Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 11/13/2012 at 9:10 AM Reviews

The Popdust Files: Afrojack, have some fun, Pitbull, the wanted

You don’t often see boy bands listed as featured performers, because it’s kind of an awkward proposition—one guest verse or chorus isn’t usually enough to squeeze in individual contributions from all five members, and hearing them all singing at once can be kind of jarring in limited doses. So, as Oh No They Didn’t! points out, Pitbull featuring The Wanted should really probably read as Pitbull featuring Max George rather than Pitbull featuring The Wanted, as it’s mostly just him on the song’s Sheryl Crow-borrwed chorus (“All I wanna do is have some fun / I got a feeling that I’m not the only one”), with some spare backing vocals.

Still, “The Wanted” will probably sell more Global Warming some more iTunes downloads, so we can’t really hate on Pitbull for the stretch. In any event, “Have Some Fun” is fun indeed, though that’s probably more about Pitbull and Afrojack’s contributions than anything from The Wanted, as Pit spits some of his best sleazy come-ons (“That means my tongue is bilingual / Ready to play with that spot where you tingle”), groan-worthy rhymes (“You got it, Bingo / She’s a star, Ringo”) and I don’t even know what you call its (“Some call it pimping / I call it leverage”) over one of Afrojack’s more sparkling synth-pop beats—though there’s still room for a super-grimy breakdown, of course. It has the potential to be one of the most fun pop hits of the end of the year, certainly.

Here’s hoping Pibtull shows up to return the favor as a guest rapper on The Wanted’s next single—that recipe makes a lot more sense to us than doing it the other way around. Plus, those boys could use Uncle Pit to show ‘em around and really teach ‘em how to have a good time.

POPDUST SAYS:
3.5/5