Doin’ the do…
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[5.83]
Iain Mew: Romanian reggae-pop is one of those trends that it’s difficult to get a handle on, with YouTube most-watched searches a route in that only gets so far. It isn’t all gold (the highest viewcount of recent months is for Alina Eremia’s drab “Cum Se Face”) but it’s generally a good thing that I never know quite what to expect, reggae aside. When it works, like Oana Radu and now Betty Blue, I really enjoy the effect of hearing familiar sounds in delightfully rearranged contexts. The reggae of “Intr-o Secunda” initially seems like a particularly odd fit, but it’s slight enough to work as the underlying liquid keeping the song flowing even as the synths and melody bite: the sensation of so much ice, delivered so smoothly, is a good and novel one.
[8]
Brad Shoup: The inclusion of what sounds like treated filmi music spaces out the song, adding a restful, patient dimension to some bog-standard reggaelectro.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: It’ll never catch on, but “Intr-o Secunda” suggests the existence of artpop-reggae; every listen, something new sparkles in the arrangement.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: The strings give this a nice polish, but the overall product just sort of plods along.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Charming melody but someone thought the reggae preset was a good idea. The munchkin background and quiet piano ripples would have been the elements to build on.
[4]
David Sheffieck: This is cheesy as anything I’ve heard recently, but there are plenty of pleasures in the margins of “Intr-o Secunda” — in the pitch-shifted chirp of the backing vocals, in the slurping snare loop, in the seemingly-random male voice that pops up to shout into the mix, in the Rihanna-esque “eh eh eh.” The song never quite takes off, but in those seconds it hints at something much more interesting.
[6]