Of the rich and the famous, we’re always complaining…
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[2.44]
Al Varela: This would have popped the hell off in 2015 when Jason Derulo was genuinely innovative and Adam Levine could deliver a solid hook without being tied to Maroon 5. Unfortunately, it’s 2021 and Jason Derulo’s personality was sapped away by his label and Adam Levine has fully and utterly given up on making music. Every new recording from him is a cry for help and nobody’s listening. Somebody save him.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: Derulo and Levine pairing up is like the immoveable object meeting the unstoppable force: both have bland, nearly indistinguishable voices, and neither make good records. It’s fitting that they finally team up, especially on a song as worthless as this one.
[0]
Alfred Soto: The briefly interesting Jason Derulo brings nothing out of chronically syphilitic Adam Levine, the latter singing as if after a laryngectomy. I can smell the soul rot. As embarrassing as a spilled drink.
[1]
Oliver Maier: This song is not really explicitly about fucking but it is most certainly the subtext indicated by this particular team-up. Thing is, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jason Derulo is a genuinely horny individual. Like, I saw him in Cats. But Adam Levine has never convinced me that he is actually a man who wants sex, even though that’s supposed to be his whole deal. I think if he took someone back to his place it would be to do the thing that Scarlett Johansson does to unsuspecting Scottish men in Under the Skin. It’s a whole thing, it’s really gross. But like, instead of a Mica Levi score in the background it’s just “Lifestyle” in his case. I like the synth at the end of this song, so if I were going to be gruesomely disintegrated by Adam Levine in an enormous black void I would want it to be during that bit.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: I think it’s kind of cool that they’ve invented an AI that can make a convincing pop song requiring only the input of a hashtag (#lifestyle, guys). I don’t think it’s cool that they let the same program record the song. Levine has sounded more like a vocal production tic made animate than his actual voice for 15 years. I also didn’t even realise Jason Derulo was on this, apparently his own song.
[2]
Jonathan Bradley: If I were Adam Levine, I’d stay away from Jason Derulo in case people started making unflattering comparisons. Actually, if I were Jason Derulo, I’d stay away from Adam Levine for the same reason.
[3]
Wayne Weizhen Zhang: For the love of God, please leave Rihanna out of this tomfoolery.
[2]
Scott Mildenhall: You wake to the call of the alarm: Jason Derulo! Tired, you give it no thought, and rub your eyes. He’s referencing “Diamonds” now — that wait for a new Rihanna album sure has been long. A lumbering, brassy beat bounds around as you get up, and then — is that… is that Adam Levine? And is Derulo interjecting with “swag, swag”? Where am I? What year is this? Who’s the president? Well, the one clue that you haven’t travelled back in time may be the slight weatheredness in Levine’s seemingly poorly recorded voice. Sadly this feels more like his song than Derulo’s. While the latter is doing better business right now with his established trick of hopping on an instrumental by a Pacific Islander, the former is completely at home moaning about a woman’s alleged materialism. It is 2021, but the song remains the same.
[3]
Will Adams: Two of early ’10s biggest radio pop names teaming up? “Na-na-na”/”la-la-la” hooks? Rihanna as muse material? An arrangement that’s one xylophone away from “Somebody That I Used to Know”?? Yeah, this is definitely from 2013. But that shouldn’t matter, because a truly great pop song can stand the test of time and be enjoyed whenever. Let the record reflect that “Lifestyle” is not one of those.
[3]