(Checks reviews). Not a single Love Island reference. Yes!!!

[Video]
[4.86]

Oliver Maier: “Black Magic” hits on something compelling right at the drop, when it’s just the distorted vocals bouncing off the brassy bass. Jonasu makes sure to spoil it with all of the usual gym-house accoutrements before I get too attached.
[5]

Ian Mathers: The more the vocals here get left alone in center stage, the more this feels like a verse/chorus/verse song, the less compelling it is. During that chorus, where the vocals start getting treated more like a sample (both in processing and deployment), that’s when “Black Magic” really starts to have some frisson. Feels like we’re one good remix away from something really special.
[5]

Iris Xie: At this point I don’t really know how to write about UK house music — I could listen to it in a hundred different variations and never get sick of it, so it feels a bit unfair to try to write a review of this. So I’ll just break it down: 1) It has a chorus with a huge kick 2) It has a lot of squelchy bass that also kicks very hard 2) it has the necessary interpolation of horns and staccato chopping of the title that it is endlessly hummable 3) The guest vocal has the weighty elation needed to vibrate along with the hype of the instrumental 4) it is definitely designed to be a memorable soundtrack to a crazy good night out. I don’t live anywhere cool enough that would actually play this in a club (thanks, Sacramento) but I’ll play it with my bestie and we’ll dance during another lockdown.
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: Combine pretty much every pop-house record to have been a UK hit in the past 3 years in a blender, and you’ll get “Black Magic”: diva vocal, build/drop, the infinite influence of MK (only watered down), a lyrical theme of how much the female protagonist is into the person she’s singing to. So it’s not bad, exactly, but it’s not at all exciting, either. It just is.
[4]

Andrew Karpan: A great improvement for RANI, who takes her imitation of Rihanna to new and almost soulful heights even if the lines would crash most cringeometers, so it’s hard to say precisely how much of an accomplishment that is. For some, skill will eventually be measured by taste — but perhaps not yet.
[4]

Edward Okulicz: Fairly generic house thumper in most ways, but I like how the progression from the verse, to the chorus, to the reprise of the chorus with the bass getting a little deeper echoes the increasing carnality of a night out after finding prey. Magic, voodoo, yeah, that’s basically moon/June stuff these days, but that’s easily ignored too. Passes the dancefloor test, not that I’m near one, but were I resident in Boris’s post-Freedom Day UK, I wouldn’t risk COVID to rush to the floor for some grinding.
[6]

Michael Hong: The choppiness of the vocals lends a lot of push and pull to “Black Magic,” even when the lyrics are all about want and tension. Jonasu attempts the same idea with his production, never letting it play out, but instead popping the beat in and out. Dance music shouldn’t be about overthinking things, yet the back and forth of both elements overcomplicates it, making it hard to give yourself to the track.
[4]