Her five singles thus far have averaged out to a score of [5.00] – more like gim-meh.
[Video]
[4.75]
Will Adams: Is our 2000s nostalgia already at “My Love”? I’ll say this, at least it matches the unconvincing sultriness.
[4]
Julian Axelrod: I didn’t expect Banks to deliver one of the more murky and claustrophobic mainstream pop singles in recent memory, like Britney by way of Night Slugs. And I definitely didn’t expect her to hijack the “My Love” synth to get there. But at the end of the day, this is a producer-first single; listing the reference points is more interesting than anything in the song itself. I like Banks a lot; I just wish she wasn’t lost in the cacophony.
[6]
Ashley Bardhan: I love Banks’ voice. I love how curious and sharp it is, but I can’t hear it in this song. There’s no personality — all body is completely soaked up by the completely unsurprising quivering synth and plopping brick of a trap beat. In a statement, Banks described “Gimme” as “about knowing what you deserve, saying it out loud, and demanding it with no apologies.” I don’t really get that from flat lines like a vocoder-laced “Gimme, gimme it.” Give you what, Banks? “What I want, what I deserve.” I have no idea what that is.
[3]
Iris Xie: This is a really square ‘artpop’ song, starting with those really forced adlibs that result in some crunchy synths that never relent in their staidness. They compete with Banks’ vocals, which could introduce some element of conflict at play, but instead, she is drowned by her own production. Big fat bass doesn’t cover up for such boring stiffness and ends up accentuating the posturing, resulting in me itching to get away to another song that doesn’t feel so weighed down by its instrumentation.
[3]
Alfred Soto: The electronic background obtrudes itself how I like, but Banks’ approach is too generous — she disappears beneath the beat, normally not a complaint except here when the lyrics that do emerge demand, well, enunciation.
[5]
Leah Isobel: I tend to be skeptical of Banks – her music usually feels like it’s a step away from actual feeling, too focused on constructing an immaculate sonic world. But “Gimme” works by flipping that negative into a positive. Rather than holding herself away from the rest of the track, she lets her voice melt into the synths by slurring her words and pitch-shifting herself up and down. This wouldn’t work if those synths weren’t so good; the arpeggiator in the chorus feels like an itch beneath the skin, mirroring and amplifying the lyrics’ manic desire. Instead of trying to thaw her customary coldness, she succumbs to it.
[7]
David Moore: A really gorgeous series of minor melodies, and then someone coughs out the word “bitch” and I’m jostled out of the reverie — not in a bad way. Where have I felt that before, those little spikes across the smooth surface? Ah, yes, “Gimme More,” it’s right there in the chorus, duh! Britney Spears’s 2007 bloomed like red wine spilled on a white tablecloth into our present; we should be sad and thankful.
[6]
Taylor Alatorre: I think I appreciate Billie Eilish a bit more now.
[4]