Single Review: Example – ‘All The Wrong Places’

You’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d heard Example’s new single All The Wrong Places before. I did. In fact, it took me at least five listens to realize he hadn’t played it when last I saw him live (at Groovin’ the Moo earlier this year). In fact, it was Change the Way You Kiss Me I was thinking of, because this new single is EXACTLY the same. Sort of.

British electro-house artist Example is known for his upbeat dance anthems, starting out with a heavy hip-hop influence on tracks such as Kickstarts, and becoming progressively more EDM throughout recent years. 2011’s dance anthem Change the Way You Kiss Me is arguably his most successful track to date, debuting at number one in the U.K., finishing as the year’s seventeenth biggest seller, and in January 2012 it was nominated for a Brit Award. So I guess Example was on to a good thing.

As great as that song was, that does not mean you can just recycle the idea for you next tracks. All The Wrong Places is a carbon copy. Both songs start out with a lone electronic keyboard before Example joins in with vocals. Both songs build with percussion and electronics joining in along the way before the big drop, when the song descends into sweet, dancefloor chaos. Both songs continue along in the exact same structure until the very end. Sure, there are differences. All The Wrong Places is obviously heavily influenced by the hardcore techno music of the rave era, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Example had drawn inspiration from 90’s dance icons such as The Prodigy. The build is also a lot longer and more intense in All The Wrong Places, as, consequently, is the drop, and Example ditches his usual rapping for singing throughout most of the song, except for an odd bit in which he speaks the lyrics in rhythm, but it’s not rapping.

All The Wrong Places is a pretty good song in its own right, don’t get me wrong, but I just can’t get over how similar it is to Change The Way You Kiss Me. It’s an intense dance song, and it will go off at festivals, which is important seeing as Example has just begun his residency in Ibiza and Mallorca, party capitals of the world. If I’d never heard of Example before, I’d love this track, but he can do better than than a repeat.

Buy Example – ‘All The Wrong Places’ from Amazon

Francesca Tichon

::: covering reviews of the latest music releases on RenownedForSound.com