Welcome to The Xtra Files, our series which will give you an insight into what the team at ESCXTRA think of your favourite entries into this year’s contest! Today, we review Sweden.
Now that all the songs have been released, we are able to review each and every one of them. Our honest and brutal reviews will keep you entertained until the rehearsals start on 30 April! We will also each give a score out of 10 for every entry, and create an ESCXTRA leaderboard of the entries!
Today we have reviews of the Swedish entry, ‘Dance You Off’ by Benjamin Ingrosso, from Luke, Nick, Rodrigo, Sami, Tim and Tom. Let’s get started!
The Reviews
Luke
The song is good and I really like it….but I don’t know what else to say about it – it’s of a perfectly good standard, but pretty nondescript. I think Benjamin and his team know this though, thus the big and amazing stage show. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Sweden won on that alone, especially when this year’s stage has no LEDS.
Nick
Being a complaining fan is not my thing, so I’ll apologise in advance. This song has nothing going for it, except for a couple of light bars on a stage. Benjamin’s talent is hardly detectable with the enormous backing track. This song is a complete collection of all cliches Melodifestivalen has lately: A young boy with more stage than song. There is no chorus and as a song, on radio or on a playlist, it passes me by unnoticed. Way too formulaic.
Rodrigo
When I heard the first clip of this I thought “this sounds interesting”. When I saw the Mello performance I thought, “game over, we’re going to Sweden again”. That was until Norway and Israel were like “hold my beer”. Still, I think this is one of the strongest contenders to win the 2018 edition, as it’s radio friendly and, as is usual with Sweden, impeccably staged. It has the potential of being the next rare Eurovision entry that goes on to become a hit outside of the Euroverse, and I for one would love for that to happen (if nothing else because I’m starging to get sick of certain type of fan who now thinks that bashing everything Swedish is cool, or whatever). From me, Grattis Sverige, tolv poäng!
Sami
Benjamin Ingrosso was never my favourite to win Melodifestivalen this year, but I don’t mind him representing Sweden. The song isn’t really 2018, but the style suits Benjamin. The performance is visually pleasing, but I wish it was a bit more innovative. I mean, Måns was interacting with the LED screen already in 2015.
Tim
If I can just use the fire emoji, I would, this song is so awesome, and it was the right winner out of the 28 competing entries. That lighting is awesome and I like how it blends very well with the song. The staging is memorable and I hope they can bring something like that to Lisbon or maybe surprise us. Hands down a potential winner.
Tom
Never thought I’d like a song from Ingrosso after last year’s Good Lovin’ but here I am loving Dance You Off. It’s typical of almost all of Sweden’s recent entries: modern, accessible and with ready-for-Eurovision staging that looks great on TV. However next year I’d love to see a female Melfest winner with an awesome song that doesn’t rely too much on staging tricks.
Scores
| Dominik | 10 | Nick | 4 | Tim | 9 |
| Hlynur | 6 | Riccardo | 7.5 | Tom | 9 |
| Lisa | 3 | Rigmo | 9 | Vincent | 8.5 |
| Luke | 9 | Rodrigo | 10 | Wiv | 3 |
| Matt | 7 | Ryan | 9 | Yassia | 8.5 |
| Miki | 6 | Sami | 8 | ||
| Nathan | 7.5 | Simon | 3 |
Therefore, the average score for Sweden is 7.21.
Leaderboard
Not a bad score at all, even Felix Sandman would be pleased with us. This means Sweden and Dance You Off make it all the way to 4th place.
- Finland – 7.66
- Bulgaria – 7.63
- France – 7.50
- Sweden – 7.21
- Germany – 6.95
- Ukraine – 6.92
- Austria – 6.79
- Australia – 6.76
- Lithuania – 6.50
- Italy – 6.39
- Latvia – 5.61
- Albania – 5.50
- Serbia – 5.05
- Belarus – 4.97
- Moldova – 4.92
- Romania – 4.73
- Montenegro – 4.71
- Armenia – 4.29
- Georgia – 4.18
- Iceland – 4.18
- San Marino – 4.03
Tomorrow, it will be the turn of Azerbaijan to be reviewed.
Do you agree with our reviews of Sweden? What are your thoughts on Dance You Off?
Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA!
