify era. I’m not quite sure what the distinction is, except that there is one — mild guitars? Attempts at funk?
[3]
Josh Langhoff: For indie synth-funk whose ground zero is “Electric Feel,” this is pretty authoritative. Each keyboard line sounds more stoned than whatever it jostles out of its way, and Rose provides a bunch of dork-friendly singalong hooks. Now, if someone could just please ID the bassline — I’ve ruled out “Stiletto,” “Lovely Day,” and “Backwater,” and I’m not getting anything else done, help.
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Brad Shoup: It sounds like recycled Unknown Mortal Orchestra. There’s a c. 1980 boogie classic in here somewhere.
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Vikram Joseph: The sort of frisky disco-pop that could convince you that January might, at some point, no longer be an ongoing concern. The synths bubble and squelch like a video game, Caroline Rose goofs her way from coast to coast in the video, and it’s such a wholesome experience that the slightly milquetoast declarations of self-love sound almost radical.
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Juana Giaimo: I’m not the biggest fan of high-self-esteem anthems, but the slightly danceable beat, the sharp keyboards and Caroline Rose’s breathy vocals are very suitable for these summer days in the Southern Hemisphere. What I most enjoy is that, against the relaxed tone of the song, the lyrics seem kind of ironic: “Everybody’s so quick to sit you down and say ‘try to be cool about it’. Baby, watch me freak out.”
[7]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: She says that she wants us to watch her “freak out,” but there’s not really anything freaky here — not even the barely concealed tension of Rose’s earlier work. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Instead, an overwhelming sense of calm breathes through the whole song, with a strong drum groove and psychedelic synth accents allowing the track to flow. It’s freedom in a track, tensionless in the best way.
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Kylo Nocom: When compared to Natalie Prass’s equally sunny “Short Court Style,” “Feel the Way I Want” comes off as uncomfortably postured, as if suffocating in the feigned flightiness of its arrangements. The song’s best moment is at the 2:04 mark, when the arrangement is stripped to a pointed bassline and a more confident, falsetto-free delivery by Caroline. But not soon after, the song becomes even more grating self-love corn with the song’s sleekness being its downfall. Reviews praised her sarcastic wit in the past; I wonder if the giddy platitudes are all just one huge joke I don’t get.
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Ryo Miyauchi: Caroline Rose’s proclamations of taking back control sound more like a wishful mantra than actual self-realization. The scrappy feel of the DIY new wave gives the music some twee character, but is a fault when it comes to actually supporting the message.
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Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Don’t bother listening to the song by itself until you’ve seen the video; the experience won’t be complete. Hilarious, heartwarming, and instantly iconic, Caroline Rose shimmies her way through the American South from Hollywood to Florida, with dance moves that I can’t do justice to in writing. The best I can describe it is that she looks like she’s having so, so much fun, she doesn’t even realize she’s singing a song. She’s like a kid just reveling in the wonder of her own body, unaware of and indifferent to anything else. None of this would matter if the song wasn’t there though — a catchy, if unassuming, self affirmation anthem coasting on the power of Caroline Rose’s charisma.
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Julian Axelrod: There’s a specific synth sound I associate with Caroline Rose: chintzy and propulsive, detached yet richly emotive, like a Vegas lounge singer breaking down in tears mid-song. The synth doubles as the perfect complement to her lyrics’ dead-eyed stare. Rose’s turns of phrase have so many layers of irony that the emotional gut punch comes as a surprise. Here, “gonna feel the way I want to feel” is an empowerment platitude fashioned into a threat. The commodification of self-care has made monsters of us all, turning indulgence into a lifestyle. But Rose mixes self-love with a lot of self-loathing, embodying an influencer who will destroy anyone who threatens the happiness that destroys her. It’s camp, it’s commentary, it’s Caroline fucking Rose.
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