Nick Levine of Digital Spy wrote: "While Danish duo Cutfather & Joe supply a suitably synthy pop-R&B backdrop—complete with singalong chorus—Lott gets down to the nitty-gritty of splitting up. 'I know you can't stay, so I won't be waiting, anticipating for the fall,' she sings, before trotting out that old chestnut about time being a healer. It's a terribly mature approach from one so young, but what else would you expect from a 19-year-old who already has a platinum album, a fashion line and a US film role to her name?"[1] Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog called the song "a perfectly good album track, notable only because at no point in the presentation does Pixie stop singing", but commented that "as a fifth single from an already-successful breakthrough album, it's pointless, and worse, might even allow chart-statisticians such as myself the chance to put together a compelling argument that she's failing, when she could be off recording some new, different, amazing songs and preparing to kill us all with brilliance."[2]
Music video
The music video for "Turn It Up" was directed by Nick Frew and filmed on 16 April 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles.[3][4] It premiered on 6 May 2010.[5][6]
The video is literal of the song's lyrics; it features Lott walking the back streets of Los Angeles whilst singing, before cutting to several different scenes on rooftops of Lott singing and dancing during sunrise and sunset. The theme of the song is how two lovers are trying to hold their relationship together, but it just is not working. After the frustration of it, they decide to end the drama and break up, wishing the best to one another and keeping good memories of their times together.
