Today’s conclusion: putting the word “great” in your song title doesn’t necessarily yield the desired result…
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[5.43]
Peter Ryan: Working with some medium-to-biggish American pop writing names, Martina Stoessel’s dead serious crossover effort is upon us, only marked as such by the subtler-than-usual 90’s-style guitar-and-percussion-flourishes-as-pan-Latin-signifiers. It’s further proof that she can deliver a vocal that matches a title conceit; “Great Escape” at once calls to mind superlative emotion and serenity, between which she capably vacillates. With the full weight of the Disney machine behind her there’s no reason she can’t be making inroads into the American market in no time, but alas, this kind of high drama house-pop isn’t charting right now (and come to think of it I’m not sure it ever saw much of a commercial revival here), so unless the prevailing winds shift quickly I’m guessing they won’t push it too hard. World domination usually takes a couple of tries though.
[7]
Thomas Inskeep: Tini sounds reminiscent of those mid-’90s women who had one or two great pop singles and then vanished from sight, like Donna Lewis and Jennifer Paige. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a fine lineage to be a part of.
[6]
Ryo Miyauchi: The levels in the room are uneven here. While Tini puts all her chips on the table and then some to voice one hell of an uncontrollable urge, the beat gives a timid bass line in response. One wants to go all the way, and the other just wants to keep it casual. With all that heart, Tini deserves a slightly better beat as support.
[6]
Tim de Reuse: Her performance is enthusiastic, but it’s all breathy exaggerated flourish with little sense of pacing or restraint after the muted intro (which also contains the track’s only catchy moment: the choppy delivery of “you’re a mill-ion do-llar bill, don’t forget it”). This is a shame, because her voice is the only meaty element in the track — the backing instrumental, while competent, is an unmemorable four-minute blur.
[5]
Iain Mew: Tini’s performance keeps up an impressively constant level of emotional intensity, spending a good two-thirds of the song sounding right on the edge of an outburst but keeping contained. The rest of “Great Escape” sounds like a karaoke backing track version of a song that would support that performance.
[4]
Will Adams: Kiesza’s “Hideaway” sprayed with Clean Bandit Disinfecting Solution in Orange Blossom™. Squeaky clean and barely interesting.
[4]
Claire Biddles: I know this is super average but I’m pretty much sold on anything that I can imagine dancing to at G.A.Y. after 4 shots of indeterminate sugary alcohol at 1 AM. The echoey distorted vocals are a neat approximation of similar effects in Years & Years and Troye Sivan songs, too, so I feel like this is a watered-down version of all the pop tricks I’m pre-determined to enjoy.
[6]