Narrowly denied his second UK number one by Bloody Football…
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[6.38]
Katherine St Asaph: I have an irrational loathing of the word “frisky”. It’s all hiss and fake-whimsy. So it says something that I kind of love this anyway. It’s utterly desolate; the production makes leching and la-las sound genuinely dangerous. Tinie should write songs of all my pet peeves.
[8]
Hillary Brown: Would that MGMT’s new stuff sounded like the backing track here, which is diverse, bleepy, and melodic in such quantities as to make up for the sentiment expressed over the top of it. It’s a poor excuse for being a jerk, but the song sells it well.
[6]
Kat Stevens: I would risk pretty much anything for the following chocolate biscuits: Twix; Boost; Kitkat; McVities Milk Choc Digestive; Fox’s square things that are like malted milks but with choc on one side; Penguin; Tunnocks Caramel Wafer. The very concept of forfeiting my dignity for a Maryland double choc-chip cookie is so pleasing to me that I am happy to ignore the fact that this is musically inferior to “Pass Out”.
[7]
Martin Skidmore: As with “Pass Out”, I like Labrinth’s production here – pumping grime (with a touch of D&B late on) rather than the more usual discoey music grime rappers choose these days. Tinie is often autotuned again, and is an unimpressive MC in his rhymes and his flow. As before, like the music, not so keen on the vocal.
[6]
Michaelangelo Matos: Utter wallpaper, whether in voice-synth mode or breaking out the occasional breakbeat.
[5]
Chuck Eddy: Am I the only one who keeps expecting him to say “So if I hurt your feelings, it’s just because I’m….gay“?? Not a comment on Tinie (or Labrinth), neither of whom I know much anything about one way or the other. Just seems like that would be the natural rhyme. Also, that “frisky” voice really gets on my nerves.
[6]
Jonathan Bogart: Is it too utterly provincial of me to be glad that finally English rappers are sounding American? Properly 2010 American, too, as much electropop as hip-hop, with an overloaded mix and triumphal swagger a mile wide. If I squint, I could even hear it being played on American radio.
[8]
John Seroff: Like a deep-fried candy bar, this not only looks trashy, it’s deeply unhealthy in just about every way, tasty for the first bite or two and then just empty calories. I’m aware it’s something of a chicken-or-the-egg problem, but I’m not sure what I needed to hear today was a UK Nicki Minaj on a ringtone track with occasional product placement breaks.
[5]