Slinky!
[Video]
[6.38]
[8]
Mo Kim: As slinky as a nightgown. A$AP Ferg’s verse plays into a troubling dynamic of boy instructing girl, but this is so gorgeous that I’m still tempted to dance over the implications.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Boy, do I wish more songwriters wrote lines as straightforward as “I don’t really wanna dance and I hate most of these songs,” and A$AP’s massaging and attention sounds more affectionate as a result. God knows I can use more songs about men and women pissed off about not being home for sex time, with or without tongue-click percussion.
[6]
Micha Cavaseno: While the beat is a nice slab of retro-funk with odd little tweaks on the instrumentation, isn’t it a little early for Elle to deploy this kind of single? I mean, if she wants to get hit with the Chrisette Michele curse of “I am going to be hexed into doing hooks for The Roots in order to pay the bills ’til the end of my days” then go for it. Also, Dee Ferg re-emerges with Kendrick’s flow (courtesy of Rent-A-Center) and more “REMEMBER THE 90s” memes.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: “We coulda stayed home and watched Martin,” A$AP Ferg notes, after hearing Varner kvetch about the party she regrets showing up for. And she herself says “I know I shoulda stayed my ass at home,” but apparently her girls pushed her to get out of the house “for a minute.” “Is this a party?” she keeps asking, while the bass runs like classic Kool & the Gang circa ’77 and someone endlessly hits a wood block. Meanwhile, “Don’t Wanna Dance” will just make you wanna step with your boo; this is the epitome of the phrase “midtempo groover.” From Varner’s delivery — she sells every word — to Ferg’s note-perfect bridge, to the track itself, this is utterly perfect.
[10]
Iain Mew: Elle Varner plays worn out and maybe a little drunk, but also exuberant in a way that goes with the velvety music to suggest that she’s already home and happy in her mind, dreaming her way out of the party and taking us with her. That A$AP Ferg’s less glamorous but loving picture of what she’s coming back to gets the same luxe backdrop tops it off nicely.
[8]
Will Adams: Then just go home. With virtually no indication of what’s keeping her there, Elle Varner goes from sympathetic to repetitive by the second scene-setting verse. A$AP Ferg pops in to give some non-advice (“You don’t listen, now you singing this damn sorry song” — yes, that’s great: waste our time telling us what we already know), we get another pouty chorus and end with more ad-libs of regret. If it’s any consolation, listening to “Don’t Wanna Dance” is about as exhausting as being at a shitty party, so two points for accuracy.
[2]
Brad Shoup: The joke, as always, is that the track wants you to dance. And so does Ferg, who sounds like good company for a night in but not so much for a song where Varner’s supposed to be single. Great basswork, nice Gaye percussion clops, and some killer countermelody on the electric bells. But mostly I’m glad she finally wants to sing.
[7]