Tom: “Rat City”?
Tim: Yes indeed – he’s the Norwegian producer, Lila’s also off Norway and is the vocalist, and the song has been written by, among several others, them off the still Norwegian Donkeyboy. And the lyrics? They’re English.
Tim: And I was taken by that pretty much as soon as she started singing, and entirely drawn in by that pre-chorus.
Tom: That fake-out at the end of the first verse didn’t encourage me, but once I figured out what it was doing: that’s one of the best builds I’ve heard in a while.
Tim: Then the main chorus hit, and it was still good, and then the post-chorus distorted vocal, and oh, it really is the four years later dubstep, isn’t it?
Tom: Or the 15-years-later Missy Elliot. Unsingable choruses have been around for a while, although they’re not this popular.
Tim: Started out fairly niche, and now it’s absolutely flipping everywhere, and I’m still not sure I like it.
Tom: I’m surprised how quickly I’ve got on board with this: I’m much more interested in the melody, composition and — frankly — how much of a banger it is. (And this is at least somewhere on the banger-scale, even if it’s not that high up.) If the synth patch they’re using also happens to be extracted from the vocals, apparently I don’t mind at all.
Tim: The rest of this is great, mind, no issues at all – stick some brass under it and it could go right back to 2008, or some more drums and head to 2003, or steel drums, or country guitars – but eeesh, just as I thought I was on board, it’s really gonna take a while for me to enjoy it. DARN IT.