We’re sorry, “Ms. Jackson”…
[Video]
[4.20]
Will Adams: Is he for real? Making SZA sound so uninspired, swiping ’90s hits has gotten tired.
[3]
Alfred Soto: Why Khaled, who assembled/commissioned/signed off on a a decent R&B/rap revue record, thought he could fool us with an SEO-designed Outkast interpolation with SZA is a sign of the times.
[5]
Ramzi Awn: SZA makes no mistake getting her message across on “Just Us,” and the song manages to suggest Alicia Keys without becoming her. Everything works, down to the jangled beat. A surprise summer smash.
[8]
Stephen Eisermann: The sample is prominent, sure, but it offers nothing other than a brief smile as you remember the (far better) song it comes from. SZA’s voice sounds painfully forced in the chorus — a sentence I never thought I’d type — and the melody is all over the place.
[3]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: A sample whose wasted potential is increasingly clear as the song progresses. SZA’s topline meanders aimlessly, and the chorus is as corny as it is lifeless.
[2]
Katherine St Asaph: If you’ve decided on sampling “Ms. Jackson,” and are set on not revisiting that decision, could you at least make it sound like “Ms. Jackson”-for-real, and not like a knockoff sample replay? SZA, ambling around the beat almost freestyle, does her best.
[4]
Iris Xie: I love middle school prom music! It’s so anonymous but “emotional,” with a pretty cliched hook fit for an iMovie montage before everyone splits for graduation. (Do teens even do that anymore? Aren’t they all amateur film professionals now with the amount of film editing apps on their smartphones?) But really, what on earth is going on with the drums in the background? They’re so freaking loud and compete with SZA’s vocals, but this would be very audible above the din of an amusement park. I’m trying really hard to find things to say about “Just Us,” but “WE THE BEST MUSIC!!” crowds out everything else.
[2]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: It’s not that “Ms. Jackson” is untouchable– no sample is, really. It’s just that this does nothing interesting with it, in the manner of those big solo Puff Daddy sample flips that mostly demonstrated budget rather than creativity. SZA, for her part, sounds perfectly fine, without any of the weirdnesses that made Ctrl so compelling.
[4]
Ian Mathers: At one point there’s a pause, and the terrifying spectre of DJ Khaled actually rapping rears its head. But mercifully he mostly sticks with catchphrases and leaves SZA to do her best with a big, uncooked slab of “Ms. Jackson” (pretty good, enough so that even the regular amount of Khaled seems intrusive). The video’s hilarious, but for the wrong reasons.
[5]
Tobi Tella: Proof a “Ms. Jackson” sample and SZA can never make a bad song, even with DJ Khaled actively trying to ruin it.
[6]