Wake me when 5ive release their single, k?
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[4.70]
Katherine St Asaph: Not the Katy Perry we deserve, but the one we need right now.
[7]
Brad Shoup: So yes, it seems we did ask for this. Going the Kelly Clarkson/P!nk route made the most sense, I’m sure; this is not the pop moment to get jiggy again. (I would’ve voted to refine the “We Four Girls” formula: lovers rock and rubbergrunge.) It’s fine, with bubbly cadence during the refrain. But that watery vocal processing pulls the cord on the whole production. It’s as if they suddenly took their name literally.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: The popstars of 1998 are stuck in 2005, but if you’re already able to be nostalgic for B*Witched, then you probably love the first wave of Max’n’Luke girl pop (specifically Kelly and Marion), even if only the first half of the chorus hits as hard as any of that. But once they were young and silly and vibrant; surely removing the latter two removes a large part of the point? Still, every time Edele Lynch’s voice pops out recognisably in the mix, it triggers some fairly decent memories of “Rollercoaster” and “To You I Belong.” Whether that was the point or if it’s supposed to stand or fall exclusively on its own merits, I’m not sure, but it does mean “Love and Money” avoids the reunion pitfall of being completely pointless.
[5]
Alfred Soto: The “Since You’ve Been Gone” riff was so omnipresent that it took me a half minute to recognize a new generation permutation. I’d missed it! But the chorus doesn’t function as release — it sits there.
[5]
Will Adams: Quick tip: “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” didn’t sound that fresh one year ago. Things haven’t changed.
[4]
David Lee: If you’re going to skate over a Katy Perry record, please make sure that your blades aren’t perpendicular to the record grooves next time.
[2]
Scott Mildenhall: The already-reformed Blue aside, B*Witched are the first Big Reunion group to release new material. They were part of the performance that best symbolises the cheap and cheerful era of pop to which they belonged, an era that’s almost as long ago now as the single release of the song said performance took its name from was then. So will many people be interested in new material? Well probably not, no. It’s a shame, because although its whole lyrical concept is best left in the 90s (70s? 50s?), “Love And Money” brings to mind Paris Hilton’s “Nothing In This World”, P!nk’s “Blow Me”, Samantha Jade’s “What You’ve Done To Me”… basically it could easily be the handiwork of an on-form Greg Kurstin or Dr Luke, and you can’t say fairer than that.
[7]
Jer Fairall: The sexual politics are pitched somewhere between the kind of cautionary tales regularly dramatized by 60s girl groups and the rampant materialism that has come to typify so many modern pop conceptions of “empowerment,” but the melancholy of those chugging guitars and the weariness in the delivery of the chorus suggest a consciousness that can only come from being a veteran of this game. Which these girls certainly are, even if a glance at their discography confirms that either they never crossed over onto North American shores, or I simply don’t remember what “C’est la Vie” or “Jessie Hold On” sound like. If this track is typical of their level of pop craftsmanship, I just might need to find out.
[7]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: You know how “Love and Money” is going to go, but it’s still insulting when it does exactly that.
[2]
Jonathan Bogart: Back when they had their moment, this would have been exactly the kind of song that a pop snob might have used as a stick to beat them with: about a Serious Subject, with Meaningful Guitars and No Teen Girl Fripperies. (Admittedly, Boshing Beats were still in their infancy in 1998, but we’ll admit them on the grounds of Portentousness.) Which is to say that this drops everything that made B*Witched great, or at least charming, in their youth, and doesn’t offer much to take its place.
[4]