The thrills of yesteryear…
[Video][Website]
[6.75]
Tim de Reuse: A sneaky action-movie instrumental produced to a mirror shine and anchored by the hidden subtle laugh in the delivery of “just one look and I got you hooked.” Restraint in composition plus flawless execution.
[8]
Iain Mew: The set-up was there in “Solo Dancing:” “music stops/and the spell is broken.” What if the spell never stopped but turned instead to darkness, one gulped threat and one bass lunge at a time? The result in “Bad Luck” is the same formidable intensity and a whole different set of thrills to draw from it.
[8]
Ashley John: “Bad Luck” thumps like a lion circling its prey. Indiana’s voice is weighted with a consistent smirk, knowing that honesty, above evil, is the most efficient scare tactic. This is Indiana’s power: her songs are never dialogues; they are assertions. It’s up to us what we do next.
[9]
Micha Cavaseno: Sleazy darker electro tones returning to pop shouldn’t be such a surprise. The dreary pulse of certain strains of downer EDM-pop was inevitably going to shift into clear, hard, and monochromatic im a less euphoric climate. But the vicious glee all over “Bad Luck” is welcome, especially when it climaxes into that wrenched-up bridge of passion, and I hope this is maybe something we’re going to have to deal with for a minute.
[7]
Ryo Miyauchi: She sings oh so confidently this love will be a beautiful disaster worth risking for, but it’s tough to ignore such forceful come-ons–especially the repetition of “sucking it,” which comes off like a 13-year-old who can’t stop snickering at any trace of innuendo. The strobe-light synths impress, but if I want to hear “Beat and the Pulse,” I’d just put on Feel It Break.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: “Solo Dancing” with all the deadly serious parts replaced with camp: not as good as “Solo Dancing”; still about as good as “She Wolf,” still pretty damn; much better than the bland altsynthpopwhatever she used to make along with everyone else.
[7]
Eleanor Graham: Proceeds with passable R&B swagger, vocal touches that do Banks better than Banks does, and a glossy, audibly smiling chorus. Let down by that specific brand of lyricism so lifelessly rote (“look”, rhymed with “hook”, on the hook) it becomes grim and unnerving, like propaganda. Fails to conjure the frisson/tension/moodiness that (apparently) made “Solo Dancing” extremely not boring.
[3]
Edward Okulicz: Where “Solo Dancing” gave the listener a glimpse into a solitary world they can’t enter, “Bad Luck” kicks the listener out of a world they’ve been in. This makes it less beguiling, and the hooks and vocal sound forced, not effortless. It’s still a fairly thrilling bit of electro-stalking, but where her earlier hit conjured up endless worlds, this one’s a mere scene.
[7]