If this isn’t a corker, then something’s gone very wrong.
Tom: First single off the new album. Out shortly. If this isn’t a corker, then something’s gone very wrong.
Tom: Well, that will do nicely.
Tim: It’ll do…alright, yes.
Tom: Example’s always been a bit of a mystery to me: he’s an okay singer, he’s an okay rapper, but somehow the whole package works brilliantly. He just seems likeable, and the production on his tracks is so damned glossy and professional that I find them impossible to dislike. This is a man who knows how to make a pop record.
Tim: There, you’re not wrong. To be honest, there’s not a lot to say here – it’s a straight up pop-dance track that does everything just as it should, and doesn’t venture anywhere that it shouldn’t.
Tom: Should he be striving for more after four albums? Maybe: but if the fans like it, and he likes it, best of luck to him.
Tim: I can’t really add more than that: it hits all the right beats, it’s danceable, and it’s probably – and rightfully – going to be a big hit.
Tom: As for the post-apocalyptic entirely-blue video: while it’s very pretty, it does seem a bit low-budget and phoned-in.
Tim: I just like that he’s taking inspiration from Eiffel 65.
Tim: His released-tomorrow Stay Awake is sort of alright and earlier-this-year’s Changed The Way You Kissed Me was pretty good, but as far as I’m concerned nothing of his beats this, from 2009.
Tim: The rolling piano, the rapping that’s more like speaking and more than bearable, the singing in the chorus, nice bit of fun with all the unexplained drawing in the video – all adds up to a good track.
Tom: I’m going to assume it’s in the same universe as A-Ha’s Take On Me.
Tim: Don’t really like the message of the song, though. It’s all ‘I wish I could have stayed with you, and I wish this wasn’t a one night stand’, but he never really gives a reason for his leaving aside from a flight, which he says he wanted to miss anyway, so we’re sort of left ‘Actually, I only ever do one night stands, and even though I don’t want to now it’s just who I am so tough.’
The length it took me to explain that means that in terms of word count this is an overwhelmingly negative review. It really shouldn’t be, because the song’s great.
Tom: All right, Example, you’ve done good before. Let’s see what your laid-back half-rapping half-singing brings us this time.
Tom: You know, that’s not quite a Eurobeat track, but it’s close – certainly the closest I’ve heard in mainstream music for a while, I think. I can see this, with minor differences – maybe a female vocalist – coming out of Germany a decade ago. I say that as a compliment – there’s a reason those styles still persist today.
Tim: A good time in music, was that. And speaking of which, I caught a bloke at work who’s normally all ‘hip-hop’s the one true way’ listening to Alice Deejay on his headphones the other day. Now I have leverage.
Tom: Interesting bridge, though; done entirely in the backing, with the pause and rising effect. Not sure it works, other than breaking up the song a bit; the ending does seem to just peter out after that.
Tim: I actually really like it – it’s more a variation on a theme than a standard bridge switch-out, and I think it works well.
Tom: It’d do well in the middle of a DJ set, this would.
Tom: Oh man. This could be so good. The first few seconds show such promise – that eighties orchestra-hit sample is ace. And there are so many good things here. The quiet ‘ooh, ooh’s in the background. The chorus, which I caught myself tapping my foot along to on first listen.
Tim: Ooh, I do like that – intro started good, and it kept on going. At about 2:40, I thought it was about to wrap up; I’m very glad that it didn’t, though, because the bit after that is even better than what came before.
Tom: Pity about his voice, really.
Tim: I don’t know, I think his voice is okay – he can handle both the verses and chorus well enough, and combined with the backing track I think it works great.
Tom: Don’t get me wrong – I’m not ruling it out just because it’s rap, or just because it’s a British guy. Example’s last one, Kickstarts, was excellent all the way through, and his voice was a perfect match for it – perhaps because the faster pace of the vocals seemed to fit, or because the background samples were just that bit fuller. But it just doesn’t work for me here.
Tim: I prefer it to Kickstarts because here both the verses and chorus are good, whereas the verses in that never did much for me. It did have a pretty cool video, though.
Tom: This video’s not bad either. Despite a few too many modern things in the background to really sell it as being retro, it still has a charm to it.
Tim: A few points about it, though:
why is he ordering drinks in a police interview room?
I hope the fighting is meant to be blindingly fake, because it is, although there’s enough doubt there for it to be mildly annoying
nice explosion
nice jumping, even if it isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to chase after someone
Tom: The phrase ‘Tesco Value Zach Braff’ is also running through my head. That’s a bit cruel though.
Tim: That is a little bit cruel, yes. And a little bit justified.
