Not among Mabel’s wishes: a butt in Iraq…
[Video]
[4.89]
Crystal Leww: Joel Corry makes perfectly serviceable piano piano-house, and “I Wish” is the latest in a long string of more of the same. Can’t complain — if it’s a UK #1 then it’ll set a dancefloor off and if it’s not, then it’s a fun transition track in a Jax Jones set. At least he started crediting his vocalists, but I guess Mabel is also loads more famous than Hayley May.
[5]
Andrew Karpan: Mabel’s crowning accomplishment in her career as a singer in search of an idea, this song manages to improve on what both c-listers bring to the table. For one, appearing as the face of an anonymous, yet aggressive house record is a remarkable improvement on Mabel’s run of low-budget, month-late Dua Lipa impersonations. Given a nice eurodance beat to chew on, her dance workout routine becomes curiously memorable.
[7]
Kayla Beardslee: For an anonymous dance single, this is surprisingly wistful; the earnest melodies make more sense once you notice Jess Glynne’s name in the credits. But I like sincerity in pop songs, even (especially?) when it’s added to places where it has no business being, so this track clears the “mildly enjoyable” bar for me.
[6]
Dorian Sinclair: “I wish I could hear you say my name” is just interesting enough an opening line to spark attention, so it’s surprising just how anonymous the rest of “I Wish” feels. It ends up being not much more than a chain of extremely well-worn clichés; at a guess, I’d say over half the lyrics are ones I’ve seen verbatim in other songs. All that could be fine if the song were interesting musically — but while every element is basically pleasant, none are surprising in the least. Corry has all the basics where they should be, but seems to have forgotten to put in anything actually new.
[4]
Samson Savill de Jong: This is probably the best version of this song that it could possibly be, but this kind of music is just so bereft of ideas that I can’t get into it. This would’ve sounded like a cliched rip off in 2011 — to the point that I genuinely googled if it sampled something since it sounded like I’d heard it before — never mind 2022.
[4]
Nortey Dowuona: Mabel has a stringy, yet bouncy voice that is effortless to listen when it squeezes into whatever ant farm tunnels built by the beat maker and being teased by the producer and engineers to get to the last hole and back to the queen. In each of the pulsing piano chords and synth pads, Mabel has to roadrunner across them to keep the song looking like it’s going to make your feet move even though it just makes you wait for the drop and wince at each poorly layered whistle. I wish this actually felt like a Joel Corry song rather than a Mabel solo single she knew wasn’t good enough for her next album or EP.
[6]
Alfred Soto: On first listen the wistful ambitions of the lyrics and the willful anonymity of the backing dance track complete an uneasy two-step; on second listen it’s rare I raise such a worry.
[6]
Andy Hutchins: The medium of house music for a I-don’t-wanna-break-up song is perfectly defensible: I can think of a couple of recent tunes more or less in that vein that I genuinely like. Cramming every possible house concept into every inch of sonic space and never, ever letting a few seconds pass without vocals on top of that makes “I Wish” relentless, though — and the last fucking thing a song about someone clinging to a dying love should be is “relentless.” Leave that to the people who have figured out how to leave, or at least wink about it all.
[3]
Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Deeply personal, meet completely anonymous.
[3]