It's fair to say that 'Closer' is the biggest song on the planet right now. It's spent 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and it's still there as I write this, with no signs of slowing down. So does it deserve to be in that position?
Nope. The song's bland minimalist verses are filled with finger clicks that were prominent in the Chainsmokers big hit 'Roses' - which was a lot better than 'Closer', but anyway - and with the voice of Andrew Taggart, who's one half of the Chainsmokers. His voice lacks any kind of charisma or energy and I would be incredibly surprised if it hasn't been autotuned. Halsey handles the other verses and manages to match Taggart with her energy-sucking performance. This is far from the worst thing Halsey's done *Cough*New Americana*Cough*, but that just highlights how little good material she's been involved with.
My biggest problem with the song is the drop. In general I don't like the concept of the drop, but it can still be done brilliantly - SeeB's massive remix of Mike Posner's 'I took a pill in Ibiza' for example - but 'Closer' has a drop worse than most. For one thing it's exactly the same as a piano riff from the Fray's timeless 2005 hit 'Over my Head (Cable Car)', so similar that the Chainsmokers later credited the Fray as songwriters on 'Closer'. The synth used in the drop sounds brittle and cheap, and with no other instrumentation backing it up it sounds pretty awful.
To be honest I'm not even sure why this song is as big as it is. It's more boring than cringingly terrible, which makes it another tired, generic and generally uninteresting number one single of 2016.
3/10
Closer more like get me further away whenever this song is played hahaha
ReplyDelete