Britney Spears – 3

“3″ announces the return of Blackout Britney; the pop-cyborg ghost-in-the-machine who may once upon a time have been a real girl, but is today a juggernaut of studio wizardry. This could be sexual, but it doesn’t need to be; the point is in its pummel. Britney’s robot-kitten vocal dices, the synths slice, and the handclaps fricassee. Trying to resist this is like bringing fists to a knife fight.
[8]

Jukebox says [6.06]

Vampire Weekend – Horchata

Amongst this band of dapper sophisticates we have writing here at the Jukebox I tend to stand out as a kind of slack-jawed yokel, so it should come as no real surprise that I had to turn to Wikipedia for definitions of “Aranciata,” “Masada” and, indeed, “horchata” (perhaps Australia’s distance from Latin America can excuse the last of these). But the new Vampire Weekend single is more than the cascade of self-aware pseudo-cleverness it masquerades as, and rice-drink ends up having very little to do with anything at all. Rather, Ezra Koenig seduces with highly specific, yet context-free, details that pop up to the song’s surface the way old memories do. “Horchata” intertwines the coziness of reminiscence with the coziness of wintertime warmth, accentuating the plain domesticity of small moments, such as the oddly evocative “look down your glasses at the Aranciata” and the awkward “With lips and teeth to ask how my day went.” “You’d remember,” the singer urges, and, trying to stir the same memories in the song’s object: “Here comes a feeling you thought you’d forgotten.” Then the Afro-pop affectations yield to the swirl of blue blood strings, and Koenig’s voice swells: “You had it, but — oh no — you lost it/Looking back you shouldn’t have fought it,” and it turns out that this collection of fleeting moments and proper nouns is far more emotional than its sense of propriety is willing to allow. 
[8]

Jukebox says [5.79]

Roisin Murphy – Orally Fixated

I can get behind the fidgety synths and skipping rhythms, even if it doesn’t actually develop any momentum; this tune pouts and loiters like a teenager at the mall. And — can you believe? — it does this for four and a half minutes. But Murphy has no presence whatsoever, and her wispy gasping is a handy reminder as to why the words “disco” and “diva” are such a natural combination. If this had been the Basement Jaxx tune it clearly wants to be, that pair would have at least had the good grace to find a guest with a bit of gusto to perform the vocal.
[4]

Jukebox says [6.00]. Wrong.

DJ Khaled ft. Usher, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross and Drake – Fed Up

Drake mentions Lil’ Wayne in the first line of his verse, prompting thoughts of Weezy’s star turn on “We Takin’ Over.” That prior Khaled single had a stunning beat and a line-up of great rappers turning in credible performances. How tepid “Fed Up” is by comparison; a verse from the usually-reliable Young Jeezy that makes no impression whatsoever, a verse from Rick Ross that is a verse from Rick Ross, and way too much Usher, way too many synth-tsunamis and way too little of anything worth caring about.
[2]

Jukebox says [4.10]