Introducing 2013’s answer to Kanye Shades…
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[5.67]
Brad Shoup: Like “We Own the Night”, “Legacy” offers a small-time version of immortality: she lives in the memory of her love, who’s also going to die. Normally, I’d pull poignance from her yelps, but they’re too confident and deployed too often; I’m repulsed. There’s also too much friction with how I experience a crowded entertainment district: a bunch of ones that add up to zero. The song’s compelling in much the same way as “Wake Me Up”: it’s a kind of hoedown stomper with trance piano chords. But the message is off, and I don’t know if everyone involved gets that.
[5]
Jonathan Bogart: Proof that “I Love It” imitations don’t have to be dumb and creatively dead. That there’s a bottom end (thanks, rock instrumentation!), that there are hooks on hooks on hooks (whistling! na na na nas! tom-tom riffs!), that her voice communicates wit and character, are all to the good, sure: but what’s really great is how fresh and original the lyrical twists are within the vaguely-inspirational party-pop structure.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: You sure did, boy howdy. How anyone can hear Fefe Dobson and Sunday Love then this trend-chasing, sub-fun. crap and decide the latter is better is beyond me — and whoever switched her vocal producer should be fired — but at least this singles climate has energy.
[5]
Will Adams: The legacy is how shrill this is, I presume? The imbalanced mix — there’s a big sinkhole in the midrange — only emphasizes this.
[4]
Alfred Soto: Yelping like Tegan and Sara, most effectively when she talk-sings one half of a series of euphoric verses before jumping several octaves, Dobson knows what to communicate. “Legacy” is an impressive salvo.
[6]
Anthony Easton: It’s weird to have someone make such exquisite teen pop so long after being a teenager. The writing is terrible, but her voice is buoyant, and the digital artifacts encrusted over this suggest a belief in being profoundly current. If she keeps up the care, she might be the Bianca Lawson of CanCon.
[6]