Derek brings us a song from a pixelated band that no one chose to compare to Gorillaz…
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[6.89]
Derek Gazis: When I hear “dance-pop by a virtual band,” I imagine something bouncy and energetic. While “Jenny” is indeed musically upbeat, the lyrics express a sense of longing and frustration. On one hand, it’s nice for a song like this to have some emotional weight behind it, rather than be completely devoid of meaning, as one might reasonably expect from a group whose members have names like Goldie Foxx and Dyna Mink. But at the same time, music like this shouldn’t let sentimentality get in the way of its fun. “Jenny” achieves a good balance in this regard. With its quirky instrumentation (the accordion parts, by the way, sound like “Stereo Love”), driving beat, and that “forget those amigos” line, this song never takes itself too seriously, and that’s a good thing.
[7]
Iain Mew: As an exercise in filling a track with synth accordion and steel drums and still managing to make it sound icy, “Jenny” is a massive success. It’s helped by Cherry’s extraordinary vocals being so constantly emotive as to camouflage any heightened feeling. As a tale of wanting more than friendship from your best friend, it’s so far from believable that it feels a little exploitative, but maybe that’s letting the other aspects of the group’s artificiality get to me too much. Certainly it’s one of the most intriguing things I’ve heard in a while.
[6]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: There are not enough steel drums or zydeco accordions or explicitly spurned BFF queer desire in pop music — perhaps even less in the digitised hands of virtual creatures — but somehow, the virtual creatures Studio Killers exist. And while their character design is definitely in need of a Mikudayo-esque upgrade, “Jenny” cuts through the imagery gimmick and cuts deep. The steel drums and zydeco touches hint at a tropical liaison that stays in the protagonist’s head, their friend off romancing with a man. The music creates subtext and sets a scene; the words simply add extra detail, movement, animation (if you will).
[7]
Anthony Easton: Where this pulses and speeds up, I wish the music would smear a bit, be a bit less crisp. I like it well enough, but it might be a bit too precise as it is.
[6]
Alfred Soto: With an intro hook that evokes Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For” and a rather gormless steel drum sweetening the EDM clichés, it’s up to the singer to embody this sisterly valentine, and she kinda does; sneaking those lyrics into Eurodisco is a conceptual coup.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: Had you told me before listening to this that it’s a Euro-dance number anchored by an accordion line, I would have been biting my lip in anticipation of something horrible. But Studio Killers make this work! I’m mostly surprised at how high the stakes are — it’s not just about locking down a lover, it’s about convincing a friend (one’s best friend!) to risk everything for romance — but also how that damn accordion actually makes it all the more dramatic.
[7]
Brad Shoup: Starts by gaslighting, then pivots to low-key terrorism. It’s wonderful. Dig how the singer disassembles her friendship and reconstructs it on the highway to Dude Town. Dig the whispers of Jenny-Jenny-Jenny; someone’s going to have a long weekend. The accordion riff — overused, so I’d thought — becomes downright piratical. When it’s combined with the steel drums, it’s breathtaking. There’s power in this play, but there’s also desperation.
[9]
Scott Mildenhall: If you put together the accordion strains of The Wanted’s “I Found You” with the strains for accord in Jason Derulo’s “The Other Side” you should have a very good song; instead you get Inna’s “More Than Friends”, just about satisfying but little more. Studio Killers, the cartoon band behind one of 2011’s very best singles, introduce steel pans, and finally the equation is complete. Almost. They’ve a blinded destructiveness — “I wanna ruin our friendship” — to go along with their ebullience and wist, and the dimension added with the presumption that preferences are prohibiting just poses the question: why is the imposition of gendered boundaries such an untapped resource in pop?
[8]
Mallory O’Donnell: Actual score may vary from 0 to 5 to 10 depending on time of day, mood of listener and level of lager inebriation. None more Dutch.
[6]