Austin Mahone, ‘Banga Banga’ – Song Review

It's a banga!

Austin Mahone's new single 'Banga Banga,' which is expected to appear on his upcoming album, due out in 2014, aims to be all things to all people. It's way more of a hip-hop, urban groove banga than his previous, kinder, gentler songs like 'Say Somethin' and 'What About Love.' He's going the booty bounce route. Mahomies, are you ready?

Listen closely and you'll notice that it sounds a bit like Rihanna's 'Birthday Cake.' Seriously. Ya hear it?

It sounds like a team of producers numbering no less than 15 crafted the song and its beats and then plunked Mahone into the studio vocal booth and told him to just sing. It's busy, processed pop, with a lot of cooks in the 'Banga Banga' kitchen.

That said, it's not trying to be anything but what it is. Cray cray catchy? Yep. Dancefloor accessible? Totes. Authentic? Well, not really, but still.

It's a bouncy, rhythmic track that sounds like Mahone spent a lot more time listening to Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Drake and a lot less time listening to Justin Bieber. Mahone was positioned as The Biebs' heir apparent as the Canadian wunderkind headed towards adulthood and left his teens behind by virtue of his age, but this song is a strong shift in the other direction for Mahone. It's not PG teen pop, but it's not R-rated, either. It's just got more of an edge, one that we were not expecting.

It's equal parts cheesy and supremely addictive. This could be a guilty pleasure hit, thanks to the chorus and its hook about being a "banga banga banga banga." It's one of those tunes where you want to hate it but can't. You might hate yourself for loving it, but it'll latch its hooks into you, that's for damn sure.

Listen to Austin Mahone, 'Banga Banga'