Tim: Yesterday Rick Astley, today Roxette. Apparently we’ve fallen through time so, as ever, be careful around your parents and all that.
Tim: And talk about don’t bore us, get to the chorus. It takes guts to open a song with the chorus – it’s a bit like starting a TV episode with a shocking scene and then showing a “48 hours earlier” caption, because if the rest of it doesn’t measure up then your audience will switch off fairly quickly. Here, though, I’ve no qualms with it – it sets up the scene nicely, blasts us in the face with the message and then steps back a bit to explain it.
Tom: “In medias res” is the technical term — by which I mean, the Latin term — and it’s generally a successful gambit in film. If this is the start of a trend in music, I’m happy with it.
Tim: Another nice thing, which is exactly the same that was present during their last revival: a mixture of their originals 80s sound and modern sounds in there as well.
Tom: It is! It’s never going to storm the charts, but it’s a good opener to a new album that their fans will love.
Tim: Hopefully, yes. Modern pop backing, but some distinctly previous vocals in the chorus (to the extent that I’m sure I’ve heard that “if it’s right or wrong”/”will always find a way” lead in to the chorus before in another old song).
Tom: And that chorus does, unfortunately, keep reminding me of the Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex”. It’s those aa-aa-aahs in the background.
Tim: I haven’t listened to that song in ages, so can’t remember it; I won’t play now in case it ruins this. Also from the 80s, and less welcome here: the fade out, as it really doesn’t belong in a 2010s song. Basically, that aside, this is more or less exactly what I didn’t know I would have wanted from a new Roxette track. Excellent work, everybody.