Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Oslo to visit the Vigeland Sculpture Park. After a packed day of walking around staring at many erected pieces, we settled down to review the ten acts competing in Norway’s national final, Melodi Grand Prix 2018. First up, we look at Tom Hugo and his song “I Like I Like I Like”. Do we like we like we like Tom’s song? Read on to find out!

Tom Hugo – “I Like I Like I Like”

“I Like I Like I Like” reviews

Bogdan: This sounds like one of those inoffensive tunes that Facebook plays for little animation videos. It’s cute, but lacks character.  It may be fresh and funky, but it’s also forgettable. And the “I like I like I like it” in the chorus, while attempting to be a smart hook, comes across as forced, infantile and off-putting.

Score: 5/10

Cinan: Tom Hugo’s voice reminds me a lot of Justin Timberlake and I really like it. “I Like I Like I Like” is a great pop entry, but it falls short in this year’s national selection. I hope he keeps making great music and would love to see him in MGP again with a different song.

Score: 6/10

Jonathan: “I Like I Like I Like” is an instant improvement on Tom’s 2013 MGP effort. Cheeky and playful, the song grips you from the start. While slightly repetitive towards the end, it’s not enough to grate on you and stop you from dancing along. The key for Tom will be to bring out this fun character live on stage. He won’t be able to hide behind a microphone like in 2013 but needs to be out there bringing the party. If he can do it though, it will be a nice addition to the national final.

Score: 7/10

Robyn: This is Melodi Grand Prix 2018: all killer, no filler. But while “I Like I Like I Like” is a good song that many NFs would kill for, it’s not among the best in Norway this year. At worst, it sounds like a cynical Justin Timberlake copy. But if JT is now getting into artpop-R&B, it’s a sign that being inspired by his old style isn’t such a smart move. “I Like x3” is an adequate song, but there’s so much better in MGP 2018.

Score: 6.5/10

Sebastian: In a sea of very strong contenders, “I Like I Like I Like” becomes ‘It’s Ok It’s Ok It’s Ok”. It’s a well written song that channels a mood recreated by Bruno Mars in the charts. It’s instantly singable and you could see it placed as a final performance in a semi-final to get people moving. But what it does for MGP, in 2018, many other acts do better.

Score: 6.5/10

Our jury for 2018 consists of 15 jurors, but we only have room for 5 reviews. The remaining 10 scores are listed below.

Antony: 7/10

Antranig: 3.5/10

Bernardo: 5.5/10

Chris: 6/10

Deban: 6/10

Josh: 5.5/10

Kristin: 5/10

Lukas: 7/10

Rezo: 4/10

Steinunn: 5/10

 

 

 

 

 

The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 3.5 and a high of 7.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 5.77/10

READ THE FULL MELODI GRAND PRIX 2018 RANKINGS

READ MORE NORWAY EUROVISION NEWS

14 Comments
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Colin
Colin
6 years ago

I like it indeed! It’s not a spectacular entry, but it’s an immense improvement in a disco genre over the lame Estonian attempt. It’s very catchy and fresh! There isn’t a lot of depth in it, but it’s not being pretentious about it. It’s cute and danceable.

7/10

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

“I Like I Like I Like” is an up-beat song, reminding me of the ’80s. It’s not bad, it’s just fine. 5/10

Soy
Soy
6 years ago

Okay song aside what the hell is that hair style

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

I do like it. I don’t love it. 7/10

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

Somebody was watching Eurovision’s interval act two years ago. Seriously, this goes beyond being influenced, this is blatant. There are times that I think this is a cover. Having said that, I like JT, I like “Can’t stop the feeling” so I can’t hate this. I don’t need to hear it again though.

esc freak
esc freak
6 years ago

Annoying as hell. Even Alexander Rybak’s song is better than this.

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

Why ia his catchy? I dislike that this is catchy.

Besides the above, this doesn’t go anywhere. Very middle of the road and derivative of styles that, when done wrong, are very grating.

And, no offense truly, but the visuals are not giving me good vibes(z) compared to the song. Stylist Stat.
3.5/10

Max
Max
6 years ago
Reply to  Pablo

“I dislike that this is catchy” – hahaha, so well said!

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Why is the wiwi team hyping up MGP! Most of us have reached he consensus that the selection is pretty average though it has big names.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Josh Salmon

Josh, the reviews have words like: I Like I Like I Like” is a great pop entry, but it falls short in this year’s national selection. But while “I Like I Like I Like” is a good song that many NFs would kill for, it’s not among the best in Norway this year. there’s so much better in MGP 2018. In a sea of very strong contenders, “I Like I Like I Like” becomes ‘It’s Ok It’s Ok It’s Ok” The context seems to suggest this is a great song but as the selection is very strong we are scoring… Read more »

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

Kris, it’s not about what “rings true to most of us”, it’s about individual reviewers enjoying listening to songs and expressing their own opinions. You of all people should know this by now.

I don’t think the Wiwi Jury is over-hyping this entry at all. The production is quite good, the song is okay. Their total score is about 5.77. Mine is actually higher than that, at 7. There should be no issue of over-hype here, that I can see.

Anders Martinius Tangen
Reply to  Josh Salmon

Who are “most of us”? Hahahah ;-P

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

I don’t like it like it like it.
A 4/10.