Who likes naughty words?
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[5.23]
Alfred Soto: Goodness you can curse! Kelly Clarkson doesn’t do that!
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: When can Pink’s career be Try This again, rather than Kelly Clarkson with swears? Or if it’s urban she wants, Can’t Take Me Home?
[5]
Colin Small: Every great pop song needs a great swear word.
[8]
Jonathan Bogart: The “life’s shit so let’s fuck” sentiment is exactly as powerful as always, but the song structure lets it down, sticking a “Float On” sample in at random and maintaining an even amount of fury throughout, so that there’s no build or release. By the end, the undifferentiated sound is just one more part of what makes life shit.
[5]
Will Adams: Why does Pink insist on being so repellent at every turn? I nearly refused to listen to this based on the title alone, a sex joke that’s a half-step above the ones my eighth grade classmates would recycle way past their expiration dates. But I was feeling charitable, so I gave it a listen — bracing myself for Pink’s signature blend of obnoxious ad-libs and self-satisfied faux-raunch — and was surprised to find that the innuendo played no part in the song. It’s an inoffensive, by-the-numbers kiss-off saved from anonymity by the phrase “whiskey-dick” and some extra “shit” thrown in. Which says to me that either the title came first without any thought other than, “Woah, isn’t this outrageous?!” behind it; or it was some Hail Mary to distract from those ghastly high notes and music that borrows liberally from a far superior Two Door Cinema Club song.
[3]
Iain Mew: Two Door Cinema Club seems to be the accepted consensus, but I thought of Lupe Fiasco’s Modest Mouse twist quicker. All three are better than this, anyway. Any good ideas and hooks are de-emphasised to the point where it seems like they may just have been chanced upon randomly. “I think I maybe think too much” is a pretty good line but less prominent than trying to rhyme “serious” with “shit” or Pink straining at the edges of the chorus and hoping that some more singing “shit” will get her out of the same.
[3]
Jonathan Bradley: “I’ve had a shit day,” hollers Pink, sounding like she hasn’t. But she knows somewhere people have, and they might shout along with her when they hear her tune. This is her career: music for people to react — rather than relate — to.
[3]
Kat Stevens: Once you get past the Modest Mouse wurbly guitar this is rather cheering! Especially if you, like Alecia, have had a shit day. I tested it out on my other half just now: he cracked a smile at the chorus even though he’d just been to Sainsbury’s on a Monday night and there was only one aubergine left in the box. Thumbs up!
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: Remember that brief period in 2005 when reviews of “Since U Been Gone” had a tendency to namedrop Interpol and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, when Pitchfork slotted Amerie right next to Antony & The Johnsons? Pink and producer Greg Kurstin sure do, to the point they’ve borrowed the bouncy guitar line from Modest Mouse’s “Float On,” and try the best they can to make “Blow Me (One Last Kiss) sound like a Kelly Clarkson joint. It’s a combination that would have worked in 2006 and sounds nice in 2012, but outside of the song title and a few pointed lines (“I think you’re full of shit” being a highlight) I would have guessed the Internet discovered an old Girl Talk outtake.
[5]
Brad Shoup: As usual, Pink’s two to three years behind whatever’s come down the production pike, and that’s fine — endearing, even. I dunno if I’m more lenient toward artists who employ symbols at a remove. I hope not; Pink has never seemed less than sincere in her belief in rock and restorative nights out. And that’s how people generally consume tunes. Have shit day, play Pink. Speaking of which, there’s no one on the charts who would suck every bit of marrow from an untried phrase like that. She pours complaints through the sieve of that upper register, and I’m digging them all. Admittedly, the “blow me one last kiss” part is completely superfluous (and just not gauche enough). Maybe she should leave the pop-rock piston production and hook up with whoever’s Material’s modern-day equivalent is. Dirty Projectors, I guess, although Longstreth might cut us both for suggesting it.
[7]
Anthony Easton: It’s a Pink song. I like Pink in the inspirational mode rather than the angry mode. This is much less anthemic then it should be, and the title has much more ambiguity then the song itself — and the title is profoundly unambiguous. But, you know, all that aside, it’s a Pink song.
[5]
Pete Baran: I’ve always liked P!nk and will always root for her in the battle for the the slightly edgy nine-year old girl market over Katy Perry and am glad this track allows me to. But the canny marketers who decided that the “one last kiss” in the chorus lyrics are clearly parenthetical for “outrageous reasons” can Suck (A Bag Of Dicks).
[6]
Jer Fairall: The Joys of Reductive Pop Feminism or: How I Learned to Stop Snarking and Love Pink. Seriously, how can anyone continue to care about her particularly bratty version of empowerment when she regularly delivers chorus hooks this massive? I know I can’t.
[8]