Aqua – Rookie

“You probably have several questions about Aqua releasing a new track.”

Tim: You probably have several questions about Aqua releasing a new track. The answer to every single one of those is, “YES, so listen to it.”

Tim: Most people think of Aqua, they think of the Aquarium album – Cartton Heores, Barbie Girl, Doctor Jones, that era. They don’t think of the early 2010s Megalomania era, and while it’s a shame, it’s unsurprising – Aqua were never fashionable as a standard pop group, only as purveyors of somewhat novelty singles, so no-one wanted to hear standard pop. Nonetheless, those standard songs were good, very much like this is.

Tom: It’s good, isn’t it? Better than it has any right to be.

Tim: We’ve a decent la-la-la-la-la hook, a nice combination of René’s and Lene’s vocals, which sound much better together than they really ought to, and a bit of rudeness thrown in for the grown-ups.

Tom: I’m not convinced by that la-la-la-la-la: opening a chorus with that always makes me think they’ve run out of ideas. And I’ll admit that first grunt from René surprised me: both vocalists have voices that it takes a while to get used to. But by the end of the track, yep, I was on board with this.

Tim: All in all, this is a great track, and a lot better a one than many groups come back with after a five-year break. No idea if there’s a new album coming out, but here’s hoping.