Exclusive first listen: Clean Bandit reunite with Anne-Marie on new banger Cry Baby with David Guetta

2016. What a time. What a year! 

Pop fans will remember well that that particular calendar year was capped off with one of the most bonkers moments in recent Official Chart history, when Rockabye by Clean Bandit, Anne-Marie and Sean Paul (!) became that year's Official Christmas Number 1, the first single that wasn't a cover, charity single or X Factor's winner single to do so in 20 years. 

Now, nearly eight years later. Clean Bandit and Anne-Marie are back together where they belong; making an equally bonkers mash-up of classical music and crackling synth pop this time with a little help from dance godfather David Guetta. 

As you may tell from the image above, there's a slight nautical theme going on around the release of Cry Baby, and listening to the song in full for an exclusive First Listen, we can confirm there is more than a little of a sea shanty about the new Clean Bandit tune, as well as the purest melding of their trademark brand of orchestral dance-pop since their last UK Number 1 single, the brilliant Symphony with Zara Larsson.

Much like Rockabye before it (which spun the narrative of a struggling single mother or, as Sean Paul so eloquently put it, "For all the single moms out there! Going through frustration!"), Cry Baby tells the story of a fracturing relationship, although in the ABBA model, the tale of a cheater trying to repent for their ways meets some uplifting production courtesy of Clean Bandit and Guetta.

"Don't want no cry baby at my door, I let him go," Anne-Marie sings on the chorus, the whole song fitting her voice like a glove. "Boy, you've had your chance,
and you can keep on crying, baby."

You tell him, girl!

Front to back, this sounds like a return to the tried-and-tested Clean Bandit formula, the verses of Cry Baby floating on the swells of orchestral violins, before the chorus transitions into the kind of post-chorus drop that we haven't heard since, well, 2016. 

In terms of the music Clean Bandit and Anne-Marie have made previously, in the past few years both acts have made moves to release tracks that have experimented in different areas, like Unhealthy submerging Anne-Marie in a country and western groove. But this is a space that more cleanly recalls Anne-Marie's first Top 10 UK single, Ciao Adios (bop!) and, in  many ways, a reflection of Clean Bandit's ultra-influential breakout hit Rather Be, a UK chart-topper that celebrated a decade since its release this year.

One thing hasn't changed in the decade since Rather Be's release, and that's Clean Bandit know their way around a song like Cry Baby. It carries their distinctive sound and feel, so recogniseable still 10 years after the fact. That's something to celebrate, and Cry Baby handily slots in neatly alongside their hall of fame hits like Real Love, Solo and Symphony.

It's a very welcome back to these former chart-topping acts. Let's set sail and see where it takes them!

Check back later this week for an exclusive interview with Clean Bandit on Cry Baby and their plans for new music on Official Charts.

Cry Baby by Clean Bandit, Anne-Marie and David Guetta drops August 9 via B1 UK/Ministry of Sound.