Tom: Our reader, Isabella, writes in and notes that we never actually covered this, the song of the summer.
Tim: True.
Tom: She likes it, as – evidently – do most of the record-downloading public: “the only criticism I can find for it,” she writes, “is that it’s more of a Pharrell track produced by Daft Punk than a Daft Punk track featuring Pharrell and Nile Rodgers.”
Tom: So, a confession: I disliked it on first listen; it seemed monotonous and not particularly inspired. And then, as it became the soundtrack to everything this summer, it grew on me.
Tim: See, I never even got to the growing on me part of it. I just don’t get it – I find it, well, dull. Their last album, the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, was fantastic (and the remix album even more so), but this is just boring.
Tom: And I find myself agreeing. Because now the glow has faded; the mists of autumn aren’t far away; and I find that it’s started to irritate me again. It doesn’t go anywhere. It doesn’t do anything. It could be two minutes long or ten minutes long, it’s all the bloody same. It’s impeccably produced, incredibly catchy, but I’m just bloody sick of it.
Tim: You’re right – it doesn’t go anywhere at all. The underlying beat – that eight second, four bar loop – just doesn’t change. Throughout the entirety of the song, it’s there. I don’t want to call it cynical, but it’s perfectly mastered to get stuck in your head and never ever leave, and to keep you listening in the subconscious hope that it’ll break out of its minor-key loop and do something interesting.
Tom: Is it possible to review something properly when it’s been burned into your brain?
Tim: There’s an argument that that’s the only time when you should review something – you’ve had time to digest it, tracked your enjoyment of it, can provide a thorough description of your thoughts, as we’ve done. Unfortunately, they’re not positive thoughts.
Tom: PS: Ed Balls.
Tim: Of course.