"Can't Rely on You" is a song by English singer
Paloma Faith
Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?,'' was released in 2009 and was certified double platinum in the UK. The album spawned the sing ...
, written by Faith and American singer and producer
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...
. The single, available for purchase from 23 February 2014, serves as the lead single from her third studio album, ''
A Perfect Contradiction
''A Perfect Contradiction'' is the third studio album by English recording artist Paloma Faith, released by Sony Music Entertainment on 10 March 2014. Musically, the album is a pop album, with elements of R&B, jazz, soul, Motown and disco. The a ...
'', which was released in early March.
It has received some radio airplay, and during the last week in January it joined
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
's rotation list on the 'B' list. She also performed it on ''
The Graham Norton Show
''The Graham Norton Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Graham Norton. It was initially broadcast on BBC Two, from 22 February 2007, before moving to BBC One in October 2009. It currently airs on Friday evenings, with Norton s ...
'' on 14 February 2014.
Background
For her third studio album, Faith wanted to produce a more upbeat album, returning to her soul-girl roots. In May 2013, Faith met Pharrell Williams at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
Met Ball in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, when Williams approached Faith singing her song, "
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
". He then took her phone, entered his contact number and told her, "I'm ready to work." The pair went on to later write and record "Can't Rely on You" together in Miami.
Composition
"Can't Rely on You" is a funk-soul track,
featuring looped funk beats and growly vocals. The single was produced by Pharrell Williams and mixes the trademark beats of Williams with the distinctive soulful vocals of Faith, bringing a grooving backdrop to the singer's soulful rebuke.
Critical reception
Critics were quick to draw comparisons to
Robin Thicke
Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 hit single " Blurred Lines", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, h ...
's "
Blurred Lines
"Blurred Lines" is a song by American singer Robin Thicke featuring American rappers T.I. and Pharrell Williams from the former's sixth studio album of the same name (2013). Solely produced by Williams, it was released as the album's lead si ...
", which was also produced by Williams, due to its similar beat.
However, Sam Lansky of ''
Idolator
An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry.
Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books
*''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music
* Idolator (website), an American music blog
* ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...
'' insisted that this was not necessarily a bad thing, instead calling it an "improvement" on "Thicke's sticky falsetto and problematic lyrical content", describing it as "'Blurred Lines' with soulful female vocals, singing better lyrics."
Tim Chipping of ''Holy Moly'' gave a negative review, labelling the song as "a record that sounds like a thing
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
would do (and then leave off the album)", going on to say: "It's impressive and everything. But it's not, you know, got a tune. Or a chorus." Chris DeVille writing for ''
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...
'' was similarly negative, calling it a "post-"Blurred Lines" bluster" and later concluding, "Hopefully he’s saving his good stuff for
Pusha or himself."
Music video
The music video contrasts the retro flavour of the song with lushly
anachronistic
An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...
visuals.
Faith is seen in a variety of guises with several different men, each considered unreliable.
A series of melancholy Italian voice-overs narrate the clips,
the first of which sees Faith lingerie-clad, stroking a bare-chested man in bed with the spoken Italian stating: "Everybody leaves. People come and go. Don’t worry. Love is loss and loss in love. The space that was you will be filled. Your lines will be read by someone else. They just might not sound as good. But when the curtain rises, I’ll be standing there facing the crowd."
The video ends with the words (again, in Italian): "This is just a beginning."
The video won the "Best Colour Grade Award" at the 2014 UKMVA's.
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
External links
Paloma Faith's official website*
{{authority control
2014 singles
Paloma Faith songs
Songs written by Paloma Faith
Songs written by Pharrell Williams
Song recordings produced by Pharrell Williams
RCA Records singles
2014 songs
Funk songs