We found a glimpse of your score, if that helps…
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[1.83]
Thomas Inskeep: An insufferable sadboy piano ballad that damned near makes the likes of Sheeran sound like Godflesh.
[0]
Katherine St Asaph: The problem with Joji remains the fact that a significant portion of his audience would be equally happy being seduced by Filthy Frank.
[3]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: He’s somehow more disrespectful to the audience doing sincere piano balladry than edgelord YouTuber trash. This is bad and boring in ways that I did not think were still possible, the nadir of this year’s trend of worthless pop men selling hook-devoid wares on the strength of their charisma alone. The problem here is, of course, that Joji lacks even the charm of Jack Harlow, let alone Harry Styles or Drake. Even a more distinct personality would have trouble selling this. “Glimpse of Us” resembles most of all the first songs that we all write when we’re heartbroken teenagers, clumsy stabs at trenchant sentiment let down by a lack of specificity and life experience. Joji’s 30!
[0]
Leah Isobel: There’s a nice Bacharach lilt to the melody, but the lyrics are featureless and Joji’s performance is adenoidal and mushy. There’s no sharpness, nothing to pierce through the soggy self-regard.
[3]
Harlan Talib Ockey: I imagine this is what Adele’s discography would sound like if you stripped it of half the emotion and all of the vocal acrobatics. There are a few vaguely interesting psychedelic moments in the production, though they vanish as soon as you notice them. The skeleton of a more interesting song.
[5]
Rodrigo Pasta: Trying to talk about all that is wrong with “Glimpse of Us”, by a long shot the worst pop hit of 2022 thus far, would be too long and exhausting for a Singles Jukebox blurb. Instead, I’m going to narrow down the song’s many, many wrongdoings into a single passage: “Why, then, if she is so perfect, do I still wish that it was you?”. The killer here is not the overall (not really) “toxic” vibe of this line, it’s much more specific: it’s the “then“. That throwaway word is not only a means to fill up the cadence, it’s meant to serve as a literary device! By sheer virtue of being there, it’s meant to lace the line with a poetic air, an extra sense of delicacy and care that previously couldn’t be found. Now, the line should feel more “refined” and “thought out” — give me a break! Like it’s somehow not the same clumsy, childish writing with some smaller details to indicate that Joji really took his time writing it. That word gets even worse when you hear it: it’s just another word. A “then” could indicate a pause in a train of thought, some crippling doubt in one’s speech, maybe even make the following words feel more urgent. All of that flew by Joji, who sings it with his mouth shaped like an o and his dull, puppy-eye emoting, like words mean nothing but the sentiment they transmit. That’s not careless, that’s deliberately careless, which makes a world of difference. This is so rehearsed, all emotions leave the table. “Glimpse of Us” sets out to be pathetic (already a bad start) and ends up being goddamn twee! Delicate pixie softboi, “I can fix him” playlist fodder shit. I’d feel embarrassed if I felt there was anything being conveyed, but there’s not! Grab the keys and get in the freaking truck, you jabroni! I’ll slap you jabronis!
[0]