#Daniel Maier Piano

[helmar-weiss]

The Pocket Brothers feat. Theresa Thompson & Daniel Maier: Daydream -Raq...

The Pocket Brothers feat. Theresa Thompson & Daniel Maier: Daydream -Raquel Rodriguez (Cover) The Pocket Brothers: - Daydream -Raquel Rodriguez (Cover) Jürgen Mohr - Bass ‪ Helmar Weiß - Drums Daniel Maier - Keyboard Theresa Thompson - Gesang Aufnahmeort: VINYL Regensburg #ThePocketBrothers #daydream #raquelrodriguez #funkygroove #vinylregensburg #FunkGroove #Musikvideo #Rhythmussektion #GrooveSession #funkybeat #musicislife #jaym #bass #helmarweiß #drums #DanielMaier #Piano #TheresaThompson #vocals

[thesinglesjukebox]

GUNNA - "FUKUMEAN"

From Daniel, a post-release single that reached the top 5 in the US (and #1 in *checks notes* Latvia?)...

[4.85]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: I'll be honest, I really thought Gunna's career was over after taking a plea deal related to Young Thug's ongoing RICO case. Hip hop doesn't like the potential of cooperation with the law, let alone snitching, so we had several months of high-ranking peers throwing shots at Gunna and op-eds with titles like "Did Gunna's Plea Deal Get Him Shunned?" Regardless, "Fukumean' is the biggest hit of his post-"Drip Too Hard" career; whatever his billion-stream track with Nav sounds like, it doesn't have the narrative of overcoming struggle and shrugging off the naysayers. Which is hilarious because this is very much business as usual, a triplet-tripping filip with a genderless chorus of synthetic sneers every few beats: "FUCK YOU MEEEANNN?!?" I couldn't tell you a single memorable bar that Gunna delivers here, and yet this song has been stuck in my head all year. It's the least defiant show of public defiance in some time, the "Dust Off Your Shoulder" mantra as an eyeroll, a club-engineered megahit that doesn't tidy up click-clacking sounds of swaying jewellery or clinking ice cubes by the microphone. It's not laziness, or rebellion, or pretending everything's okay, but some weird amalgamation of the three and I don't know what the fukthatmeans. [6]

Oliver Maier: I've written before that Gunna's real strength is an ear for beats that suit his bleakly restrained style. That's true here: the "ee-yah" noise is an unlikely earworm that I can imagine other rappers instantly passing on, but this lacks the winning stupidity of "pushin P", the sugariness of "SKYBOX" or "DOLLAZ ON MY HEAD", or whatever "Speed It Up" has that makes me love it so much. [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I still listen to Gunna in desperate hope that I can one day reclaim the pure glee I experienced the first time I heard "Drip Too Hard." This doesn't quite get there -- Gunna (understandably) sounds slightly defeated here -- a resolute figure of survival, but not one that's having all that much fun even as he talks about "shittin on all you lil' turds." And if you deliver that line deadpan I'm not sure we have the same musical goals. [5]

Will Adams: Three things: an annoyed and/or annoying "...yeah?"; the title hook, delivered as a schoolyard taunt; "shittin' on all you lil' turds". Even at two minutes, "Fukumean" is light on ideas, and the ones available are only kind of good. [4]

Ian Mathers: Some songs would get by on either the "fuck you mean?" bit of the "a-yup" bit, and they'd be fine. Using both well in about two minutes that also fits in a compelling performance from Gunna (lots of lines are just sticking with me, I've been muttering "I see the ho with precision/Get rich my only decision" to myself for a bit) ought to be gilding the lily, but it feels just about right. [8]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Every "eeeyahh" is methodical, consuming, and withering: "Fukumean" isn't an all out assault of swagger so much as a series of waves meant to drag you out from shore. [7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: My immediate reaction was to think of the repeated squeaking in "The Box," but this is a track so deflated and bare that everything is reduced to a haze. The hook is so much of a non-presence it's hard to care -- it's sung with the insistence of children fighting sleep. [4]

Micha Cavaseno: Gunna's been boring before, so him half-heartedly going in over a particularly uninspired detuned piano loop here isn't a disappointment as much as it's further validation of how little he's ever had going on for him as a rapper. Hell, the best part of this song isn't even himself, it's the backing vocal chorus (which truthfully has nothing to do with him and might even overshadow him?). But yeah, Gunna remains one-note as ever though I'm glad he's separated himself from perhaps the most noxious legal trial to ever involve rapper(s). I'll take Atlanta's rap scene being unlistenable over their rap scene being mass incarcerated any day. [2]

Taylor Alatorre: Opinions may differ on this, but I personally don't enjoy being yelled at. I don't have this issue with Bone Crusher on "Never Scared" or Lil Jon on "Bia' Bia'," who are both much louder, but for some reason I can't help feeling that the Greek chorus (Atlantan chorus?) in "Fukumean" is shouting the title phrase at me specifically. Like, what did I do, Gunna? I mostly liked a Gift & a Curse! The song's official instrumental includes neither this hook nor the possibly Sho Madjozi-inspired "iyah" vocalization; going by the YouTube comments bemoaning their absence, it's these two elements that have most fueled its staying power. They do indeed make it memorable, and instantly recognizable in a public setting. Apart from those steady drips of attitude, though, there just isn't much to feed on here. [5]

Nortey Dowuona: "A music writer handed a Gunna song to discuss finds himself confronted by several problems, not the least which is the necessity of squaring with his conscience the fact he is discussing Gunna at all." -- mostly copied from James Baldwin on James M. Cain's The Moth in The Cross of Redemption, page 291. [0]

Brad Shoup: Might be the absurd amount of Post Malone I streamed this year, but I'm trying not to underrate the modern compact pop-rap single. But he doesn't have any lines better than the (very good) hooks. [5]

Katherine St Asaph: Rarely does one hear a track with such monumental determination to not bang. In a way, it's impressive. [5]

Alfred Soto: Dependent on its hook, this obscene banality barely exists -- a bit like Gunna himself. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[upalldown]

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Sixth studio album by American rock band

Release Date: July 2007

11/13

"Attention to detail" doesn't necessarily sound like the secret ingredient to brilliant rock & roll, but in Spoon's case, it comes second only to inspiration. Britt Daniel, Jim Eno, and company keep finding ways to challenge themselves and their listeners by working within the same basic, streamlined sonic framework they crafted on Girls Can Tell, adding a few new twists here and there with each album. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga just might be the most winning update on this approach since Girls Can Tell itself: each song is as carefully and creatively pruned as a bonsai tree, with nothing fussy or superfluous to mar the clean lines of the songwriting or arrangements. This is especially impressive considering that on this album, Spoon works with their widest array of sounds yet. Everything from kotos to chamberlains to horns straight out of Motown are fair game on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, but they're used so deftly and judiciously that they never feel like window dressing. As on Gimme Fiction, the band maps out Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga's territory within the first three tracks. "Don't Make Me a Target" is a sleek yet gritty prologue designed to draw listeners in like Fiction's "The Beast and Dragon, Adored," and its seductive pull only heightens the impact of "The Ghost of You Lingers." All pounding pianos and fleeting, fragmented verses, the song initially feels like it's all buildup and no release, but this insistent yet incomplete feeling is what makes it haunting and brilliant: its circling thoughts and echoes upon echoes feel like you're chasing the song -- or its subject -- to no avail. Even if "The Ghost of You Lingers" almost perversely avoids hooks, "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"'s homage to blue-eyed soul delivers them in abundance. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga's songs are svelte, especially compared to Gimme Fiction, yet they're far from starved. Interesting details decorate the margins of these songs, whether it's the studio chatter that revs up "Don't You Evah" or the fascinatingly fragmented lyrics of "Eddie's Ragga" ("there ain't no getting over Joanie Hale-Maier"). Jon Brion pops up bass, chamberlain, and production duties on "The Underdog," one of Spoon's bounciest, brassiest nods to classic pop in a long time, and a perfect contrast to the exotic, spooky minimalism of "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case"'s shivery kotos and Spanish guitars. Concise and lively ("Black Like Me" is as close as the album gets to a ballad), Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is a remarkable blend of focus and creativity; even if Spoon's modus operandi seems overly regimented on paper, the results are just as elegant as they are fun.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-mw0000746410

[hammondcast]

Hammond Report December 19 2021 From Pandemic Quarantino Jon Hammond

#WATCHMOVIE HERE: Hammond Report December 19 2021 From Pandemic Quarantino Jon Hammond 

Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/hammond-report-december-19-2021-from-pandemic-quarantino-jon-hammond 

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSoGurEAxlI 

FB https://fb.watch/9-tXDBEJss/ 

Hammond Report December 19 2021 From Pandemic Quarantino Jon Hammond

by

 Jon Hammond 

Publication date

 2021-12-19

Usage

 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International

Topics

 Hammond Report, 19 December 2021, podcast, Frankfurt, midi accordion, fisarmonica, akkordeon, jazz, blues, Stories, Jon Hammond, bye bye now

Language

 English

Hammond Report December 19 2021 From Pandemic Quarantino Jon Hammond - Daily Music and Stories from Jon Hammond the organ player & accordionist, today's music story is about playing world's first midi controlling of Hammond organ with a Hohner Morino IV midi accordion in the Jazzkeller Frankfurt 30 years ago! Herb Ellis was sitting in the front table, I invited him - I had sponsorship from Philip Morris tobacco Military Division, special thanks Rick Wilhelm for picking up the tab for Barry's air fare, Barry Finnerty guitar, Uwe Gehring 2nd guitar, Alain Nau drums, Derrick James alto and yours truly Jon Hammond at the organ and accordion - Joe Berger mixed the show from under the piano of the smoke-filled club, beautiful mix with all Sennheiser microphones on loan to us, dankeschön Norbert Hilbich! This one goes out to Michael Falkenstein and the Maier Family, sadly Michael's Mom Heidi passed away early this morning - keep the Spirit in Setzingen Michael, Jennifer Schiele, Leslie, Ida, Martina and all Maier Family & Friends! Sincerely, Jon

#HammondReport

#19december2021

#midi

#MidiAccordion

#hohnermorino

#jazzkeller

#podcast

#frankfurt

#sennheiser

#jazz

#blues

#JonHammond

#byebyenow

Addeddate

 2021-12-19 22:26:34

Identifier

 hammond-report-december-19-2021-from-pandemic-quarantino-jon-hammond 

Photo by Daniel Leventhal Photography circa 1970 #Dleventhalphotography

Jon wearing his custom 10 button 

North Beach Leathers jacket

Hammond Report, 19 December 2021, podcast, Frankfurt, midi accordion, fisarmonica, akkordeon, jazz, blues, Stories, Jon Hammond, bye bye now 

Hammond Report, 19 December 2021, podcast, Frankfurt, midi accordion, fisarmonica, akkordeon, jazz, blues, Stories, Jon Hammond, bye bye now

[diyeipetea]

INSTANTZZ: Agustí Fernández-Don Malfon; Daniel Graziadiel; Maasl Maier-Diego Caicedo-Agustí Martínez- Avelino Saavedra & Jordina Millà-Axel Dörner (MMI -Music & More Impro-, Nota 79, Barcelona. 2019-10-27) (IV/IV) [Galería fotográfica]

INSTANTZZ: Agustí Fernández-Don Malfon; Daniel Graziadiel; Maasl Maier-Diego Caicedo-Agustí Martínez- Avelino Saavedra & Jordina Millà-Axel Dörner (MMI -Music & More Impro-, Nota 79, Barcelona. 2019-10-27) (IV/IV) [Galería fotográfica]

Por Joan Cortès.

Fecha: Domingo, 27 de octubre de 2019

Lugar: Nota 79 (Barcelona)

Grupos: Agustí Fernández-Don Malfon Agustí Fernández, piano Don Malfon, saxo alto y barítono Daniel Graziadiel Daniel Graziadiel, poesía Maasl Maier- Diego Caicedo- Agustí Martínez- Avelino Saavedra Maasl Maier, bajo i electrónica Diego Caicedo, guitarra Agustí Martínez, saxo alto Avelino Saavedra, batería Jordina…

[helmar-weiss]

🎬 Die fünfte The Pocket Brothers Session ist im Kasten! 🎬

@jaymfunkneosoul

Heute haben wir die fünfte The Pocket Brothers Session im Vinyl in Regensburg gefilmt.

Vielen Dank an das Vinyl-Team für die Unterstützung und die tolle Location! @vinylbarrgbg@captain_g_vinyl

Für diese Aufnahme hatten wir fantastische Gäste dabei: Theresa Thompson am Gesang 🎤 @tmt21082020, Daniel Maier @danionthekeys und Roman Wirthl @romanwirthl an den Keyboards 🎹, sowie Hans Meier an der Gitarre 🎸.

Mit ihrer Unterstützung konnten wir die Session musikalisch erweitern und einige besondere Momente einfangen.

Die neuen Videos gibt es schon bald hier zu sehen – seid gespannt!

#ThePocketBrothers#Session5#VinylRegensburg#TheresaThompson#DanielMaier#RomanWirthl#HansMeier#LiveRecording#NewMusicComingSoon#JayM#bass#helmarweiß#Drums#funk#Groove

[thesinglesjukebox]

HAIM - NOW I'M IN IT

[7.54]

Hard times...

Ian Mathers: Sometimes adulthood feels like the process of realizing you've been "trying to find [your] way back for a minute" for years now. Part of that is that you can never get back (to fewer responsibilities, a younger body, a less complicated life) and part of that is that you don't need to because you've grown in ways you didn't expect or notice and part of that is just that feeling like you're in it is just the condition of being an adult (at least here and now). Of course, Danielle Haim has said the song is about depression. I'm not the only person I know for whom adulthood and depression seem inextricable. [8]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Like grey clouds drifting slowly overhead, depression can manifest itself gradually. You may not even notice it happening. That is, until it's too big to ignore: suddenly, there's an underlying sadness that keeps popping up, and you're too anxious to reach out to others, too unhappy to look in the mirror, too tired to leave your apartment. You're just in it. "Now I'm In It" perfectly captures the moment you realize this -- and while so many songs that discuss mental health can seem condescending or sloganeering, the introspection that Haim does here is genuinely powerful. This is art about depression without wallowing, set to an undulating guitar rift that recalls the strength of "Dancing on My Own." At face value, "Damn I'm in it/ And I've been tryna find my way back for a minute" sounds so simple as to be mundane, but to me, it feels like liberation that can only come from being honest with yourself. Every time I hear it, it feels like air in my lungs, sunshine on my skin. There's a moment during the music video (at 3:20) when, after making it through a shit day, Danielle Haim musters the energy to go out with her sisters. As they cross the street, drums beat triumphantly and a sample of what sounds like cheering plays -- and then, inexplicably, she breaks the fourth wall, shooting a glance directly into the camera, almost like she's looking directly at her depression and giving it the side eye. I have yet to give a 10 since starting to write for TSJ, but that moment alone merits my first one. [10]

Michael Hong: Perhaps the best shot of the music video is the one in which Danielle Haim goes through a car wash, but the most emblematic is likely the penultimate one, where she downs a shot, grimaces and takes one breath. The song is its "before image," a tightly wound version of Danielle Haim over a tense guitar that feels synthetic as it pulses across the track. As it progresses, Danielle loosens up and regains some of that confidence symbolic of Haim. The instrumental also gradually shifts, focusing more attention on other more organic elements. The piano line on the bridge allows her to take stock of her surroundings, backed in harmony by her sisters, but it's those drums on the last chorus that deliver the track's final moment of catharsis. Like depression, that guitar vamp remains, but Haim push it to the background, mostly stopping it from overpowering themselves. It's Danielle Haim, defiantly rejecting depression and taking back control for what feels like that penultimate shot -- the ability to finally breathe after a particularly difficult episode. [8]

Isabel Cole: If it hadn't been for Danielle Haim's Instagram post, I probably wouldn't have known to read this as a song about mental health. But once I saw that it made an immediate intuitive sense: the anxious thrumming that won't relent even as the melody opens up in the chorus, stumbling-fast lyrics sketching a harried picture of isolation, an atmosphere of panic and dread like pacing restlessly in a room you can't make yourself leave. The sigh of regret in the bridge, the dawning realization that you can no longer deny. I've spent a lot of hours looking for something I knew I wouldn't find in mirrors, too. Haim build a gorgeous encasement for the sentiment, lush and textured and perfect, actually, for listening to on repeat on a long walk taken trying to get a little further back to yourself; I particularly love the moment the second verse starts and everything deepens and opens at once. Would love this even if I weren't spiritually obligated to give at least a [7] to any song that closes by layering one of its parts over the other. [9]

Alfred Soto: Whenever they use a skittering rhythm track that forces them into breathlessness, I swoon, but then I liked but then Something to Tell You more than most. The ghost of "I Love You Always Forever" haunts -- will Haim's next album study their idea of '90s-ness? [7]

Will Adams: Haim, always ones to wear their references on their sleeves, take their soft-rock aesthetic to the extreme by synthesizing "I Want You" and "I Love You Always Forever." Those choices alone make "Now I'm In It" great, but Danielle using her signature patter to evoke racing thoughts is the cherry on top. The verse barges in by the second chorus, words tumbling over each other resulting in sensory overload. And then, finally, gloriously, the bridge arrives, when everything falls away and a moment of clarity is reached. The ensuing chorus is the same as it was, but now it feels assured, confident amidst the chaos. "Now I'm In It" is a song about going through it that goes through it. [8]

Tobi Tella: The frantic, almost falling-on-top-of-each-other speed of the lyrics is the real secret of the song -- it puts the listener on edge from minute one. I wish it built to more in certain ways, but I think the tension with such little release feels deliberate -- I feel like I'm still in it too. [7]

Kylo Nocom: Never trust a man who will gleefully scrutinize a Haim track's influences as a marker of unoriginality and yet ignore any accusation you throw at LCD Soundsystem. "Now I'm In It" bubbles, springs, and thrusts forward until the sisters reach a bridge that would make Vampire Weekend circa Modern Vampires proud. [8]

Oliver Maier: Rostam and Rechtshaid's production team-up unsurprisingly results in shades of the bleary, melancholic sound of Modern Vampires of the City, notably in the bluesy piano, ambient noise and thudding drums that filter in after the second chorus. That moment also happens to be the point at which Haim often run out of ideas (even in their best songs) and resort to padding out the remainder of the track with repetition upon repetition to the point of indulgence. Here they're more economical, more conscientious of the song's arc, and the final chorus feels earned rather than copy-pasted as a result. A shame that said chorus is not quite as catchy as they're capable of, though "I can hear it/But I can't feel it" is as succinct and lovely a lyric about depression as has ever been penned. [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: "Now I'm In It" turns the corner well-- that slowdown after the two-minute mark, when the piano and harmonies come in and the fervent pulse of the rhythm guitar stills a little, is genuine catharsis. But the rest, both before and after, feels nervy and formless. Danielle remains a great pop vocalist, but the words she sings are sketches and the beat below it sounds like something Katy Perry and Zedd would've thrown out earlier this year. [5]

Thomas Inskeep: The song throbs and thrums, yet the Haim sisters just sound bored, and I'm unmoved. Actually, worse than unmoved: I'm annoyed. [3]

William John: While the track motors along behind her, Danielle Haim here breathlessly corkscrews her way through the awful, disenfranchising inertia that most of us are prone to from time to time. When paired with preceding single "Summer Girl", "Now I'm In It" seems to indicate that a central theme of Haim's putative third album will be the power of the collective in providing a fulcrum for those experiencing trauma. Though the lyric sheet suggests the protagonist remains in the widening gyre, the music video powerfully reinforces the notion that help is always available, even when it seems like it isn't. And maybe the gyre remains, but maybe also, with others around to lend a hand, it might stop widening, or even get a bit narrower. Haim have always been about "the sisterhood," in the most literal sense, but the image of Este and Alana, scuttling down a street and carrying Danielle on a stretcher, nursing her through the rut, might be their paradigm illustration of that concept. [9]

Kayla Beardslee: In the past month or two, as I've built up enough reviews to start referencing my past scores as a consistent standard, I've latched onto two regrets over too-low scores. One of those regrets is "Summer Girl": I was initially impressed and gave it an 8, but as the song kept growing on me in the following weeks, I realized I loved it enough to be a 10. The brilliance of Danielle Haim's restrained vocals, the quiet intensity of the lyrics, the sax riff that carries it all along -- it was quickly becoming my favorite Haim track. Well, the good news is that I was wrong: "Summer Girl" is still an 8 or 9. This is a 10. "Now I'm In It" sounds, somehow, both clean and impossibly hazy. The production is mixed clearly, but allows each bouncing bass note and subtle sound effect to shine; in contrast, Danielle's voice, as impressively agile as ever, folds itself into reverb and whispered backing vocals. Even the fuzz of static in the background of the bridge feels like purposefully crafted chaos. The sisters have said that the song is about Danielle's struggle with depression, and the lyrics reinforce that idea of being stuck in a mental fog. Like the bridge of "Summer Girl," the heart of "In It" boils down to a specific moment: in this case, it's when Danielle sings, full of longing, "And the rain keeps coming down along the ceiling/And I can hear it/But I can't feel it." I love that line, not only because it's absent from the first chorus and comes as a total surprise in the second, but because of how well it works as a metaphor on two levels. Being numb to "the rain" can signify detachment from the outside world, but it can also mean refusing to acknowledge your own depression: this track is smart and detailed enough to express both. And yet the music itself is a rejection of the lethargy of depression. With layers of instrumentation being constantly added and dropped, each section of the song is unique, and all of it builds up to that forceful, cathartic final chorus. In a lesser song, this clear sense of musical growth working against the stagnant nature of the lyrics would feel contradictory, but here, it feels instead like an intentional message of hope. Things will change, even in the storm -- and, if "Now I'm In It" is any indication, Haim will only keep getting better. [10]

[Read and comment on The Singles Jukebox]

[thesinglesjukebox]

NIALL HORAN - NICE TO MEET YA

[5.43]

We're not going to go home with you, Niall, but you can buy us a drink.

Vikram Joseph: Allow me to list the ways in which this is profoundly silly -- Niall Horan's strained Alex Turner impression, rhyming "name" with "drink," the fact that it sounds like it belongs on Radio 1's B-list in 1997, Horan's apparent belief that ink is an uncommon tattoo medium, and, obviously, "J'adore la mer!". I think I quite like it. [6]

Edward Okulicz: This shouldn't be a thing, but Niall doing some Robbie Williams-esque Let Me Provide Some Light Entertainment For You stuff is actually pretty catchy. Each part of the song lasts about 15 seconds so it never gets boring, and honestly, I couldn't have told you who was boredly drawling this. It's low key, but there's real movement in the bass too; it has a groove that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the UK charts in about 1990, 1994 or 1998. [7]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Your best friend's younger brother is all grown up now! You remember, the cute but derpy one that always had a massive crush on you, but you'd just pat him on the head and tell him "Nice try"? He was always so boyish looking with the boyband hair cut, but now he's got some unkempt stubble and new haircut. He's picked up an electric guitar and knows a couple pick up lines. He's been around the block a couple times, probably had some one night stands in hotel rooms, and even knows a little bit of French. His voice is deeper. He's discovered tattoos and sunglasses as a signifier of coolness. He consumes alcoholic beverages. So it's too bad then, that after he asks you out for a drink -- and you really want to say yes -- you remember all of a sudden that he'll still never be able to be anything except your best friend's weird younger brother. [5]

Alfred Soto: Come now, my boy, you know you'd never allow an act so savage to your sensibilities as a phone number tattoo -- a line as unconvincing at the background guitar raunch. [4]

Nortey Dowuona: Heavy rock piano slams down on Richard Watterson's hands as Niall's snotty croak is summoning a sledding guitar with paper Bond drums and Daniel Craig bass face are used as a shield from thousands of angry adult Gumball fans who just want meta jokes and a movie, gorshdarned it. [4]

Oliver Maier: Maybe someone tipped him off that "top 3 least interesting 1D expats" isn't much of a selling point but Niall has seen fit to transcend the aggressive beigeness of his last album and bestow upon us this gleefully anachronistic big beat cheesefest. It's incredibly 2000s-feeling, such that the best comparisons I can draw are to Junkie XL's once-inescapable Elvis remix and the colossal self-assuredness of bands like Take That. The lyrics and vocals convey personality inasmuch as they reveal that Niall is the kind of person who thinks faking a Southern drawl and saying "I love the sea" in French is some incredibly suave shit, and unfortunately I find that perversely charming. I can't really substantively defend my enjoyment of this song beyond the "it's just fun!" defence, but like, it is! Especially the middle eight! I look forward to hearing this in a car commercial in a few months and smiling as my thoughts turn briefly to Liam... I mean Niall. [7]

Ian Mathers: At its core this is a perfectly pleasant, unoffensive whiff of a song, studded with plenty of aesthetic and technological choices that soon enough we'll be able to look back at and point to as emblematic of what the state of the middle was in pop in 2019. Just as the narrative doesn't really go anywhere (even the bit that goes "you know what I want/you know what I need" is relying on you filling in the blanks in the most generic way possible) so this is a song that doesn't seem made so much as designed to one day be the back track for a smoothly-shot car commercial. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]