Hotspot
by Pet Shop Boys
  • Record Label: X2
  • Release Date: Jan 24, 2020
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
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  1. American Songwriter
    Mar 16, 2020
    80
    Good stuff all around from a band that makes it look easy by keeping true to what got it here in the first place.
  2. Slant Magazine
    Jan 29, 2020
    80
    Hotspot is stuffed with both instantly infectious melodies and lyrics that flaunt the Pet Shop Boys’s fierce intellect. Eternally sly postmodernists Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are at their funniest here, embedding bouncy synths with barbs directed at failing political institutions across the globe (their own kind of hotspot), social hypocrisies, and even themselves.
  3. Uncut
    Jan 27, 2020
    80
    More than witty and vivacious enough to satisfy anyone who's stuck with the saga thus far. [Mar 2020, p.35]
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  5. New Musical Express (NME)
    Jan 24, 2020
    80
    There’s no jolting shock-of-the-new: there’s just reassuringly here, refining what they they do best.
  6. PopMatters
    Jan 24, 2020
    80
    Hotspot, finds the famed duo tackling the modern condition once again with equal parts passion and cheek.
  7. AllMusic
    Jan 24, 2020
    80
    Through it all, Tennant and Lowe feel as confident and progressive as ever, honoring their signature sound while continuing to push it into the future.
  8. Clash Music
    Jan 24, 2020
    80
    With this album they’ve perfected their journey of the last decade of connecting with their musical past while pointing a way towards the future.
  9. The Telegraph (UK)
    Jan 23, 2020
    80
    It is lovely stuff, replete with bucolic images of sheepdogs leathering around autumnal hillsides. As Pet Shop Boys enter their heritage years, they are still taking dance music into unexpected places.
  10. Q Magazine
    Jan 23, 2020
    80
    Hotspot sounds anything but anachronistic and yet, brushing shoulders against, say, the Europop grandeur of Will-O-The-Wisp, the tender intimacies dispensed in Only The Dark or a beautiful existential audit called Burning The Heather, it's also a record on which such classics such as Left To My Own Devices or Rent wouldn't sound especially out of place. [Mar 2020, p.123]
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  11. The Independent (UK)
    Jan 23, 2020
    80
    Hotspot teeters somewhere between their ballad-heavy album Behaviour (1990) and 1988’s shimmering dance record Introspective. ..You sense this album is intended as an expression of hope for the future, rather than a fond look back.
  12. Sputnikmusic
    Jan 27, 2020
    70
    Despite its flaws, Hotspot deserves its place on the upper shelf of Pet Shop Boys’ discography. It’s the most complete journey from this Stuart Price trilogy, although not the most rewarding to be honest (the spot still belongs to Electric). Even so, it’s admirable how the duo manage to be this consistent and have removed all signs of rust lately.
  13. musicOMH.com
    Jan 24, 2020
    70
    There are still more than enough highlights on Hotspot to make the record worthwhile, and when they put their mind to it Tennant and Lowe’s wordsmithery is still as sharp as ever.
  14. Exclaim
    Jan 23, 2020
    70
    There is nothing unexpected on Hotspot, but to trace the contours of the expected with Pet Shop Boys is never without reward, and they're certainly in fine form. Fans will find much to enjoy here, but Hotspot is best viewed as a victory lap.
  15. Paste Magazine
    Jan 23, 2020
    68
    There’s nothing to suggest in Hotspot that Pet Shop Boys are running low on inspiration. The album’s highs are high enough to further prove that the duo has had the most consistent career of any of their synth-pop peers.
  16. Pitchfork
    Jan 30, 2020
    61
    On Hotspot, the best-selling duo in UK pop dampen the euphoria; the result is a tuneful, wan album: a mid-tier effort.
  17. No Ripcord
    Feb 18, 2020
    60
    Their latest, the duo remain steadfast to that commitment with creamy, dancefloor-ready techno (Happy People, Will-o-the-wisp)—joyously documenting the anticipation before a night out.
  18. Rolling Stone
    Feb 3, 2020
    60
    There are moments of pop bliss on the Petties' latest to rival their Eighties hits. [Feb 2020, p.85]
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  19. The Observer (UK)
    Jan 27, 2020
    60
    Despite all the biting character sketches and evergreen dancefloor nous in evidence (both at once on Will O’ the Wisp), Hotspot has its cooler passages.
  20. Mojo
    Jan 23, 2020
    60
    Not Pet Shop Boys in highest definition, Hotspot still provides a vivid panorama of their world. [Mar 2020, p.86]
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 34 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 34
  3. Negative: 2 out of 34
  1. PeteF
    Feb 7, 2020
    4
    Well, sounds like them, but as a record, nothing new.
    I would say that a bad one, really, they could do better.
    After 30 years I would    Well, sounds like them, but as a record, nothing new.
    I would say that a bad one, really, they could do better.

    After 30 years I would expect more of a "lets do it, but better", this sounded like "I have to make something to make money".

    All in all, sounds like from 90´s, but the songs are mainly re-do´s from old ones...

    Just a bit of 90´s, nothing more.    … Full Review »
  2. DanteSGames
    Apr 10, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Its an amazing album, super for me was an good album but the expectative that got for super was huge, and "super" it was a disappointing album, but this, hostpot, 10 songs, all the songs are amazing, some songs are... repetitive and for fill the album, to get the 10 songs to finish the album, will o'the wisp are an increidible start for the album, the next, youre the one its a experimental song, its interesting the mixing of styles in the drums loops, the voice is really amazing, well, in every song its the same thing, happy people was an intent to go back to the old style of pet shop boys, but fails for a little, and its a bit dessesperating song for me, good but fails a bit to get a new direction to the old style, Dreamland its a motherf*cking masterpiece, the piano and the strings in the beginning its so amazing, the voice of olly and the pet shop boys chorus with the amazing vocalist chris are so beautifull to listen closely to them, a bit the best part of the songs are the voices parts, give to the song an air of emotion and you shudder at all your skin when you hear it next to the rest of the song, from the best pet shop boys songs in the last 30 years, hopping for a miracle is an another attempt for replicate the old style of pet shop boys, but in this one, they made it, its a **** and awsome song, the vocoder (well that voice it may be an talk box) but that song has an air to daft punk in some ways. i dont wanna its a great song but a bit innecesary for the album, monkey bussiness is an amazing song, the felling of the song transport to you to the year of 1980, dancing in the raves of that time, only the dark its a bit repetitive and innecesary but that dont quit that this song is really enjoyable, but reppetitive, burning the heater is innecesary and a bit reppetitive but like the last one, this is very enjoyable, like to put this song while you are in a travel in a car, wedding in berlin its a great close to the album, the sample of the typical song of wedding are so amazing, this is a better version of the weddings songs, its an strange but cool song.

    The final puntuation: Will o'the Wisp (8.7), You're The One (7), Happy People (5), Dreamland (9.6), Hopping For a Miracle (9.3), I Don't Wanna (6.6), Monkey Bussiness (8.5), Only The Dark (8.2) Burning The Heater (7.2), Wedding In Berlin (7.7). = 7.78 = (8.0)

    An Open Mind its an side b song for dreamland and curiously is better than some songs of the album lol.    … Full Review »
  3. sparkynolan
    May 12, 2020
    4
    I was disappointed by Hotspot by contrast to the previous two albums produced by Stuart Price, which marked a wonderful renaissance for PetI was disappointed by Hotspot by contrast to the previous two albums produced by Stuart Price, which marked a wonderful renaissance for Pet Shop Boys with 2013’s ‘Electric’ and then 2016’s ‘Super.’ Many people whinge about Super but it’s a pop dance album, through and through. It’s more consistent than Electric, although it doesn’t reach the dizzy heights of Electric. However ‘Hotspot’ just feels thrown together. ‘ Will-o- the Wisp’ gets things off to a good start and “Hoping for. Miracle” is probably the best ballad in ten years but “Wedding in Berlin” is just insulting.… Full Review »
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