The Potbelleez - Don't Hold Back

Before we start I’ve got to get something off my chest. This song is titled wrong! Don’t you agree it should be called ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ after the main vocal hook of the song? Ok, now that I’ve got that gripe out of the way, I can begin my assessment.

This song is huge. Massive. It is this year’s ‘Flaunt It’ or ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’, and with production work that features the talents of Sam La More, it should come as no surprise. The song features a typical electro-house bassline, with smatterings of indie thanks to the strummed guitar. There’s the male vocal (Johnny) which is somewhat whiny, and while I find it to be very annoying I’m sure others love it. The use of the tabla (an Indian percussion instrument) in western songs tends to be largely gimmicky, but here it actually works as a subtle background rhythm, panned hard to the left.

The Sam La More mix is very strong, and with Tonite-Only-style production values. It’s incredibly polished and clean, with a sound that many have tried to replicate, yet none have succeeded in ripping off. A quick note about the Malente remix, at first listen it sounded familiar and I thought to myselfl “I’ve heard these drums before”. I was right! A listen to the Aston Shuffle remix of ‘Melon’ confirmed that Malente had sampled the drum patter. I found this to be quite funny.

It’s been a challenge to write this review. It’s hard to think of anything to say, other than ‘this song is big’. It’s not a bad song, very far from it. It’s just that, despite being huge now, it’s likely to quickly fade into obscurity. It’s guaranteed to get everyone on the dancefloor now, but a few months on people will perhaps exit the floor upon hearing it.