Rixton - Me and My Broken Heart Single Review

There's a new boyband on the UK pop scene who have somehow managed to storm single charts with their debut release, 'Me and My Broken Heart'. They are Rixton, featuring singer Jake Roche - the son of Coleen Nolan and Shane Richie - and despite the unsurprising chart success, one can't help but feel this is definitely one of those 'who you know not what you know' sort of deals. It's not surprising, either, to learn that this is the latest act under Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun and, thus, is another crass attempt at cloning the likes of One Direction and The Wanted.

The song begins with minimal piano accompanied by an immediately jarring shrill nasal vocal, crooning some predictably unimaginative lyrics: 'All I need's a little love in my life/ All I need's a little love in the dark'. It's not just the words that are generic from start to finish, but the melody seems to be made up of short segments of the catchiest pop tunes of the last couple of decades. Even in the first 10 seconds, I'm sure I heard something that vaguely resembled Dido's 'Thank You'.

Things do take an unexpected turn, however, when the soft guitar line and steady drum rhythm kick in with a funky, almost Motown beat. It's a small relief when you've managed to convince yourself that they're some weird 90s throwback with better hair, but even despite the cool, breathiness of Roche's voice as it settles down for the verse, there's no escaping that dated boyband twang.

The one good thing about the entire track is that the instrumentation feels raw and unrefined (at least more so than a lot of overly mastered twaddle that finds it's way into the mainstream far too often these days) and it is indeed thoroughly catchy. However, one man's 'catchiness' is another man's annoyance so if you can bear the narcotically heavy repetition throughout and the generous scattering of 'yeah's and 'whoa oh's etc., then by all means knock yourself out with it.

2/5

Holly Williams