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Reviews: Alex Gardner - Feeling Fine
Posted at 7:15 PM, 08 August 2010 -


Last update: Sep 13

‘Feeling Fine’ hears the Scottish lad skilfully manoeuvre around the verses in a falsetto, recalling the tenderness of his ballad ‘There Goes My Heart’. Much like my impressions of Girls Aloud‘s ‘Crocodile Tears’, ‘Feeling Fine’ didn’t strike me as a potential until I woke up one morning with its chorus ringing in my head. Ta-dah! We have another slow-revealing Xenomania pop gem at hand. Feed Limmy

‘Feeling Fine’ is a heady blend of electronica, R’n’B and dancefloor flavours wrapped up in a perfect pop package and showcases Alex’s accomplished, soul-packed vocal, which impressively swoops up to giddy falsetto heights. Female First

“Feeling Fine” follows the lead of “I’m not Mad” as another top Xenomania tune. Granted, I have no idea what the hell he’s saying on the Ke$ha-fied chorus, but I know that I like it. No, scratch that – I love it.
Naturally, Alex’s voice is built for acoustic rock and blue-eyed soul, so hearing his raspy vocals against the sleek backdrop of Xenomania’s perfect productions completely adds new dimensions to tunes that may have sounded a lot more standard in the hands of somebody else. The Prophet Blog

"Feeling Fine" is a great synthpop song, slightly weaker then "I'm Not Mad", but maybe a bit more radiofriendly. ForeverMusick

I was one of those people complaining about the auto-tuning that makes the words in the chorus of Alex Gardner's new single "Feeling Fine" incomprehensible. The highly processed sound was a sudden shift from the "Xenomania does singer-songwriter with some synths" of before and hid what many saw as Alex's main asset, his soulful voice. Don't summer singles largely live and die on the ability of a group of people to sing along with them? It's impossible to do that here (...)  But in the end, you can't even blame the great quicktalking middle eight for your newly developed love of the song: that chorus, that darn gibberish-filled robotic chorus, has managed to burrow its way into your brain and, like the sand that a week later seems to have also found its way into every corner of your suitcase, refuses to disappear. Poster Girl

We’re clearly fans of Alex, who has demonstrated that he’s full of blue-eyed soul. But that said, “Feeling Fine” isn’t exactly a great showcase for those vocals.
There’s a sampler containing five of Gardner’s tracks that has been doing the rounds since February, and on it is the sad, sweeping “Heartbreak.” The emotion in his vocals shines through, and Xenomania did a smashing job of creating the right sound bed of melancholy for the tune. Now that would have been a choice for a second single. Idolator

It's hard to tell if Alex's "Feeling Fine" is a jam yet. The vocals on the chorus are a bit too liquid and Auto-Tuned for me to truly love this one right off the bat. Chart Rigger

On first listen you’d be forgiven for thinking a new boyband single was pouring from your speakers, as Alex displays wildly differing vocal styles throughout the the track (including obligatory autotuned sections, of course). We Are Pop Slags

I was a fan of "I'm Not Mad" but I find this a bit disappointing like many. The autotune is so thick on the chorus, I can't understand what he's saying. The problem is, I'm finding the chorus kinda catchy but am singing in my head "I've got a bowl with greatness" as that's what I can make out. Cool Beans

His voice shouldn't be covered up by all of this production. I feel like "I'm Not Mad" was sort of straddling a line but NEW single, "Feeling Fine" crosses into OVERPRODUCED territory, bordering on blatant musical trickery! Auto tune? WHY is that necessary? That being said, when Gardner's voice DOES come through it sounds great. I honestly just think this is a case of a label forcing a singer to sing the wrong genre of music. Music Is My King Size Bed

This is the sound of a brilliant singer smothered in vocoder. You can just hear the contemptuous, cynical record executives saying, "Let's make it more like Drake and Derulo and Cruz!"
Sample chorus lyric: "bleh bubbah feeling finnnnee belueb beebubb ahh promise always blee biee s uinnne inne." The vocoder might - might!- have been cool if used sparingly on the middle eight, but it's the apex of awfulness on every chorus.
(...) It is hard to watch a label falter again and again with an artist who has all the elements for success. XO's Middle Eight

The song selected for his next single, 'Feeling Fine', isn't one we immediately recognised from seeing him live or listening to any of his various sampler CDs.
There is a good reason for it not having been on those sampler CDs - it's shit.
It's a shame really because Gardner's a brilliant live performer with a distinctive voice, some great tunes and a face that doesn't exactly send women running to the hills, but this really isn't the song he needs right now, and we have a feeling that every single person involved with this release probably agrees. Popjustice

  I hate to question the Xenomania gods, but I feel like the new Alex Gardner single, 'Feeling Fine,' is a missed opportunity. They have something unique in him (as I'm Not Mad & Heartbreak proved) but they covered his voice in AutoTune like he's Cheryl Cole. @rantsofadiva

  Even though the song is catchy and he looks insanely gorgeous, I was turned off by the ridiculously over-produced recording with its crazy use of over-the-top effects such as Autotune. I thought it was embarrassing and frankly a little gross, but if you are being produced by the pop powerhouse Xenomania, I guess you have to bow to their whims. There are enough YouTube videos available of him singing live for me to know that this kind of hyper-production, which groups like Girls Aloud rely on (nothing against them, but let's be real) are not only unneeded, but detrimental to someone like Alex Gardner. It just bothered me. Vera's Big Gay Blog

The video is nice but the song is disappointing, especially compared to You See With Me, Heartbreak of Yesterday's News. Plus, his voice has a bit too much autotune here, even though it absolutely doesn't need it. Too bad. It's Pop!


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