Who said we were?
[Video][Website]
[6.71]
Alfred Soto: Last time Sevyn Streeter owned R&B radio for nearly a year with “It Won’t Stop.” The remix boasted Chris Brown’s most attractive recent performance. Anchored by an electric piano that recalls the hook in Crystal Waters’ “Makin’ Happy” but reluctant to go the Mary J. Blige post-house route, “Don’t Kill the Fun” is content to dance in place.
[6]
Micha Cavaseno: Why is it that the dance music industry and all their takes on house still feel stuck in 1994, pedantic and fucking dumb, whereas the R&B/rap world have a desire to take all those tricks and really thrust them into the future? Sevyn’s song is perfectly poised and honestly didn’t need her friend, the most fadeable Blood on earth, but what really has me losing my mind is the production here, slashing between EDM, R&B, trappier flourishes and house classicism with violent abandon. It’s an omnivorous beast, and Sevyn is just atop the chaos like some anime heroine, utterly unaffected. I just hope to keep getting dazzled now.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: My condolences about Rudimental’s recent job loss. Normally I’d suggest a nice vacation, listening to the breezy garage-fusion by Sevyn Streeter that has made you obsolete, but that might belabor the point.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: “Don’t Kill The Fun” feels indistinct, in that it lopes from section to section without aim or particular hook — Brown’s “baby!!!!” comes closest — but its saving grace is that some of the sounds on the palette are terrific. So despite clocking in at the perfect length for a modern pop single, it seems to go on pleasantly forever.
[5]
Brad Shoup: Brown jumps in with one croaked “baby” and steals the show. Which is fortunate for him; he doesn’t get much more than that and a bunch of ad-libs. The track keeps idling, like a prog&B interlude. Streeter keeps singing about fun, but all she’s got are garage scraps and bad brass.
[5]
Mo Kim: Those keys are so breezy that they make me want to learn to drive just so I can have this playing in the car I probably can’t afford. Those horns are some of the best I’ve heard in 2015. Sevyn Streeter plays every note perfectly, emanating charm and wit and affection whether she’s harmonizing with herself or shaking up the pace with a few stop-start bits. This song is about Chris Brown, isn’t it?
[9]
Will Adams: Every sound in this is worth highlighting, but here are the three that grab my attention most: 1) those snippy shakers that pan from right to left; 2) that horn sample, pitched up at first and then thrown into a bassline; 3) the messy snare. “Don’t Kill the Fun” finds replay value in its dense production alone, but even more commendable is how Sevyn Streeter and Chris Brown manage to command it instead of getting lost. Undeniable, indeed.
[8]