The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals reviews the eight acts who will be competing in the andra chansen round of Melodifestivalen 2018. Next we take a look at newcomer Moncho and his song “Cuba Libre”. Were we feeling his Latin rhythms?

Moncho – “Cuba Libre”

“Cuba Libre” reviews

Antranig: The Melfest staging of “Cuba Libre” matched the song perfectly and Moncho has great stage presence. It went from being my least favourite song in its semi from the studio version to one of the more memorable performances live. “Cuba Libre” is heaps of fun but I’d want to listen to this while lying on a beach in the Bahamas, not on the Eurovision stage in Lisbon.

Score: 6.5/10

Cinan: Yeeeeey! I wanna dance to this one. I love the way he moves. I do really love reggaeton music, but I don’t think Sweden will send this to Eurovision. Although this is going to have much success on charts and everyone would absolutely listen to this. It would be a perfect summer jam.

Score: 6.5/10

Deban: Not what I was expecting to hear at Melodifestivalen, but what a refreshing surprise! I love the censored beeps leading to the chorus; it makes me feel naughty! Moncho is a likeable character with an infectious energy that makes you want to lose your inhibitions. I’m ready to dock at Cuba Libre — all aboard, baby!

Score: 7.5/10

Robyn: Hey, if every other national final can have fun Latino party songs this year, why not Sweden? “Cuba Libre” is no “Havana”, but it’s still loads of fun. Moncho is a confident vocalist and commands the stage, but the song itself is the weakest part of the whole experience. The key change sounds like it was thrown in because they’d run out of ideas, repeat to end. I’m intrigued though — in a national final that’s never been shy of songs with curse words, what is the bleeped line?

Score: 6.5/10

Ron: This song has some great energy. Moncho brings such cool vibes on stage and he’s very charismatic. My only problem is the lack of originality that this song is all about. The staging is nice but can still be improved, especially in the final chorus that screams for confetti or soap bubbles.

Score: 6/10

Tobias: No, no, no. This is just cheap and boring. South American-inspired song with Swedish vocals is not just working for me. Sorry. I might have had a different opinion if it was performed in English but it just doesn’t sound good in Swedish with this kind of genre. I feel like this song is something you would hear on a children’s TV show. The performance felt very messy on stage as well, mainly because of the different costumes the background dancers wore. Maybe Nickelodeon would suit him better.

Score: 2/10

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: 2/10

Anthony: 3/10

Bernardo: 2/10

Bogdan: 4/10

Chris: 5/10

Jordi: 4.5/10

Josh: 4/10

Luis: 4/10

Natalie: 2.5/10

William: 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 2 and a high of 7.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 4.54/10

Read all our Melodifestivalen 2018 Wiwi Jury rankings here

Read more Melodifestivalen news here

10 Comments
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beccaboo1212
6 years ago

Good thing you can hear bleeps by the end of the verses. I don’t feel like hearing profanity. 🙂

7.5/10

oliver
oliver
6 years ago

9.5/10

Lolek
Lolek
6 years ago

Not a bad song and Moncho seems like a really nice guy (also love that Axel worked on this song) BUT I’m still kinda bitter this went thru instead of Dotter.

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

It’s fun and it has a catchy chorus. Not a winner for sure, but enterrtaining.
5.5/10

esc freak
esc freak
6 years ago

I don’t like this. How did it make it to Andra Chansen?

Thespb01
Thespb01
6 years ago

Had it been in any other semi final, it wouldn’t be here. I’d be extremely shocked if Margaret doesn’t wipe the floor with him, & I’m not even that keen on In My Cabana.

Nickc
Nickc
6 years ago

Terrible.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

Cheap would also be the word that I would use to describe this. It doesn’t come across as very authentic and seems to be in the selection to tick a box. I didn’t really enjoy any aspect of the experience.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

It’s catchy and fun but seems to be lacking in production.
A 6/10

Jemyly
Jemyly
6 years ago

Aisel shared a new song on her Instagram profile. ABout Khojaly. Would be nice if we could see it on wiwi. ?t’s sooo beautiful and touching I think her eurovision song will be a ballad too. Thanks