C’mon, antlers! The national selection for Norway at Eurovision 2017, Melodi Grand Prix, is vast approaching and recently the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — gathered in Oslo to review the ten acts competing to carry the Norwegian Eurovision torch to Kyiv. Today we turn to Elin & The Woods with “First Step In Faith (Oadjebasvuhtii)”. Is this song Elin & The Woods’ first step to victory? Read on to find out…
Elin & The Woods – “First Step In Faith (Oadjebasvuhtii)”
“First Step in Faith (Oadjebasvuhtii)” reviews
Josh: “First Step in Faith” reeks of traditional Scandinavian realness and I’m taking a big whiff. Taking those traditional elements of the Sami language and combining it with a contemporary tribal instrumental makes this song uplifting, engaging and powerful. This lends itself to excellent staging and could get Norway back in the final in Kyiv.
Score: 8/10
William: Spiritual, sensual, other-worldly — “First Step in Faith” doesn’t fit neatly into any genre. Rooted in traditional sounds, it borrows production elements from today creating a mystifying and somewhat disorientating entry. Live this will either feel like a bad school production of Pocahontas or, if she nails it, like performance art. I’m hoping for the latter as so much works here — especially the intoxicating chants.
Score: 7.5/10
Sami: I never liked joiking and still don’t after this song. The instrumental part is fine, but the song itself isn’t very interesting. I also find the whispering before the chorus very creepy and it’s giving me the bad kind of shivers. The song represents Norway very well and it could be nice to see how this kind of music does in Eurovision, but it wouldn’t get my vote.
Score: 1/10
Bernardo: “First Step in Faith” puts a spell in anyone who dares listen to it. It combines compelling vocals with a mystical and drums driven instrumental — very Eurovision. It brings shades of Middle Earth while being extremely contemporary. Staging can bring the song to life or completely destroy it.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: “First Step in Faith” takes a while to get going, but once it gets going it really delivers. The song is a great combination of traditional Sami sounds with modern styles, and both Elin and The Woods do their bit to bring both elements to the song. But this is going to need really magical staging to work.
Score: 7.5/10
Chris: Incredible. This is the perfect blend of tradition and modern sounds: it’s everything that Jon Henrik would want in Sweden. I fully expect it to crash out in the national final, because…well, it’s probably just not right for Eurovision. I say that in the best possible way, though — this is on a higher plane. Ethereal Sami realness and it slays.
Score: 8.5/10
Florian: While the song seems unique and coverage really eye-catching, the song itself doesn’t do it. Her voice sounds pretty strange and while I can see this doing well live, I wouldn’t listen to it in my free time.
Score: 4.5/10
Jovana: I hope that someone from the crew of the TV series Vikings will hear this song and include it in its soundtrack – it would fit it perfectly! “First Step in Faith” is one of those tracks that can transport you to another place while listening to it; in this case it would be Scandinavian woods and fjords. I will give it extra few points for the use of Sami language, but I will also deduct a few for a tiny lack of originality.
Score: 8/10
Our jury for Melodi Grand Prix 2017 contains 20 jurors, but we only have room for eight reviews. The remaining 12 scores are listed below.
Angus: 7/10
Antranig: 2/10
Cinan: 7/10
Dayana: 7.5/10
Edd: 6.5/10
Forrest: 3.5/10
Jason: 7/10
Jordi: 7/10
Kristin: 7.5/10
Luis: 7/10
Steinunn: 6.5/10
Zakaria: 6.5/10
Before calculating the average score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 1 and a high of 8.5.
Imagine this song winning MGP and Jon Henrik and Aninia winning MF on the same night, to go with Ilinca and Alex yodeling their way to Kyiv this past Sunday.
I hope this wins.
The best entry on offer in the Norwegian pre-selection. Hope it wins!
The verses are kind of okay, but the chorus is awful.
Norway’s selection is so weak this year, that this is probably my favourite.
@Polegend – Yeah, not far. This song is probably the best one in MGP 2017 and Robin’s song is one of the weakest Mello finalists.
There’s no way this got a lower score than Robin Flopsson. How can one possibly be creeped out by a whispering voice?! Doing too much here… let’s celebrate diversity and appreciate this original, culturally-charged piece.
By far the best song in MGP this year. Would definitely stick out and this song would also be a first of its kind in Eurovision (unless Sweden picks Jon Henrik). This is so much better than that Samii Ædnad song from 1980! I do worry that the international juries will kill it off though and dont understand the Magic or the greatness of this track (AND that the duo dont overdo the performance and totally ruin the Magic and just makes it feel cheap).
My number 1 in Norway! Love it! I hope with all my heart that this will win.