Girl Who Got Away - Dido
  • Band Name: Dido
  • Record Label: RCA
  • Release Date: Mar 26, 2013
Girl Who Got Away Image
Metascore
59 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.1 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • Summary: The fourth studio release for the British singer-songwriter was co-produced with her brother Rolo Armstrong and includes contributions from such artists as Brian Eno, Greg Kurstin, Kendrick Lamar, and Rick Nowels.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Mar 29, 2013
    83
    [Dido] carries it with her creamy alto and her sweetly ethereal allure. [5 Apr 2013, p.67]
    All this publication's reviews
  2. All Music Guide
    Mar 25, 2013
    80
    Halfway through, Girl Who Got Away sucks you into its sway, its comforts as alluring as they are elusive.
  3. The New York Times
    Mar 25, 2013
    60
    The electronics are there, however, and they lift the album’s better songs out of the sad-sack zone.
  4. Mojo
    Apr 10, 2013
    60
    Surprises include End Of Night, nicely brutish electro-pop where Dido's automaton vocal really works; funked-up raga/calypso Love To Blame; and Sitting On The Roof Of The World.... Otherwise, Musak coming soon to a changing room near you. [May 2013, p.88]
    All this publication's reviews

See all 12 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. VonSeux
    7
    Not a bad album at all, it's quite above what I would expect from Dido. The album consists of soft lounge with some eletronic beats and catchy vocal melodies. Quite in the same mood from new Lana Del Ray and Cat Power.… Expand
  2. alain
    7
    It is a nice, pleasant, entertaining record that lacks many of the textures of her previous work. The opener, No Freedom, is strong, acoustic Dido which slightly echoes Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry. It is a simple but appealing guitar-based tune on which Dido’s vocals amazingly shine. This acoustic formula may have been more suitable for the title track as the synthesizer making the sound of breaking news at the beginning may take one’s attention away. Lyrics at first seem to lack strength, still when Dido climaxes and says: “I know what it’s like to be passed over...” mixed with those great “whip beats” and a very beautiful string arrangement, one could think: “Wow, this girl really wants to get away!” On Let Us Move On, one can hear the piano setting the scene for an almost broken heart. The melancholy and regret evoked by Dido’s voice over good beats, dark-sounding piano and electronic ornaments creates a great track. While Dido sounds fantastic on the three previous tracks, she sounds dull on Blackbird. Even when the lyrics are poetically beautiful, the voice is exaggeratedly distorted. In her previous work, Brion's cupboard echoed her voice perfectly. However, her vocals on Blackbird sound as if the echo button had gone crazy. Something similar happens when listening to Loveless Hearts. This and the repeated question “Why do I bring you love when all you give me back is pain?...” make one want to go right to the next song. So if Blackbird makes one suffer, relief is found in End of Night. It is a fresh, danceable track which gives the Dido listener 4 minutes of fun. Finally on Sitting on the Roof of the World, Dido amazingly shines again just like she did on No Freedom. A simple, guitar-based, enjoyable, magic song. The first 6 tracks, excluding Blackbird, and the wonderful Day Before We Went to War where Dido does justice to her visual lyric writing proves that she has something appealing to offer while the rest is just pleasant tunes which will probably go with the flow and on which a more acoustic Dido may have done it better.… Expand
  3. Etaipalombo
    6
    I don't know a lot of artists who sounds the same either at the studio and the stage, but I'm sure that Dido is one of them. The new album is ears-pleasing as usual, but suffers from heterogeneity of songs. Some of them sounds great, others you'd rather to fast forward. Dido keeps singing with the same passion as in her earlier releases, she's dedicating herself to every word she sings, but sometimes it seems that the lyrics downgrading her vocal skills. Still, this album is well produced and nice to have in your own discography for late starless nights (5 Songs Per Artist Blog)… Expand
  4. StrawberryBlond
    4
    Dido defines the term "middle of the road." To her credit, she has never given in to pressure to follow current music trends for commercial success and has insisted on releasing albums when she feels ready, but these days, she's really paying for insistence to do things her way. No Angel and Life For Rent gave her amazing sales, although singles sales and positions weren't so hot. But the public can take one big break and one duplicate of the last album. But Dido has kept the same musical style for four albums in a row and has taken big breaks between all four of those albums. The public haven't got time for that. They moved on and her third album barely hit 1 million copies, a stark contrast to her record breaking previous efforts. Unsurprisingly, her latest release has suffered the same fate. Any experimentation she has ever done is only in one or two tracks and anything a bit out there has been relegated to the deluxe edition bonus tracks. Lead single, Let Us Move On really benefited from a guest rap from Kendrick Lamar, bonus track All I See benefited from a guest rap from Pete Miser and the club remix of Everything To Lose turns it into something amazing. Aside from these little acts of experimentation, final track, Day Before We Went To War is a beautiful ballad and the only classic Dido track that wasn't boring. Dido's lack of challenging herself and her years of effort to make an album that sounds the same as the last one makes me wonder how passionate she is about music. She'd better buck up her ideas if she still wants a career after this because if this is the best work that she can produce after a 4 year labour, she'll be forgotten about real soon.… Expand

Current Music Releases

Full List »
  1. Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend
    User Score 8.8
  2. Thr!!!er - !!!
    User Score 8.8
  3. Hokey Fright - The Uncluded
    User Score 8.8
  4. Trouble Will Find Me - The National
    User Score 8.6
  5. The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories - Steven Wilson
    User Score 8.6
  6. Cerulean Salt - Waxahatchee
    User Score 8.6
  7. Pale Green Ghosts - John Grant
    User Score 8.6
  8. New Moon - The Men
    User Score 8.6
  9. Quarter Turns Over a Living Line - Raime
    User Score 8.6
  10. Random Access Memories - Daft Punk
    User Score 8.5
  11. Overgrown - James Blake
    User Score 8.5
  12. True [EP] - Solange
    User Score 8.5
  13. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Deluxe Edition] - Smashing Pumpkins
    User Score 8.5
  14. One of Us Is the Killer - The Dillinger Escape Plan
    User Score 8.5
  15. Nanobots - They Might Be Giants
    User Score 8.5
  16. The Chronicles of Marnia - Marnie Stern
    User Score 8.5
  17. When It Was Now - Atlas Genius
    User Score 8.5
  18. Heza - Generationals
    User Score 8.5
  19. Wolf - Tyler, The Creator
    User Score 8.4
  20. Hummingbird - Local Natives
    User Score 8.4
All Current Music »