The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals reviews the eight acts who will be competing in the anda chansen round of Melodifestivalen 2018. Next we take a look at Polish popstress Margaret with her song “In My Cabana”. Did we want to join in her beach-side fun? Read on to find out!
Margaret – “In My Cabana”
“In My Cabana” reviews
Anthony: The whole idea of a Polish singer in Melodifestivalen is nothing new and “In My Cabana” is an enjoyable piece of pop, although it hasn’t quite hit the same heights as “Cool Me Down”. Margaret unleashed her inner-Riri and delivered it in the arena, but the cabana-themed staging felt a tad underwhelming. At least her hopes weren’t flushed down the sparkly toilet just yet.
Score: 6.5/10
Antranig: Margaret does everything right with “In My Cabana” but compared to the soaring heights she could have achieved with “Cool Me Down”, this barely gets off the ground. “In My Cabana” is a repetitive yet catchy dance song that is extremely fun and I’m glad Sweden put Margaret into Andra Chansen on her Melfest debut. This introduces her to Sweden well but I hope she’ll return soon with a better song.
Score: 8/10
Cinan: YAAS! Though I don’t think this song would do as good as I imagined before listening to it, but it is a JAM. I’ll definitely listen to it in summer or at a party. As Margaret said in an interview, she is not there to win, but to be recognised and be in the final of Melodifestivalen. I’m so happy with the performance.
Score: 7.5/10
Luis: “In my Cabana” is to Sweden what “Lo malo” was to Spain. It’s infectious and danceable, but probably not the best option for Eurovision. Margaret delivers this fun and quirky song with much more ease than when she did the anthemic “Cool me down”. She should be proud of making it to Andra Chansen and proud of her performance, although it’s highly unlikely she’ll reach Lisbon. (In case that was the main aim of this Melfest entry).
Score: 7/10
Ron: I’m sorry Margaret, well done for getting a second chance but you really didn’t convince me in your performance. “Cool Me Down” was such a hit, so my expectations were a bit high, I must say. But even if we only judge this song and performance by themselves, something didn’t work. Margaret is lacking in energy, she barely moves and doesn’t look like she’s feeling this song and rhythm. Her dancers that should wear beach clothes are wearing something else and even the cameras direction is not that impressive. Bottom line, I didn’t felt the need to listen to the song again and that says it all.
Score: 6/10
William: In a rather dire year at Melodifestivalen, this stands out with its playful spirit and Latin pop sensibility. This isn’t trying to be art, nor is it trying to tug on heartstrings. It’s unadulterated fun delivered by a spirited performer with major sass and some fierce hoop earrings. One of the few tracks I plan to download.
Score: 7.5/10
In our Sweden Wiwi Jury, we have 16 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Angus: 7.5/10
Bernardo: 7.5/10
Bogdan: 7/10
Chris: 6.5/10
Deban: 7/10
Jordi: 8.5/10
Josh: 6/10
Natalie: 6/10
Robyn: 7.5/10
Tobias: 7/10
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 5 and a high of 8.5.
If we disregard the resemblence to a certain song, the fact stays that Margaret’s song is one of the rare ones on Melfest which is both memorable and uplifting.
7/10
This song is so overhyped, and nothing about the stage show is good. Essentially Margaret stands in one place while the camera stands around her. The actual song itself is boring and repetitive. Moncho has the better tropical vibes song with actual staging and looks like he’s having a fun time, so I hope he beats this in Andra Chansen.
Margaret had the best song last year but her vocals weren’t as strong. I was impressed that this year sounded far better, but I forgot backing vocals do a lot of work in Melodifestivalen. I don’t say that she’s not talented, don’t get me wrong here.
I also prefer “Cool me down” to this one and I can’t help mentioning it has similarities with “Havana”. Enjoyable for sure. 6.5/10
I expected the song to be more fun and dancey! Not a OK let’s put weird words and oh na na together into an upbeat track!
Still its OK….but I had much higher expectations after Cool me down.
A 6.5/10
Margaret is NOT talentless. 😮
heard that she can drink milk through her nose.
The best do far in MF. Love it. Can’t wait to see it.
My beef with Margaret is that she has the makings of a huge global star but her music is too safe. She needs to push herself musically.
Not a bad Swedish introduction for Margaret. The Swedish national finals disguise vocal problems much better than Poland do (Seriously, nobody sounds good in Poland) so she has come across well. She still has attitude for days and the song is actually quite fun. Unfortunately, Samir and Viktor have monopolised the fun in Melfest this year so there wasn’t really a place for this. Getting to the final will be a great achievement and she can aim higher next time.
After Dotter got immediately eliminated In My Cabana is actually my favorite of the whole selection.
Since she’s not Swedish we’ll see the last of her in the final of Melfest at best.
I just hope she polishes her ENTIRE stage performance next Saturday, otherwise Andra Chansen will be the last stop for this entry.
Sigh, Eurovision without Dotter, Margaret, Ryk, and most likely Delirium…
I should stop watching National Selections. I am too emotionally attached to my favorites.
Good luck tryin your OGAE 2nd chance title.
And maybe be the first to win for different countries. That would be something.
And another plus, Margaret already won for Poland in 2016 with Cool Me Down 🙂
But I really think that Dotter will most likely be the OGAE favorite.
It will be Mariette if she doesn’t win Mello.
I hated this at first but it is such earworm that I singing it now, lol, so why not? it’s funny and unpretentious, I like that.
But, she needs to change that awful orange outfit imo.
When jury (national or international) is involved, everything is so predictable. Nothing positive, uplifting and entertaining will ever win.
Drown her vocals with the backing vocalists and bring back the glitter toilet. BAM! Stockholm 2019.
I mean…. Her live vocals are a big No for me, but at this Point I wouldn’t even be mad if she won… What do we have in the final? Mariette’s generic bland song, Martin’s bland song, John Lundvik’s bland song, Jessica’s bland Schlager song, Samir & Viktor with their fun dance track, who won’t win because of the Jury, Benjamin with his bland song and his annoying voice…. Ugh. Margaret’s song and voice aren’t that good, but are there really many Songs that are better? It’s between Liamoo, S&V and Felix (if he qualifies), but it’s sadly going to… Read more »
No, she doesnt. She cant sing live.
You can count the Swedish representatives who can sing live on a hand’s fingers.
FYI, Margaret is not a bad singer, and she’s never been talentless, whether in the studio or the live performances. Enough said. 🙂
Can we stop the love affair with this? She tries so hard to sound like Rihanna that it just comes across like a bad cover act. Just like 2016, her voice disappoints. You cannot hear a single word she says in the verses she mumbles so badly.
the difference is, rihanna can sing and dance better live.
That’s a bold statement that Rihanna can sing.
I saw her live once and she can definitely sing, she just runs out of breath too soon and doesn’t even really dance.
I don’t think she tries hard to sound like Rihanna. I think that is her natural voice. She and Zara Larsson.
I’m not cuckoo for this one, but it is a nice bop. #oohnana
Aaaaand let the comments about similarity to Havana and Can’t Remember To Forget You commence. 😉
I actually like this track. One of the few I listen on repeat this year.
It’s a Can’t Remember to Forget You x Havana mashup but it bops HARD. I lowkey hope they send her!
Ha! 😀