Craig David - 'Officially Yours'
My initial reaction on hearing this song was to web-jog across to the Radio 1 playlist to see if he was on there. I have my reasons for this: largely because the first thing I thought about this song was that it sounded just like the sort of track Craig David would've released in his early noughties heyday, when radio would've been all over it. The fact that it seems to have slipped under the radar this time interested me, because I don't think the quality of this song is any lower than that of, say, '7 Days' or 'Walking Away' - but I do suspect that the public mood may have changed a little since then, leaving this less of a pick of the pops than it once might have been.
I'm inclined to say this isn't Craig's fault, since he's just doing what he's always done and doing it well to boot, but there's a reason why the likes of Madonna or Kylie reinvent themselves on a regular basis - if you stand still for too long, the world moves on without you.
Which leaves me in a bit of a bind, to be honest - do I review the actual quality of the song, or do I review it in light of how well I think it fits into the current 'scene'? Because I actually do like this song quite a bit - I rarely use the word "jam" to describe a song because I'm not nearly cool enough to be able to pull that off, but I think on this occasion it's justified - this is a smooth, laid-back jam that's perfect for this time of year with summer just around the corner.
It's leisurely and confident and lazy in the right sense of the word - in no hurry to get anywhere, more concerned with doing it right than doing it swiftly. However, there is something about it that feels kind of dated, like this is the sort of thing I used to listen to back in 2001, which does leave me faintly underwhelmed by the whole experience.
I have my issues with the lyrics, too: I realise that for me to criticise someone else for being a bit longwinded is like Kate Nash criticising someone else for being a twee Mockney, but "I'm officially going on the record to say that I'm in love with you" is possibly the most clinical line I've ever heard in a song that was supposed to be conveying romance. Where's the spontaneity in that? It's so cold and calculated.
So, what to make of it overall? I'm kind of reluctant to give it three stars because that is the ultimate fence-sitter's grade, when you can't bring yourself to feel anything either positive or negative about something, something that does what it intends to do perfectly well but lacks flair of any kind. On the other hand...
Download: Out now
CD Released: June 23rd
(Steve Perkins)
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