john-grant-voodoo-doll-singles-going-steady

John Grant – “Voodoo Doll” (Singles Going Steady)

"Voodoo Doll" is an absurdist freak-pop hymn layered with cheesy sci-fi synthesizers, electro bass-pulses, and a thoroughly bizarre romantic sensibility.

Chris Ingalls: Equally twisted and goofy, Grant’s “Voodoo Doll” lays down an infectious retro synth groove with a chorus that sounds like George Clinton meets Beck in Midnite Vultures mode. The humor is odd, but has a comforting simplicity, and funkiness adds another dimension. It’s kind of like a modern, danceable club version of Jonathan Richman, if that makes sense. [7/10]

Emmanuel Elone: “Voodoo Doll” feels like two songs that were sewn into one, and it’s splitting at the seams. The chorus is the best part, with John Grant crooning in his upper register “I made a voodoo doll of you”. The vocal melody is on point, the rhythm is tight, and his energy is at its highest. On the verses, though, everything changes for the worse as Grant switches into some slow-paced singing that leaves me more tired than tense. The two parts aren’t even connected well, as the verse simply explodes into a chorus without warning or transition. With one part being so great and another being so shoddy, everything just averages out in the end. [5/10]

Pryor Stroud: “Voodoo Doll” is an absurdist freak-pop hymn layered with cheesy sci-fi synthesizers, electro bass-pulses, and a thoroughly bizarre romantic sensibility. In theory, this is a song about a couple — one’s infatuation with another, another’s indifference toward one, and all that invariably follows from those sentiments. However, in practice, this is a song about a man and a doll, a much stranger dramatic set-up for a tongue-in-cheek work of psych-funk tragedy. “I made a voodoo doll of you / And I gave it some chicken soup / Did you feel any warmth down deep inside? / Did you feel how your blues went away and died?”, Grant explains in the chorus, but it remains maddeningly vague here whether he’s speaking to his lover or just the doll that stands in for her. [5/10]

Chad Miller: The two sections seem a little bit too distinct, and the big jump between them seems somewhat forced because of it.The parts are decently enjoyable by themselves though, especially the background vocals during the chorus. The verse is okay too, and the alien sounds are a nice addition. [6/10]

SCORE: 5.75