Disappointment.
[Video][Website]
[4.67]
Madeleine Lee: The thing has a soft, understated beauty, but “who am I” is the right question for Katy B and Craig David to be singing — honestly, in this song I have no idea.
[6]
Jonathan Bogart: The least ostentatious Lazer production I can remember ever hearing is a perfect match for one of Katy B’s most effective performances from her new album EP project. She’s so attention-getting that Craig David is almost an afterthought, but he’s been there before, and knows how to play his part.
[8]
Alfred Soto: When Katy B wants a pop hit she hires Guy Chambers to write “Crying For No Reason.” When she wants a followup she gets Craig David to wail banalities in the kind of duet that the American market adores. It could be Ellie Goulding or Adele.
[4]
Cassy Gress: I really, really don’t like the production and/or mix on this – I almost feel like this is a straightforward R&B lost song from the Toni Braxton/Babyface album that Major Lazer dug up and farted on. It’s too compressed, it’s too everything in my ears at the same time, and I’m not even someone who normally would complain about that. Katy is terrific as per usual, Craig is definitely not sounding the same as he did 15 years ago and Katy is kind of blowing him out but his voice is serviceable nonetheless, and if this was just Katy, Craig, and all the backing vocals, with a different producer, I’d score it a lot higher. This doesn’t even sound like Major Lazer.
[4]
Micha Cavaseno: A song called “Who Am I” where Diplo destroys the identities of the collaborators seems appropriate. Allow me an explanation. Craig and Katy are eternally tied to the UK Garage continuum that spawned them: Craig to the speed garage/2-step era, and the former Baby Katy (her better career incarnation tbh) to Funky’s distillment into the ‘bass music’ aesthetic of Rinse.FM’s Geeneus. It made Katy and Craig’s debuts fresh and inspired them to be the most fascinating singer/songwriters of their fields. However, whenever you remove them from that element, an integral aspect of their character is lost, and you get some really dreary muck such as “Who Am I,” which is so overwrought that I could sink a floating ship. I worry that when I jokingly alluded to when reviewing Jessie Ware’s betrayal of dance songwriting over a year ago making Gee look like a fool, now it seems he’s willing to sacrifice all the aesthetic value of Rinse to make their flagship artist the star she deserves to be rather than what she is.
[3]
Katherine St Asaph: She ain’t MØ, that’s for sure. It pains me, but Katy B might ultimately be that most frustrating sort of artist: one who, with each album, grows more and more out of herself.
[3]
Crystal Leww: The chemistry here is a little bit off, and I’m not sure if it’s Katy B and Craig David trying too hard to be goopy or if it’s Diplo’s production vs. everyone. Katy B and Craig David should be a natural fit — both are great singers that function in mainstream vocal stylings but have massive underground credibility due to their savvy pick of production collaborators. Along that vein, Major Lazer should also work, too, but the ballad style feels clumsy here. “Crying for No Reason” suffered as a single from a lack of album context, and I suspect the same will happen here when Honey is released, but “Who Am I” just feels like everyone is singing without regard to the production, without regard for each other.
[5]
Thomas Inskeep: Katy B works a midtempo lover’s plead, with Major Lazer on relatively understated production duty and Craig David on Chris Brown duty. It’s nice, but not particularly outstanding.
[5]
Brad Shoup: For better or worse, she meets her collaborators halfway. In Major Lazer’s case, it’s a soft-drink commercial, flooded with hissing cymbal crashes and studded with synth doorbells. Ostensibly, this is a duet, but even with a hand tied behind her back she’s swept David out the door.
[4]