Tom: Let me guess: this isn’t an England United cover?
Tim: Got sent this a couple of days back, by a Swedish DJ and producer who’s known to friends and family as Johnny Bergström and to the rest of us as, erm, Shady Moves. Here’s his first original release, after a good few years of doing rather decent remixes.
Tim: And despite having a stage name that sounds like he’s Jay off The Inbetweeners getting into DJing purely to seem cool and impress the girls, it’s actually pretty good.
Tom: Harsh, but not unfair. The pre-chorus reminds me a lot of late-90s and early-2000s guitar-pop — and then it goes into a modern instrumental chorus as well. You’re right: for a debut release from someone who’s not a big star, this is better than it has any right to be.
Tim: The vocal (it’s not specified whose) is entirely acceptable, the piano is present and playing the correct notes, and getting suitably loud at the right points, and most importantly of all it’s got those swooshy noises at the right intervals to indicate when we’re meant to get excited.
It may sound here like I’m being a bit glib, but actually, yes, that’s exactly what I’m being.
Tom: This is a rare moment: when I like a song more than you! Admittedly, even at three minutes, it outstays its welcome a bit — but it’s not actually doing anything wrong. This is a solid “plays over the golden buzzer slow-mo on Britain’s Got Talent” track.
Tim: Nonetheless, it’s still very listenable and danceable, even if it is completely by the numbers. They’re good numbers, after all.