I wish I could stop mentally inserting the apostrophe into her name…
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[6.00]
Mark Sinker: Late in the His Dark Materials trilogy, when hero and heroine get it together, their daemons — little separately embodied spirits — also nuzzle and caress: not sure what put this in my head (maybe the Klaxons!), but that’s what the Radiophonic Workshop burble and the funky keyb bass are here; hero and heroine’s daemons twirling, soaring, delightedly intertwining. In the book boy and girl end up in irretrievably different spaces: here that’s where they start, just beginning to bend their worlds towards each other.
[8]
Kat Stevens: Estelle returns to the sweet soul sentimentality of “American Boy”, which I much prefer to her Dummies’ Guide To S&M lecturing. Her voice is faultless and this would rate highly on the Whitney Houston “Queen Of The Night (Mackapella edit)” scale if the chorus was even slightly memorable.
[6]
Martin Skidmore: It feels two months late, and Nas’s strength has never been dancey happy summer numbers, though he does his best to be bright. Vitally, Estelle gives it a cheery warmth that makes it kind of irresistible, even with autumn easing in.
[8]
Rebecca Toennessen: Estelle’s voice is smooth and sweet like honeyed butter, not disjointed or disturbed by Nas’s rapping. Gorgeous sun-drenched pop. More please.
[9]
Anthony Easton: Something about the production of this denies Estelle’s voice, though she speaks as lovely as she sings.
[6]
Doug Robertson: As Estelle becomes more and more drenched in the gloss of Americana she’s losing the essence of what made her interesting and unique in the first place. It might be Nas who’s the guest artist here, but his is the only contribution that actually stands out. This isn’t the musical equivalent of falling in love, it’s the half nod you give to someone you vaguely recognise in the street, but don’t know where you know them from.
[4]
Mallory O’Donnell: Most of Estelle’s songs and her whole overall persona appear to be circumscribed by the opening “couplet” here : “let’s just fall in love / so we can fall in love.” She’s the girl at the bar/party/hot dog stand, whatever, she’s a girl and you’re a whatever, hangin’ out, makin’ out, whatever, come on let’s do it, let’s get it over with. The presence of Nas, rap’s thinnest cut of meat, doesn’t really add or detract from Estelle’s bored, boring woo-pitching, since anything he could possibly say is guaranteed to leave your mind within five seconds.
[4]
Alfred Soto: Estelle’s no-frills performance is very attractive: a woman with ordinary pipes testing them on a situation everyone but her thinks is banal. On the other hand, the beat recycles “American Boy” and Nas’ bit is only marginally up to Kanye’s.
[5]
John Seroff: “American Boy” was among my least favorite tracks on the underrated Shine album; gooping up Estelle’s mic skills and considerable pipes with slow jam vocal cliches and dozy lyrics is a waste. “Boy” doesn’t sound any nicer reheated and replated some two-and-a-half years later; Nas’s verse is a slight improvement over Kanye’s but the “love/love/love/la-la-la-la-luhhhhhhve” chorus is making my teeth hurt. “Fall In Love” is notable only as a sign that a new album is on the way from Estelle, likely with five or six better tracks than this blatant hit-fodder. I can wait.
[5]
Rodney J. Greene: An unabashed “American Boy” retread that manages to strip away all of that tune’s unbearable hallmarks. The dad-house is smoother and deeper, Estelle sounds worldly and coy without slipping into embarassing lyrics or shrill pitch, the tune doesn’t nag, and Nas can be engaging without being cloying. The tradeoff is that “Fall in Love” is all a bit more anonymous, but I’ll settle for that if the benefit is that this one isn’t so singularly unappealing.
[6]
David Raposa: I’m going to pretend I didn’t just sit through that, and instead comfort myself with thoughts of how good a shameless “American Boy” rewrite could be.
[5]