13 May 2016
Nils Sjöberg here joins Bernard Webb, Christopher, Ann Orson, and Ron Dunbar & Edythe Wayne in the rank of hit songwriters who were pseudonyms of already-famous acts. While the Harris-Sjöberg writing team may have never, ever got back together for further hits, ‘This Is What You Came For’ at least reunites the chart-topping performers of Ulster-field-frolicking anthem ‘We Found Love’.
So, does ‘This Is What You Came For’ recapture the farmer-bothering magic of ‘We Found Love’? Well, if the magic for you in that older track was how one hook got run into the ground, then ‘This Is What You Came For’ has two hooks it runs into the ground. They’re catchy hooks, in fairness: the title lyric as a chorus, then vocalising where other hits of 2016 used a twiddly electronic instrumental. The production is slightly more spacious than the heretofore Harris sound, without the mahoosive build-and-drop of the EDM era. What doesn’t do Rihanna any favours is how neither of those hooks play to her barnstorming, skyscraping vocal strengths, instead being relatively subdued and subtle. I just can’t shake off the suspicion that this Nils Sjöberg wrote ‘This Is What You Came For’ in a style better suited to a different female superstar. Look what you made her do, Nils.
Now seems like an opportune moment to reveal that I’m not writing this; I’m actually the pseudonym of a completely different writer. The subterfuge and chicanery here is because it was felt that the frenzied fandom surrounding these regular pieces on your historically mediocre music purchases would only distract from the main hustle of my weekly newspaper opinion column on how mortified I am that Ireland refuses to be more like England. It’s me. Hi.
