Let down by the German engineering…
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[4.17]
Ady Thapliyal: “BMW” sees BBCC make a lateral move from bassline to speed garage, which isn’t as big a musical change as it is an aesthetic one. What happened to your Yorkshire pride, boys? Now you sound like everybody else.
[2]
Andrew Karpan: A bleak and monotonous hit that marks a rejection of some of cheap-but-charming ambitions that marked previous dispatches from “the lads from Bradford.” Which is not to say that the trash-DM of “Don’t You Worry About Me” was “Bohemian Rhapsody” or anything like that, but it was a good time: a song that could conjure, in the right light, a glittering late empire of derelict concrete. I am less sure about “BMW,” and less sure it evokes anything beyond a long and empty wind.
[3]
Oliver Maier: Something about the vocals on this song struck me as odd until I found out the Crew started out as a YouTube comedy group. GK, who supplies the third verse, illustrates this most plainly, his rudimentary flow clearly built for punchlines that don’t arrive. It’s Kane Welsh — who tellingly supplies the hook, first verse and bridge — whose presence is most contagious.
[6]
Alfred Soto: The naivete of their approach surprised me — like I’m listening to an early ’90s R&B act like Hi-Five or something. I mean, “I like you, girl, do you like me too”? Frisky beat, a sampled guitar like a metronome — I like them, do they like me too?
[7]
Ian Mathers: A marked improvement on “Don’t You Worry About Me” in every way except the (extremely good) sample they used there. Hell, even the straightforward “I like you, girl, do you like me too?” plays as rather sweet here. Relatively. Relatively.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: I did not have “actually missing Drake” on my 2022 bingo card.
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