Alas, it’s only a feeling, young mythical beast…
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[6.12]
Iain Mew: The vocals do a fine job of breaking things up texturally, but there could be almost anything in those bits. Unicorn Kid is still all about the pleasure provided by the overload of choppy vintage electronic sounds, which delivers in abundance once more. Feeling real is besides the point.
[8]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Unicorn Kid exists to remind, to draw an “aww, remember–” reaction. ‘Feels So Real’ recalls the 90s pop-rave scene with the dismembered androgynous diva vox and in the references to a vague “power”, awkwardly apolitical lyrics that exist to evoke euphoria and human strength. As a youth, this stuff was as inescapable as then-fringe youth pleasures that reconfigured American culture under Japanese otaku visions and rock and hip-hop became weird glimmering Malmsteen-rainbow lands for videogame soundtracks. When the wailing guitar solo surfaces on this song, Unicorn Kid is as much evoking memories of Sonic escaping that crazy whale on the Dreamcast as homaging Amber. “Feels So Real” is not a song I will listen to in, y’know, real life but I remain fascinated by how it appears streaked with startlingly specific reference points of pop-cultural nostalgia points.
[5]
Anthony Easton: Absurdly boshed out, perfectly gorgeous, and just this side of sparkle-mountain meltdown. The last bit might be the most absurd anthem ever — can it be the Anthem to Equesteria?
[8]
Patrick St. Michel: Unicorn Kid blends the vocals from Love Decade’s “So Real” and the chiptune-glazed sounds of his own “Chrome Lion” into his own bedroom rave. It’s an at-times dizzying number although it always seems to be holding something back, never giving in to complete ecstasy. Still, it’s a good time that also shows that the young producer is building off his previous material and heading into new waters.
[7]
Ian Mathers: One of the problems with trying to fit this Discovery-sized (and -shaped) chunk of euphoria into ‘classic’ pop single length is that when you shorten things down you lose the ability to build up to climaxes or really to have anything but climaxes; those acts that have managed something like it (for some reason some of AraabMuzik’s stuff comes to mind) have succeeded by dialing something — anything — down to compensate.
[4]
Brad Shoup: The transition from the retro-futuristic synths to the filter-house stuff is seamless; the text appears self-consciously ripped from some imagined rave heyday, but there’s so much sugar putting this down. Nice brutal use of the kick drum, too.
[8]
Will Adams: A smart variant on the French house recently made familiar by Madeon and Mat Zo, “Feel So Real” employs a broken beat that lifts an otherwise nondescript euphoria-trip to something more noticeable.
[7]
Jer Fairall: Oh look, the kids who grew up on Crazy Frog are old enough to make their own music now.
[2]