One hour to Eminem, two to Melanie, three to Katy…
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[7.25]
Brad Shoup: Songs set around this slice of the morning tend to set our subjects in the club, or heading home, the club still buzzing in their heads. Marcel puts us by the bar, but the loopy, trebly programming and pluming vocals sound like they’re soundtracking a cocoon. Commands and bluntness have no purchase here; he sounds immobilized.
[6]
Alfred Soto: On first listen it defines “meh.” Adrian Marcel should be confined to hook duties, where his anonymous pipes can project the required empathy. But as each verse pours out Sage demonstrates a quiet wit; it caught me off guard. The twinkling arrangement helps.
[6]
Anthony Easton: Beautifully constructed with that cage of rickety production. This floats and is grounded, working through a set of half-believed commitments. Maybe the best flow I have heard this year.
[9]
Rebecca A. Gowns: Quite the bop. My initial reaction was, “This bops, yes, but I think it goes on for slightly longer than it needs to.” Now here I sit, several replays later. Four minutes may be too long, but 16+ minutes is the sweet spot.
[8]
Will Adams: That organ bassline adds just enough sweetness to imbue their come-ons with the exact sincerity that comes about at 2 a.m., when it’s too early to call it quits for the night but too late not to feel the dread of going home alone.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: It’s 2 a.m. Get this tinny cheery loop out of my head. Stop telling me I look different than all those other girls you can’t trust, man — which is bullshit anyway, because it’s 2 a.m., so I just look tired and probably like shit. And stop saying I’m horny. If you have to tell her, you’ve already failed.
[5]
Megan Harrington: Does Adrian Marcel bring Crishan his “Well, the bar is closing, so, are we gonna do it?” lyrics and Crishan furnishes the extra dull synth-synth-snap beat or does Marcel write to the track’s boredom? The sloppy verses from Sage and Problem (who are both capable of much better) suggest it’s the latter.
[6]
Crystal Leww: “2 AM.” sounds like every dude you’ve ever had some form of relationship with who called you late at night. Adrian Marcel, Sage the Gemini, and Problem play very different versions of that dude: the guy keeping it cool but making you feel like you could be the only one he thinks about when alone, the guy who was so reckless with your feelings but you kind of liked it, and the guy who was maybe not good enough for you but so endearing in his own way that you found yourself waking up next to him again and again anyway. Like those boys, “2 AM.” never promises too much, preferring to remain sparse and understated, but before you realize you’ve become attached to the curves of his ceiling, the smell of his car, the texture of his hands. The moments where this all comes together are special, locked away in your memory attached to those vivid specifics. When you’re in it, it feels fleeting; when it’s done, you hit repeat.
[10]