Track Review: Summer Walker, SZA & Cardi B, "No Love (Extended)"
As the Still Over It era continues to chug along, Summer Walker has unleashed an extended version of her emotional detachment anthem "No Love." The SZA-assisted song has been widely loved since its initial teasing before the album's release, and this new version adds none other than Cardi B to take things up a few notches.
The extended version of "No Love" is an immediate disappointment because the song's production remains largely unchanged for the entire runtime when it isn't nearly interesting enough to warrant that. Some kind of structural or musical evolution would have made this track feel a bit more distinguishable from the original. Sure, this isn't technically a remix, but the production feels particularly stagnant here. Cardi focuses on singing for the majority of her contribution to the remix, and it's a choice that ultimately leaves you unenthused. Cardi's singing in the back half of her verse is tolerable, but her singing in the first half is pretty tough to sit through, to say the least. She fits into the dreamy vibe that Summer and SZA utilize throughout the song, but it would have been more interesting to hear her reprise the energy and assertiveness of her spoken word outro on "Bitter" or her verse on "Wild Side." Melodically and lyrically, Cardi's verse simply does not provide the best framework to show off her vocal chops, but her attempt to showcase her versatility deserves some applause.
Maybe this would be less forgettable if Cardi was incorporated (even if it was just an ad-lib or two) throughout the track and not just tacked onto the beginning, never to be heard from again.
Score: 57