Guess how much we like Disclosure?…
[Video][Website]
[5.86]
Iain Mew: In retrospect, “Latch” feels like the breakthrough point leading to what has been a phenomenal year so far for great commercially successful UK dance singles. It’s more a quirk of release dates than anything that, of the two “Latch” collaborators, Sam Smith has managed to score a #1 before Disclosure. Still, the way he works up to a howl of denial is a big part of what makes “La La La” work, alongside some of the best childlike backing vocals since Jem’s “They” and the relief that the Naughty Boy who had the ability for “Heaven” is still around after all.
[7]
Anthony Easton: His voice sounds higher than it should be, but it’s not in falsetto and it’s not quite pitch-shifted. Trying to figure out exactly how they did that puts the listener off kilter; this might be a good thing, because the rest of the song doesn’t have much else to offer.
[3]
Alfred Soto: Sam Smith’s vocal on Disclosure’s “Latch” was uninhibited in the best sense, and his melodic skills are at their best in the chorus. I haven’t decided whether the “la la la” loop suits a track whose dance potential is wedded to tentative R&B. Or maybe it’s got R&B potential wedded to a tentative dance track.
[6]
Will Adams: Watching Sam Smith’s star rise after his marvelous contribution to Disclosure’s “Latch” has made the past few months exciting. “La La La” can only help. Over Naughty Boy’s shuffling garage groove, Sam tunes out the bullshit with his powerful voice. In a world filled with assholes who have no problem in selling you their version of the truth, I need this tremendously.
[9]
Scott Mildenhall: The latest in a stream of off-kilter number ones this year, existing on its own terms, and almost uncategorisable. Initially it might seem to achieve that through gimmickry, but that does the sample more than a disservice — in the right mood it’s devastating, especially when paired with the video, something sure to traumatise a generation. The whole thing’s very close to the bone, unusually so; how many songs are there with the painful verisimilitude of the notion of hopelessly willing someone to stop from the heart?
[8]
Brad Shoup: Perhaps the worst hook I’ve heard in a decade. The rest is fine — good, even: existential R&B on a cultural scale. But I spent every second of verses and refrains in mortal fear of that botched, obnoxious hook.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: It took the UK scads of good music, but finally they’ve proven you can fuck up dance throwbacks. One way is making your hook Beatriz Luengo shoved through a woodchipper.
[4]