Louder, Please by Rose Gray

Rose Gray Louder, Please

75
ChoruScore
5 reviews
Jan 17, 2025
Release Date
Polydor Records
Label

Rose Gray's Louder, Please lands as a neon-soaked, club-first statement that stitches UK dance influences and glossy electropop into a compact, euphoric debut. Across five professional reviews the record earned a 75/100 consensus score, and critics consistently point to anthemic hooks and production sheen as its primary attractions - qualities that make it feel immediate, party-ready and often deliciously lightweight rather than monumentally deep.

Professional reviews praise a cluster of standout tracks that define the album's appeal. Critics repeatedly name “Free”, “Party People” and “Wet & Wild” among the best songs on Louder, Please, while “Just Two” and the title cut receive frequent nods for blending underground electronic textures with pop craft. Reviewers note recurring themes - clubland escapism, rave-pop nostalgia, and a tension between experimentation and mainstream polish - and argue that the record's greatest moments marry Gray's bratty charm to tight, dance-floor-ready production.

Views diverge over longevity and depth. Some critics relish the album's hedonistic, celebratory mood and call it essential ear candy for electropop and club-pop fans, while others register mild reservations about a frictionless surface that favors thrills over lasting resonance. Taken together, the critical consensus suggests Louder, Please is worth listening to for its best tracks and its confident reinvention of dance-pop; it may not reframe Gray's career yet, but it firmly stakes her claim in contemporary club culture.

Below, read individual reviews that expand on the record's highs, its stylistic risks and where its party-focused strengths sometimes shortchange emotional depth.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Wet & Wild

4 mentions

"Wet & Wild, all smile-inducing house pianos and breathy, Kylie-esque vocals"
The Guardian
2

Free

5 mentions

"She’s better on tracks like Free, with its mantra-like chorus"
The Guardian
3

Hackney Wick

4 mentions

"Equally atmospheric is the spoken-word Hackney Wick, which charts a night out"
The Guardian
Wet & Wild, all smile-inducing house pianos and breathy, Kylie-esque vocals
T
The Guardian
about "Wet & Wild"
Read full review
4 mentions
76% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Damn

4 mentions
81
02:25
2

Free

5 mentions
100
03:11
3

Wet & Wild

4 mentions
100
03:02
4

Just Two

3 mentions
96
03:22
5

Tectonic

3 mentions
34
03:16
6

Party People

5 mentions
100
03:14
7

Angel Of Satisfaction

4 mentions
93
03:31
8

Switch

3 mentions
21
03:00
9

Hackney Wick

4 mentions
96
03:50
10

First

3 mentions
67
03:08
11

Everything Changes (But I Won't)

4 mentions
15
03:51
12

Louder, Please

4 mentions
90
05:30

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 6 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

Rose Gray's Louder, Please is a gleaming clutch of club-pop pleasures that often trades depth for neon thrills, and the review makes clear the best songs - especially “Wet & Wild”, “Hackney Wick” and the closing title cut - succeed as delirious, disposable bangers rather than community-forming anthems. Anna Gaca writes in a sly, conversational voice that delights in cultural details and sharp similes; she praises the hooks and production but notes the record's frictionless surface. The review points listeners searching for the best tracks on Louder, Please toward “Wet & Wild” for its cheap, glittery thrill, “Hackney Wick” for its shivery beat and narrative, and the title track for its willingness to experiment. Overall the tone is amused and mildly critical - admiring the craftsmanship while insisting these songs work best in a party mood, not as lasting dance classics.

Key Points

  • The best song, “Wet & Wild”, is the album's most delirious, glittery hit with instantly memorable cheap thrills.
  • Louder, Please excels at catchy, well-produced club-pop but lacks depth and a sense of communal feeling.

Themes

club pop hedonism party culture glossy production lightweight experimentation

Critic's Take

Rose Gray's Louder, Please is a sweat-soaked debut that stakes its claim for the best tracks by balancing club experimentation with pop craft. The reviewer singles out “Damn” as an aggressively filtered jungle onslaught and celebrates “Free” for its piercing, mantra-like chorus, making those two the best songs on Louder, Please. Meanwhile “Wet & Wild” and “Party People” supply the hedonistic house pleasures that keep the album buoyant. The record's quieter moments like “Switch” and “Everything Changes (But I Won't)” show Gray looking inward, adding emotional texture to what is otherwise a rapturously club-focused debut.

Key Points

  • The best song is likely "Damn" because it exemplifies Gray's experimental, jungle-inflected edge and sets the album's adventurous tone.
  • The album's core strengths are its blend of club experimentation and pop hooks, balancing hedonistic house pleasures with moments of inward emotion.

Themes

dance-pop reinvention hedonism experimentation vs pop relationships

Critic's Take

Rose Gray sounds like she has finally married lifestyle to music on Louder, Please, and the best songs prove it. The most immediate highlights are “Just Two”, whose loved-up throbbing bounce is called her most addictive track to date, and “Angel Of Satisfaction”, which carries a pulse that could shame even the heaviest basslines. There are club-ready moments in “Free” and “Wet & Wild” that stake the album's claim as a go-to for escapist dance floors, but it is the confident turn in “First” that shows Gray stretching into liquid drum 'n' bass and widening her scope. In short, the best tracks on Louder, Please are those where her underground crackle meets pop hooks, and they make a persuasive case for following her down this rabbit hole.

Key Points

  • “Just Two” is the best song for its addictive, loved-up throbbing bounce and immediate hook.
  • The album's core strengths are marrying underground club textures with pop chorus hooks and stylistic ambition.

Themes

club culture underground electronic rave-pop clubland escapism

Critic's Take

Rose Gray’s Louder, Please reads like a sweaty, euphoric love letter to the club, with tracks such as “Free” and “Party People” standing out as the best songs on Louder, Please. Phillips’s voice vaults between Calvin Harris-style nostalgia and experimental moments, so the best tracks - the anthemic “Free” and the celebratory “Party People” - are where the album’s energy and hooks coalesce. The review’s tone is enthusiastic and warm, praising Gray’s range even as it notes the record’s loose coherence. Overall, the reviewer frames these standout songs as why listeners searching for the best tracks on Louder, Please will find themselves on the dance floor.

Key Points

  • The best song, “Party People”, is the album’s highlight due to its catchy, celebratory energy and timely New Year’s Eve release.
  • Louder, Please’s core strength is its faithful capture of club culture through diverse, nostalgic and experimental production.

Themes

club culture dance floor hedonism nostalgia love and loss sonic eclecticism

Critic's Take

In a peachy, combustible review voice Sydneysmith would relish, Rose Gray's Louder, Please stakes its claim as a peak-time party record: muscular, playful and unapologetic. The review fixes on the album's best tracks as those that trade in bubblegum bravado and club-ready hooks, songs that lean into ballroom, jungle and house textures. For listeners asking "best tracks on Louder, Please" the critic points to its standout moments of confident, meteoric pop, where Gray's bratty charm and seamless euphoria do the heavy lifting. The piece reads like an invitation - equal parts praise and cool appraisal - positioning the album as essential ear candy for electropop fans.

Key Points

  • The best song is best because it crystallizes the album's confident, party-ready electropop identity.
  • The album's core strengths are its seamless blend of ballroom, jungle and house textures and unapologetic pop bravado.

Themes

club pop party-centric attitude electropop UK dance influences