That’s all!
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[4.25]
Iain Mew: Two partners each plead against the other’s addiction to checking up on their social networks, failing to acknowledge that they’re just as bad themselves. It’s a fun concept, and the dinky synth sound just adds to the small stakes charm. They know it’s funny but don’t overplay it, they complain but never turn bitter, and the appearance of “slide in your DMs” made me grin. As someone still after the elusive attainment of notifications across all five of my tumblr accounts at once, let’s say I relate. Even when they get close to tiresome technophobe moans, the small details make all the difference: it’s “those people on your Facebook page are not your only friends” rather than real friends.
[8]
Thomas Inskeep: I cannot take seriously any song including the lines “I wanna love you but you’d rather tweet” or “babygirl, you’re bigger than your Instagram.” This is trying way too hard to ride the zeitgeist, and it’s not doing so particularly interestingly or well.
[2]
Crystal Leww: Kehlani quietly put out one of the best R&B projects last year with Cloud 19, which spanned the range of R&B styles from soul-sampling to r’n’bass, all without losing a step of her personality or freshness. She’s teamed up here with KYLE, who is every bit as fresh and young and with more than just an extra touch of goofy. He raps silly and sings just enough to work, like a young Childish Gambino without the gross come-ons that made him unstomachable. This will undoubtedly sound stupid in ten years with references to Instagram likes and Vine memes (that gratata in the intro sends me into eyerolls every time), but until then, it sounds like a youthful glimpse of a teenage spring fling.
[9]
Micha Cavaseno: V. disappointing to acknowledge Kehlani for the first time not for her own work, like the intriguing Cloud 19 mixtape, but rather over a slab of Childish Gambino aspirations on a beat that would’ve served Wiz in 2010. But what’s honestly more disappointing is that this is a sure-fire college campus hit, perfect to slot between songs by Chance The Rapper’s more Woody Woodpeckerish fodder, Hoodie Allen, G-Eazy, and other “cool teen” choices.
[1]
Will Adams: A songwriting professor once told me to avoid referencing current technology in lyrics, as it would make the song dated in the future. I still disagree with that rule, if only for the fact that about 80 per cent of why I still love “Bug a Boo” is the references to MCI and AOL. The problem with “Just a Picture” isn’t its ham-handed name-drops of iPhone technology and social media sites; it’s that the song can’t decide whether to treat its message with gravity or with levity.
[2]
Brad Shoup: Last night was SXSW’s final night. I tweeted about the PC Music-adjacent show I was catching at Iron Bear. Patrick was there, and I @’d him, and when I glanced at his phone and saw my two mentions I did think ok ok ok this shit’s lame. But it wasn’t a big deal, and I shelved my phone for (most of) the rest of the night. Kehlani gently chides and KYLE veers between sneers and praise: no one’s got a major point to make, tech’s only as much a problem as you make it, et cetera. The synthfunk arrangement demands breeziness, and that’s what the singers provide (along with some strongly implied #thiscouldbeus). It’s a time capsule within a time capsule, and I’m betting it’ll remain charming whenever it’s opened.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: The other week I was chided over stressing text messages — “not everyone has the same relationship with their phone as you do” — so I am probably not the target audience of this song (actually, probably I’m exactly the target). But KYLE is embarrassing: part Lifetime Original Movie, part horndog who doesn’t quite want to give up the cyberspace and the FaceTime and their series of boobs, part giver of FaceTime for all the tech brands this song is supposed to be against and happy recipient of Internet-addled attention. Kehlani is sparkly and flirty and in an entirely different song, albeit one that’s probably “Video Games.” This song beeps and tweets and Geocities SunsetStrip Funks itself so fast and flashy the Internet’s probably the best home for it. Much like “Selfie,” “Take a Picture” wants to have his cake and subtweet it too.
[2]
Alfred Soto: The $6 synths are part of the joke: a chintzy portrait of modern romance. It sounds like DJ Quik’s most recent productions tainted by reactionary bitching about the Twitters and Facebooks we endure from Uncle Pablo. If there’s anything worse than old people complaining about technology, it’s the kids.
[3]