The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — continues to review the songs competing in the grand final of Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2018. Next we look at Swedish Idol winner Martin Almgren and his song “A Bitter Lullaby”. Did his lullaby send us to sleep? Read on to find out!

Martin Almgren – “A Bitter Lullaby”

“A Bitter Lullaby” reviews

Anthony: It’s not often you’d bump into some country pop at Melodifestivalen. The instrumentals deliver that warm, folksy feel and Martin’s cheeky-chappy personality puts a smile on your face. There’s just one problem, it doesn’t scream out title-contender material. Best look elsewhere if Sweden wants to maintain their consistent run of top-five finishes in Lisbon.

Score: 6/10

Chris: Martin might not look the part of a typical Swedish pop star of late, but that’s part of the overwhelming charm of this entry. So, it’s not flashy: it’s clearly not meant to be. It’s a heart-swelling three minutes, as Martin rallies those knocked down by life. Honestly, this could be a great left-field choice for Sweden in 2018.

Score: 7.5/10

Deban:  A bland country tune sung by a bearded man in a dark coat— what a downer! The expected rescue elements are missing from this package. Boring staging, monotone delivery, zero choreography and poor wardrobe choice. It beggars belief that this made it to the final.

Score: 3/10

Natalie: As the third semi-final came around, I was thinking that we desperately needed some bland country music in Melfest this year. Martin sings very passionately and it has a lot of hand-clappy chirpy bits, but nonetheless…. Seriously, if this goes to Lisbon it is very destined to be forgotten. There isn’t any fire or raw emotion in it, it just feels like a Swedified processed country pop tune, and as nice as that it is, it’s not exactly exciting anyone.

Score: 4.5/10

Robyn: Martin has a strong, rich voice and “A Bitter Lullaby” is perfect for him. His voice is nicely matched with the female backing singers and the folky instruments. But while it’s very nicely executed, the song itself isn’t all that memorable. It feels more like something from a film trailer than a show-stopping Eurovision song. A deserving national finalist, but it’s not catchy enough to go further.

Score: 7/10

Tobias: This genre of music is nothing that turns me on really. Martin won Idol back in 2015 and he has proved that he has an amazing voice. However, “A Bitter Lullaby” is not making a “wow” impression on me. It’s rather dull and boring and the staging is not very exciting either. I know that Martin isn’t the dancing kind of artist, but in this competition, I want to see an artist who has the whole package. This is a sleeping pill for me so I am surprised he even got to the final.

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: 4/10

Antranig: 5.5/10

Bernardo: 7/10

Bogdan: 4.5/10

Cinan: 5.5/10

Jordi: 6.5/10

Josh: 6.5/10

Luis: 6/10

Ron: 7/10

William: 6/10

 

 

 

 

 

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: 5.64/10

Read all our Melodifestivalen 2018 Wiwi Jury rankings here

Read more Melodifestivalen news here

13 Comments
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Jonas
Jonas
6 years ago

Awful, bland, album filler, forgettable. 2/10

Moana
Moana
6 years ago

Dated, forgettable and inconvenient

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

The song is good and his voice is great. However, it is forgettable. I can’t really remember what it sounds like.
5.5/10

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

Great voice and a song that showcases that but with little else. This is the evangelical church version of Jon Lundvik’s song. The scary thing is that I cannot say, with absolute certainty, that this has no chance of winning on Saturday. It is better than A LOT of the songs in the final.

Justina
Justina
6 years ago

the song isn’t captivating for me at all. sounds more of a radio filler.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

It was the strongest entry in a weak semi 3 and I think it’s in my Top 12 of 28 but the song is quite suited to Martin. Granted nothing original but atleast it’s not a melody to make people want to run away.
A 7/10

Mattias Sollerman
Mattias Sollerman
6 years ago

This song is clearly written specifically for Martin, to bring forth his charisma and voice. It is pleasant to share those 3 minutes with him on stage, but one can’t help wanting for this to be more of a wow rather than a balm. So let’s talk about something entirely different. A Bitter Lullaby is the only song this year exclusively written by women. In fact, this is the first one since Där och då med dig 2015. This is despite MelFest being, to my knowledge, the only national selection which imposes a gender quota. Half the songs must have… Read more »

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

I really like this one, it has a very Scandinavian vibe, but I fear it’d be an Anna Bergendahl 2.0 at the contest. Not like the Mello juries would vote for it, seen the lack of overprocessed visuals!

Amer
Amer
6 years ago

I’m from Scandinavia and i think this doesn’t sound Scandinavian at all..

Bastian
Bastian
6 years ago
Reply to  Amer

It sounds Danish (typical DMGP stuff) though xD

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

The song is actually, but the way it’s performed is rather pedestrian. It’s nice entry, but let’s be honest: if Switzerland sent this, it would be last in it’s semi. It’s a type of song nobody will hate, but barely anyone would vote for – a recipe for being forgotten.

6/10

chriku
chriku
6 years ago

This song or let’s say the chorus always reminds me on a specific Christmas song but don’t know which one it is…
However, that song doesn’t cause any emotions in me and there are definitely stronger entries in the Melfest final with higher chances to succeed in Lisbon!

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

Martin totally deserved his pass to the final for this, so I disagree on that. What I do agree on is how forgettable it became. And with Waylon’s offering, this will go down as blander. It started so well for Martin, alas.