Last night the Wiwi Jury—our in-house panel of music unprofessionals—headed to Oslo to review “I Feed You My Love”. Did Margaret Berger’s Eurovision 2013 song leave us hungry for more? Or did we end up vomiting her love right back in her face? Read on to find out…
Bogdan: It was love at first listen and love at first sight. It really doesn’t get any better than this. The song is gorgeous, the lyrics are meaningful, the show is flawless, Miss Berger is a looker. Compared to other entries this year, Margaret’s MGP performance looks and sounds like it’s from the future. This is what we have been waiting for after Loreen raised the bar with “Euphoria” last year. I wouldn’t say that Margaret jumps the bar, but she is definitely working it and she should win!
Score: 10/10
HK Dick: A totally modern pop song should send Norway back into the top 10 this year. This will be great in the stadium but I worry how it will come across on TV. Her strong vocals soar over the electro-pop track and I see myself swirling in a sea of mist. This would make a great Kylie track – and that’s not a bad thing!
Score: 9/10
Mr Häggkvist: There is one gigantic truth about Norway in Eurovision… most of the time they make horrible choices. After a couple of fails they wow us. This is one of the greatest choices Norway has ever made. They aren’t following music standarts or trends… and let me tell you something, Margaret is a great “ARTIST”. These lyrics are amazing. What a powerful and strong song!
Score: 8/10
Vebooboo: First of all, let me just say how bitter I am that Adelen won’t be on stage in Malmö. Her song, although not sung well live, has all the ingredients of a Euroclub classic. Bitterness aside, Margaret is going to work it out in Malmö. Her song is original and in a genre of its own, meaning it will naturally stand out in viewers’ minds when deciding where to throw their hard earned cash in voting. Add to that the fact that Margaret has stage presence and a killer voice, and we’ve got a solid chance for a Top 5 finish. My Scandinavian peeps have been representing like no other these past years (sorry, Stella), and Margaret belongs in this same league. If she doesn’t finish Top 10 Ima start beating on someone else’s bombo.
Score: 8/10
Deban: The ESC needs more left-field entries. Enter Norway’s Margaret Berger. She’s no stranger to the pop industry, and she’s where she is today career-wise, as a result of a few wildcards in her favour. Will this song take her into the final? It’s hard to tell. I Feed You My Love is a good song, but one that only truly appreciates on low volume and after several listens. The protagonist elevates it with her confident delivery, and beauty queen aesthetics. However, I wasn’t instantly wowed by it. Music experts will warm towards it, but the key to its success with the voting public, would rely heavily on how it’s staged in Malmö.
Score: 6/10
Alexander: I’m in the small camp (along with Wiwi!) that felt Adelen with “Bombo” should have won the Melodi Grand Prix instead of Margaret Berger. I also have to say that I’m quite surprised how many people absolutely love this song. For me, it’s just above-average. Sure, it has an interesting modern (or post-modern) vibe to it, but it also feels pretty shallow and flat. The lyrics are weaker than I would have expected, but Margaret performs very well, and I do like the background music.
Score: 5.5/10
Wiwi: This June, after I add all of this year’s Eurovision songs to my iPod, I will skip “I Feed You My Love”. It just does nothing for me. The electro sound leaves me wondering what Margaret’s voice really sounds like, and the song as a whole leaves me feeling empty afterwards (as with Compact Disco’s electronic offering last year). I don’t like the tempo either. The whole time I’m just like, “Can we please get on with this?” That said, Margaret commands the stage and knows how to work a mermaid gown. I give the song nil points, but I suspect Europe will give her a lot more.
Score: 4/10
Wiwi Jury Verdict: 7.21/10
Wiwi Jury Final Ranking: #7 out of 39 contestants
You can see the latest reviews and standings on the Wiwi Jury page. You can also listen to all 39 entries on our contestants page.
Liked this a LOT. Stunning to look at it, her vocals have the hint of the atmospheric tremor of Ellie Goulding, but with more power and anthemic force. For me it would have been more powerful if she had remained static throughout – the movement cheapened it a little for me. Stonking effort.
Me likey.
Progressive song choice but I worry Malmo didn’t sign up for the love diet.
Wow – brought out the goose pimples. Elegantly delivered, accomplished singer, mesmerizing stage production. Couldn’t make too much sense of the lyrics though, maybe that’s not so important in ESC.
@Metze : Thank you for seeing how contradictory this “critique” is !!
FMY, if she wins do you guys start looking for another job? 🙂 Last year you gave 5/10 to Azerbaijan’s Sabina Babayeva. It came out 4th & I actually heard it just the other day on a Greek radio station so I’m guessing it was quite memorable 🙂
Sirkus Eliassen was more fun – I wanted to see the Donnie Darko bunnies on stage in Malmo!
Berger’s song got stuck in my head recently for a while, so it is one catchy little track. That being said, she’s a great singer, and the instrumental is great, but the two don’t completely match. Her voice is a bit too light and sweet to really nail down the dark feel of the song for me.
If we are going to do the Bombo vs Feed you my love thing – I was very much happy with either. I didn’t have a side because I appreciate both for what they were. I feed you my love is not a Eurovision winner as we know it now, but there may be something in the performance next month to change that. I hope that Margaret does well for Norway, because it is a decent song compared to some of the other clutter in the field.
It took me a few listens, but now I love this song – although it’s not something I usually listen to. (But then there are usually not more than 2 or 3 songs in a whole ESC of the sort I usually listen to.) The thing is: I don’t think Europe will rate this as much as many fans seem to. It’s too special/different, it’s too dark, and it just takes some time, which it won’t be given. I do believe it will make the final and I’ll vote for it, but I’d be surprised to see Norway finishing in… Read more »
Wow. I love this. And I loved it from the first time I heard it, which was in the final of MGP. I’m in some kinda trance or so when I listen to it. This should win!
@henrique @Metze “I Feed You My Love” IS shallow and flat from a music theory/composition perspective. You can love the vibe it gives off, the lyrics, the musical arrangement, Margaret, the “mature depth”, etc. But it’s not a deep song if you actually look at its composition.
(Note: In songwriting, “composition” refers solely to melody and harmony. What makes it seem complex is its musical arrangement/production, which is something different.)
From a composer’s perspective, it is harder to write a song with a catchy melody like “Bombo” than it is to write “I Feed You My Love”.
This song is certainly a serious Eurovision title contender this year, and has the commercial appeal to become a chart hit single.
Even The Guardian’s Michael Cragg mentioned this in one of his articles last month:
“Her song, I Feed You My Love, is spectacular – all big farting synths and dark lyrics like, “You put a knife against my back and you dare me to face the attack”. Jade Ewen this ain’t.”
I have completely surrendered myself to Margaret Berger. She is so wonderful and charismatic, that she won me over at the first run of IFYML.
Her flawless performance echoes of epicness, like the lyrics of the song.
I desire for her an overwhelming victory in Malmö, like the one that crowned her Queen of MGP in Oslo.
Don’t think I have consciously listened to the song the whole way through. I think Ms Berger looks stunning… Totally… WOW and seems pitch perfect. A quality artist who I want to totally succeed. However the song to me is a little dull and I’m not so interested. I would be happy of she won as I appriciate the work.
LOL at the guy who calls “I Feed You My Love” “shallow and flat”, and then says he prefers Bombo!
I love it – have since I heard it. Its still my favorite – hope it wins!
I also enjoy Adelen’s Bombo very much, it’s happy, breezy and fresh and catchy in a very nice way but frankly, how ridiculous is it to favour it over Margaret’s great song and performance? It’s not something an adult person should like to be caught thinking about, let alone writing it down.
Well i love the song. It will do well if the juries love it. Everything is good abt the performance and the lyrics have such a different and unique approach. Well some ppl hate it and some love it. Its my #1 this year!!!! Sadly, i think emmelie will win because shes consistently on top. I love the song but it is not special enough
This song is BORING. So it is, in fact, a 3-minute nothing like Compact Disco.
Again with this “Bombo” thing!? Every time I post a comments it’s to remind people that ESC is not “Europe’s next Rebecca Black!” We all have fun with these trashy songs of course, the ESC wouldn’t be the same without them, but that doesn’t mean we genuinely LIKE them. And if we do like them we used to at least hide it 😀 I think it’s great that this festival starts favouring songs with a message, better quality, good honest performers especially women with a personality and stance on social issues not but & boobies (aka not “Marry me, I’m… Read more »
Um, Compact Disco was a 3-minute nothing, unlike Marge here.
I really grown to like the song, and for me, it should be much closer to Denmark that it actually is.
I predict she will place around Maria Haukaas Storeng’s placing (range 3rd to 7th) Now, will she climb to Alexander’s place? I don’t mind if she does, she has one of the better songs this year.