Tim: I’d never seen the video for Shanks & Bigfoot’s Sweet Like Chocolate until now, and it really is quite something. Anyway, that’s not why we’re here, we’re here for Steve Aoki’s new one, where he’s teamed up with the frequently reliable Icona Pop.
Tom: Well, that’s an interesting teamup: they’re both known for being Loud and Interesting.
Tim: And, yep, that’s very much a Steve Aoki feat. Icona Pop track. Slightly yelly vocals, hefty beat, no real melody in the verse but a decent (if not entirely original) melody in the chorus and breakdown. To be honest, it’s pretty much expected to hear when I pressed play, and that is no bad thing at all, for anyone who likes that sort of thing.
Tom: I’ve said this before, but: if you’re going to base your entire chorus on one repetitive melody line, then you’d better make sure it’s brilliant, and couldn’t possibly grate on the audience. I don’t think they’ve pulled it off here. Or at least, they haven’t for me.
Tim: Incidentally, both this and his last one with Backstreet Boys have an enormous number of writers – credited here we’ve got him, both of Icona Pop, Sigala, her off SHY Martin, and four other less recognisable names – and yet no-one thought to say “hang on, I recognise that melody”.
Tom: I do hear Shanks & Bigfoot in there now you point it out, but I’m also not convinced that it’s an original enough melody to even justify copyright: it’s more like something a small child would pick out on a piano.
Which, now I think of it, is just a different indictment of the songwriting. Ah well.