From the top of the Vietnamese Spotify charts…
[Video]
[5.29]
Anna Katrina Lockwood: Like many a global artist in the past decade, Sơn Tùng M-TP often draws clear stylistic inspiration from K-pop artists. In the case of “Chúng Ta Của Hiện Tại,” he’s caught hold of a notably humid City Pop thread that’s increasingly proliferating. This has resulted in quite a lovely track — certainly a summer mood — with one truly sublime compositional moment in the pre-chorus. Sơn Tùng M-TP’s immense popularity has clearly netted the best engineering and session saxophone players money can buy, and the whole thing glides on by with the smoothness of frozen margarita being decanted from a poolside slush machine.
[7]
Thomas Inskeep: A gorgeous warm bath of mid-late ’80s Adult Contemporary balladry, complete with a Kenny G-esque sax, blissfully dated drum machines, and tinkling synths, all supporting an “I’ll never leave you, girl”-sounding vocal from Sơn Tùng M-TP. This gives me strong New Kids on the Block vibes, if they’d been better produced.
[7]
Alfred Soto: The sax solo in Richard Marx’s “Endless Summer Nights” is studied the world over for its tonal complexity, aptness, and precision, while the drum machine and the rest of the programmed sounds here would not embarrass a karaoke machine.
[2]
Katherine St Asaph: I still hate yacht rock, regardless of its origin.
[1]
Kayla Beardslee: This is a very pretty song! There’s nothing surprising about it, but it has sax solos and plush, spacey ’90s R&B chords: that’s enough for me. It would make the perfect soundtrack for walking around a suburb in the autumn and gazing wistfully at the falling leaves.
[7]
Juana Giaimo: I really like the balance between the retro instrumentation and the twee spirit of this song; I usually hate saxophones like the one here, but it sounds so smooth that it fits. “Chúng Ta Của Hiện Tại” also benefits from being 5 minutes long, given that it isn’t the kind of song that builds tension or has an explosive chorus; it’s better just to take it lightly and relax.
[7]
Michael Hong: In his grand romance, you could probably argue that Sơn Tùng M-TP gets a little lost along the way, that its saxophone is overpowering or that he falls into a rut on the song’s tail, but what a space to get lost in, huh?
[6]