The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to rate and review the songs competing in the grand final of Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2020. Next up, we listen to Melfest 2019 runner-up Hanna Ferm and her new song “Brave”. Did it make us feel fearless? Read on to find out!
Hanna Ferm – “Brave”
“Brave” reviews
Angus: “Brave” is a sonic Trojan horse. The weight of expectations dented Hanna hard when snippets came out, but the more you listen, the stickier the “woohoo” refrain becomes in your head. And despite rushed staging at the semi-final, in the key moments – the opening, the bridge, choruses – Hanna can sell the song live. This is the catchiest chorus on the competition and with a few nips and tucks could be a threat at Friends Arena.
Score: 8/10
Florian: “Brave” sees Hanna Ferm take a somewhat unexpected road. While “Hold You” with Liamoo was a big ballad, this one takes on the uptempo path. Vocally, she can’t be faulted on this track. Besides, it’s very modern and thanks to the great team behind the composition — including Laurell Barker — it has a chance not only to appeal to the younger audience.
Score: 7/10
Luis: Double cheese may work for burgers, but not for songs. “Brave” has an undeniable hook and a simple melody that sticks to your ear like glue. However, the song is too high-pitched, and it feels as if Hanna was suffering in every chorus. The instrumental is quite basic and it wouldn’t be out of place in 2008. The result is a screechy and dated tune with nothing else but a confident performer who can’t hit the notes properly because they are clearly not adequate to her voice tune. I fail to see the reason why this went DTF.
Score: 4/10
Robyn: I like the attitude of “Brave”, full of the right kind of self-confidence. The chorus swings, coming in with the super catchy “brave ah-hoo” hook. But it sometimes seems a little beyond the natural vocal range of Hanna, with the backing vocalists picking up the slack. But perhaps that is in fitting with the song’s theme — not letting yourself be defined by any limits.
Score: 7/10
In our Melodifestivalen Wiwi Jury, we have 14 jurors but only room for four reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
| Antranig: 8/10
Åri: 7.5/10 Barnabas: 8/10 Jonathan: 6.5/10 Lucy: 7/10 |
Natalie: 7/10
Pablo: 8/10 Ron: 7.5/10 Tobias: 6/10 Tom: 7.5/10 |
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 4 and a high of 8.
It’s a bop though – I have this on repeat.
@Robyn: The filter doesn’t like me fangirling Ireland and Switzerland with their countries’ abbreviations in my nickname. So you can delete the waiting comment if you like and I’ll stick with “ESCFan2009” 😀
It’s a bop though – I have this on repeat 😀
Extremely biased reactions in comment section here.
The song is dated, the outfit is bland, the staging is bland, the singing is uninspired. How has this song even got 7’s is beyond me.
7.25 is far to generous for a truly awful dated song, Laurell barker needs to disappear she’s annoying. Also Hanna is constantly out of breath on the live performances and sounds so bad, send this and don’t qualify from the semis! Dotter or Dr Anna are the only right choices.
You don’t like any of Laurell’s songs? “You Got Me” was amazing.
This song really not suites her
Of those I ask who they have as a favorite…only younger girls say Hanna. Many other older groups like her, but she isn’t their favourite. What have other swedes heard among people they talk to?
Pink (aged 45-59) people I’ve spoken to like her the most.
I have not heard other people rooting for her
I am in the pink age. Ha, ha… I like her but I get so happy by the mamas,
I think Hanna has the most popular song among younger girls from 10 to 18. That is what I have heard when I ask my daughters friend. What have other swedes heard?
Everyone was hyping this and it ended up being a major disappointing
Maybe next Hannah, and please don’t go for a song you cannot reach the notes
bland and boring
I love Hanna, her whole performance is professional throughout. Even if I wasnt too fond of the song at the start, it is stuck in my head and im liking it more and more. And she is hot so that helps too. Would not be dissapointed to see her represent us this year
this sounds like one of those empowerment anthems rachel platten or sara bareilles would release in 2015 yet somehow i love it haha
Doesn’t Sara have a song called Brave?
Yes! It was kind of a moderate hit on the States and it even reached #3 on the Australian charts. When Katy Perry released her single “Roar” people started believing she plagiarised it from Bareilles. Both songs are from 2013, I can’t believe it’s been that much since then.
C’mon, not even San Marino would send this.
Definitely my favorite song this year. The visual presentation however clearly isn’t sufficiently impressive.
This is catchy as heck and Hanna sells it on stage with her sizzling performance. It feels like a mainstream act Sweden would have sent in 2007 if they had an equally efficient strategy back then. However, today it can seem somewhat cheesy, with a wind machine as a cherry on top. Still enjoyable on stage, though.
She serving Slovakian girl from ESC 2009 + Jessica Mauboy and Safura
It’s Safura 2.0!
Safura’s song sounds more modern than this 🙂
so true.. even it was 2010
I second Luis, honestly. This would probably be a contender for my last place..
The most tackiest song.
I don’t what its chances are…but it’s safe to say that it was never going to match its hype.
It’s my favourite female entry in Melfest this year but there’s nothing too special about it.
The whole performance kinda reminds me of Safura (2010) a little bit.