Tom: Remember that brilliant song that Zedd did with Ariana Grande?
Tim: Yes.
Tom: Or that brilliant song Zedd did with Hayley Williams?
Tim: Yup.
Tom: Or that brilliant song Zedd did with Foxes?
Tim: Are you going somewhere with this?
Tom: Well, it’s just like all those, only not as good.
Tim: Ah.
Tom: The structure’s roughly the same, the instrumentation’s roughly the same — the only thing that’s missing is the astonishing notes that Ariana Grande can hit, or the incredibly catchy, singalong melody that Hayley Williams was given, or the brilliant vocal quality of Foxes.
Tim: Yeah – there’s nothing particularly interesting about this – it’s kind of in one ear and out the other. Danceable, sure, but it finished just a few seconds ago and I suddenly realised I’d got distracted halfway through and stopped paying attention.
Tom: I mean, it’s not bad: the production is still fantastic, and even a fairly half-assed song is still going to sound good run through all that. Zedd’s got a good style, and it works well here — it just sounds like the formula’s suffering a bit of generation loss after being copied so many times.
Tim: I suppose that’s the problem with having a winning formula – when it’s good, it’s very good; when it’s not, it’s very noticeable.