What if that Ellie Goulding song came to life and decided to make music? You… actually wouldn’t be that far off from this…
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[5.20]
Patrick St. Michel: Yet the blanket like quality of the music and lyrics pin me down.
[4]
Dorian Sinclair: I know very little about Lights. I know everyone I’ve ever met from rural Ontario loves her. I know she’s tricky to Google. And after listening this song, I now know she likes really big, spacious synth chords, optimism in the face of adversity, and clever wordplay (“Nothing gives easy/Easy gives nothing” and the preposition shift of “on we go” changing to “up we go” in the chorus). As it happens, I also like all of these things! Wow, does her voice ever sound strained on the high notes, though. I’m worried you’ll hurt yourself, friend. Shift it down a key or two.
[7]
Alfred Soto: Begging for a Charli XCX hook.
[4]
Dan MacRae: “Up We Go” has this slo-mo futuristic (but not that futuristic) water slide feel to it that I’m positively smitten with. Tastefully deployed guitar touches make the electro-pop glaze all the sweeter.
[8]
Brad Shoup: The synth intro is some transposed Fall Out Boy shit: good work. Actually, the whole thing’s on some synthpop-punk deal, but like one of the ballads. She’s pushing red vocally the whole way. It’s kind of exhausting, especially when the chorus just plods along, oblivious to the jump Lights is trying to take.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: Sia/Kurstin for people who hate dynamic range.
[3]
Juana Giaimo: Now that there are so many synth pop artists, and they all aim for a catchy and upbeat melody with a encouraging message, I’m starting to get slightly bored unless they try to surprise me. And this is not the case. Still, enjoyable I guess.
[6]
Mallory O’Donnell: It’s not a bad idea — self-actualization lyrics as heard on I Heart Radio draped over an old New Order b-side. Sadly, the usual sense of false heroism and unnecessary backbeat overwhelms.
[4]
Micha Cavaseno: I can appreciate that Lights is trying to weave in the older influences of “See! I did the New Order chime guitar” and point out that “Hey, I totally could’ve been Ellie Goulding if I was good enough 5 years ago!”. But I’m not having a bar of this anthemic synth stomp stupidity. This shrieking isn’t encouraging me to climb out the ditch, it’s making me pray for a cave in, because maybe that’ll muffle her infernal parrot screech.
[3]
Hazel Robinson: Lights has never quite grabbed me — I’ve always thought she seemed like a broadly good thing in principle, but the songs have just never elicited a reaction stronger than “hmm, pop” from me. Which this was on a course to continuing until nothing gives easy/and easy gives nothing, and I suddenly found myself getting really caught up in the sort of pixie sadness of the whole thing.
[7]