But does the world really need another “Give Me Everything”?
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[4.75]
Thomas Inskeep: Sounds like someone wants some of that Usher/Ne-Yo crossover EDM money – meaning, you know exactly what this sounds like.
[2]
Micha Cavaseno: Let it be known that someone thought this was the best move for Jeremih in 2015. It’s not that it’s a bad song. It’s that someone made the decision that Jeremih should go the Flo Rida route. And I couldn’t tell you one person who loves Jeremih that would’ve come to such a conclusion.
[5]
Alfred Soto: If u guys say so. Nice to hear Jeremih sing complete sentences though.
[4]
Will Adams: I’m glad we’re back to 2012, when pop music pulsed with the urgency of the apocalypse, the club percolated with plucky synths, dance vocalists got a bit more interesting, and — oh, wait, Flo Rida still existed back then, too. No matter, just let me wave my glowsticks and have my 2012.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: A test of a pop song — sometimes, the only test — is how good it sounds at 10 p.m. in the car, probably heading to a party or just imagining you are, probably alone, down highways with most traffic gone and suburban streets with the life hidden behind locked doors, all the world heightened from woods to parking lots and a beat that races dark like your hopes. Songs to mythologize your year of bad decisions to. 2010’s radio sounded like this; so did 2011’s. The mid-’10s have sounded like it from time to time, and at times it seems like it’s now alt-pop’s default sound (blame Johnny Jewel probably, or thank him); but somehow it’s only this throwaway Jeremih song that’s felt remotely the same. The lyric speaks the subtext (“riding on lonely boulevard,” honestly?) but the music speaks it stronger, as do his vocals. Jeremih alternates between blowing his voice out like “Billie Jean” — while singing a melody not far off — and a boyish sharping; the effect’s one of feeling elated but out of your element, like the moment of surrendering to the fate your hand of drinks will deal you. Flo Rida, as he does, swoops and squats the mood into a crash, but the other nice thing about Lonely Boulevard radio listening is that you can change the dial.
[7]
Anthony Easton: Flo Rida is riding a particularly threadbare coattail, and Jeremih’s voice has this little whinge to it that breaks the whole thing apart. The frustrating thing is that the instrumental, slightly house-inflected and with just enough detail, is more interesting than either of the vocalists.
[6]
Ashley Ellerson: Maybe I slept through the past few years, but this same tired beat is still a thing! And how dare Flo Rida try to make some lady feel special when his description of her fits a basic girl (no shade).
[5]
Edward Okulicz: Yes, the world does need another “Give Me Everything,” but this won’t do.
[3]