The Prettiots – “Move to LA” (Singles Going Steady)

Jasper Bruce: A well-crafted little vignette of acoustic pop, where indie-folk acoustic guitar sound meets the harmonic precision and breathy vocal style of Norah Jones. The abrupt plunge into driving electric guitars at the end of the song recalls Los Angeles veterans Weezer, especially considering that the crisp harmonies of earlier in the track are maintained. This shift, however, seems a little contrived for mine, and I can’t help but think that the change is at least in part meant for comedic effect. Nevertheless, this track is worth its salt for its endearing homage of the City of Angels which is as easygoing and warm as the city itself. [7/10]

Emmanuel Elone: This is a drab song. The singer tries to sound as if she’s emotional and profound, but her lyrics and performance come off as artificial, uncaring and bored. It’s as if she doesn’t care about this song, so there is no real reason why I should either. At the end of the song, the slow instrumentation picks up with a sharp, punk-inspired electric guitar bit, but it’s too little too late from the Prettiots in my opinion. [3/10]

Chad Miller: Chill sounding song with a nice tempo change at the end. Lyrics are somewhat interesting even though LA isn’t meant to rhyme with itself 40 times. The Prettiots do a nice job shaping the mood of the music dependent on the setting. [6/10]

Magdalen Jenne: It’s hard not to get caught up in the twee-ness and #aesthetic of the Prettiots. They take steps in their songwriting to circumvent the pitfalls of being girls with ukuleles, and how cheesy that can be. “Move to L.A.” isn’t the worst song I’ve heard out of twee pop, and the music is actually pretty good, but I get hung up on straightforwardly corny lyrics like “I dreamt you proposed to me in the obituary section / Which makes sense for one who knows how much I love rejection.” I snorted at that, I really did. [5/10]

Morgan Y. Evans: It’s funny when she sings that her friend loves NY but it is time to face the facts. Facts, many of the coolest people are in L.A. but the East Coast has diners, less gridlock and Bad Brains. Another fact however is that this song and video are both lots of fun. [7/10]

The Prettiots‘ debut album Funs Cool is out now on Rough Trade Records.

SCORE: 5.60