Big dirty stinking hook singer.
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[3.89]
Scott Mildenhall: For the comeback single proper of a rapper who, as he acknowledges in the lyrics, has made lack of subtlety his stock in trade, featuring a singer whose last hit made his insatiable desperation for adoration clearer than ever, this is unusually unobvious; “Bonkers” it isn’t. The hook is undeniable, but the production it’s wrapped up in doesn’t do it full justice, and as with the rest of the song – mainly Dizzee’s partial repurposing of his “Dirtee Cash” verses, either indicative of a lack of imagination or a clever reference, given they now place him as their subject — it ends up taking a few plays to come through.
[7]
Patrick St. Michel: “Not a care/going full throttle,” Dizzee raps. “Goin’ Crazy,” though, sounds suited for the carpool lane.
[2]
Brad Shoup: A bog-standard price-of-fame tune; Robbie and Dizzee could be anyone. I kind of love the budget-disco effect made from the 16-bit keys and bassline; they’re the only transparent things in this song.
[5]
Iain Mew: “Goin’ Crazy” harks back to another age, the time of Robbie and Kylie’s “Kids,” when this kind of partnering of star-power was an end in itself and enough of a hook to hang a promo campaign on. Both partners merely needed to turn up, demonstrably be themselves and not too anything too stylistically risky, and the thrill of hearing them in the same place and the gratefulness of radio stations would be enough to make up for any shortcomings. The problem is that guest appearances and duets have since escalated to the point where it barely seems like news. Madonna is an instructive case here; Dizzee himself is on the new Jessie J single. “Oh, they haven’t worked together and done this already?” is a reasonable response to “Goin’ Crazy,” and while it’s a better song than “Kids”, that’s not enough.
[4]
Alfred Soto: A few years after Dizzee and Williams’ biggest hits, the stars put the paces through a tepid eighties hi-NRG chorus and pneumatic perfidy-of-fame cliches, and in that it’s not charmless.
[5]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: *shakily cocoons self in the “Bluku Bluku” guest verse and pretends this never happened, sobbing all the while*
[2]
David Lee: Robbie Williams is the 40-year-old chaperone gettin jiggy with it (YO) at the high school prom. Or maybe Dizzee Rascal is the performer who needed to limit himself for a prudish charity dinner hosted by Robbie Williams and his pals. Or maybe Robbie Williams is an overeager member of a college student events committee that really wanted Macklemore to play at their Spring Celebration but ultimately settled for Dizzee, whom they stipulated had to stick with the most generic party music because last year people really weren’t feeling that rapper whatshisname.
[3]
Edward Okulicz: This is one overcooked mess of ingredients that don’t go together at all. Dizzee’s verses are a mix of the obvious and the head-scratching (though is that a Megaupload shout-out?) and his speed can’t hide his boredom, which is inexplicable because Disco Dizzee is a good thing. Disco Robbie is a good thing too (Rudebox is underrated) but the million-tracking of his vocals makes him sound even more bored than Dizzee, and the chorus doesn’t go anywhere in particular either after the “I believe, I believe” hook. “Goin’ Crazy” isn’t just a meaningless trifle, it’s two meaningless trifles served side by side.
[4]
Anthony Easton: No matter how much I worship at the church of Liberace, sometimes too much of a good thing isn’t wonderful, but so chaotic that one cannot process it.
[3]