So then. After the weekend’s quite satisfactory action from Heat 2 of the Eurovision pre-selections in Norway and Iceland, Monday morning dawns and the songs from Heat 3 of both countries are upon us. And unfortunately this Monday morning is looking a little bit duller than last week’s!
This review won’t take long, as out of a total of twelve songs from both countries, we only like a grand total of THREE of them, and even then we have to use the term ‘like’ quite loosely on one of the three. Although of course, it’s unfair to judge the Norwegian songs properly until Wednesday morning, as until then we can only go by the 30 second clips on offer.
NORWAY
You can listen to clips of all seven songs here.
Best of the bunch by far is ‘Haba Haba’ by a delectable looking treat called Stella Mwangi (pictured above). In fact we’re pretty sure that we’re gonna love the full version of the song more than any other song from this year’s Melodi Grand Prix in Norway. It’s an uptempo, happy and catchy number that sounds like a cross between ‘Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)’ by Shakira, ‘Alane’ by Wes, and ‘Yeba’ by Getty Domein from last year’s Melodifestivalen. And we can think that gives a pretty clear picture! AMAZING!
Next best are the boys pictured below, calling themselves Girl Happy. Their song ‘SOS’ is a thumping belter of synth pop/rock. It sounds more like something you’d expect to be performed by a disco diva rather than the guys who look like they’re in a British indie band that have scrubbed up quite well. We’re liking it a lot.
Finally, the only other song rocking our socks is ‘Nothing Remains’ by Susperia. But then we are partial to a bit of Scandinavian Eurovision cod-metal rock. It’s not something we’d listen to all year round of course, but in the context of Melodi Grand Prix and Eurovision, we quite enjoy it, surprisingly enough. Norway offers one of these bands up every year, and they always make the final. And so we can’t see Susperia being any exception.
Out of the rest, we’re only mildly interested in The Blacksheeps as they look like they might have the Hot Mess Factor on stage. But that’s about it.
ICELAND
You can listen to all five songs in full here.
We’ll just say that none of them are to our particular tastes, and leave it at that.
There’s been a fair bit of publicity towards this heat in Iceland, and in Eurovision circles, as one of the artists, Sigurjón Brink, tragically passed away last week. Responding to his family’s wishes, the Icelandic broadcaster RUV have decided to keep his song in the competition, and it will be performed by some of his friends and family this Saturday.
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To end on a positive note, we would like to comment that the aforementioned ‘SOS’ by Girl Happy (below) hasn’t left our head since we played the clip earlier. It’s ridiculously catchy!
