Has yet to break into a Top 10 outside of New Zealand, but we think we’ll keep rooting for her…
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[6.38]
Brad Shoup: She’s on her Janelle Monáe for the U.S. edition. It’s a virtuoso display of voices (chattering, howling, mocking), pressed on all sides by the kind of slightly antiseptic funk one would hear in a Hollywood cabaret. I don’t wanna be That Guy, but imagine if this thing weren’t pieced together by software.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: Remember how Back to Basics could’ve been the future of pop? Kimbra does.
[8]
Will Adams: To think that behind those quiet sixteen bars in “Somebody That I Used to Know” was a woman brimming with the force that she demonstrates on “Come Into My Head” (and the rest of Vows, it should be noted) is only a testament to Kimbra’s craft. With swift key changes, massive melodic jumps, and packed-to-the-gills funk, Kimbra invites you into her head, showing you it’s far more faceted than you had originally thought. If ever there were an argument for her to enjoy recognition beyond being Gotye’s counterpoint, this is it.
[8]
Anthony Easton: Manic in a funk-breakdown sense, and it’s a mania that avoids paranoia. It moves almost too quickly and I’m not sure I can imagine dancing to it, but the chorus is just ludicrous in all the best ways.
[8]
Jonathan Bogart: Souped-up vampy pop with punchy horns and self-consciously ugly vocal contortions, not graceful enough to qualify as gymnastics. It’s exciting for a bit, but then it just goes on and on and turns dreary.
[5]
Patrick St. Michel: Never thought I’d be pining for the stripped-down sound of “Somebody That I Used To Know,” but come the chorus here and I was ready to click over. I bet Kimbra’s voice wouldn’t mind going somewhere it isn’t smothered, either.
[4]
Alfred Soto: The English translation of the lyric represents this song’s madness. When the horns burst in at the thirty-second mark, it really is a shaft of sunlight through uncertain clouds. When she follows “peace of mind” with horn blasts and shards of feedback guitar and a “da da da da,” it’s like Kate Bush pumping her Synclaviers for the craziest of samples.
[6]
Ramzi Awn: “Lost George Michael track” is really not a bad look, but the wall of sound that is “Come Into My Head” might be a little more convincing if it were stripped down some. As it is, I’m not sure my head could deal with it another go-around.
[6]