This afternoon the Wiwi Jury—our in-house panel of music unprofessionals—gathered to review Hanna Sky’s #umk14 song “Hope”. Did Miss Sky soar? Or did she crash, burn, and take our ear drums out in the process? Read on to find out…
Angus: This totally rips off Emmelie de Forest, but I don’t really mind because the ethnic vibe Hanna has going on is pretty entertaining and the song itself is catchy. Her backing vocalists add the vocal punch Hanna needed, but also depth to the song as a whole. The drum is stirring. Although the message is a little glib for my taste, this isn’t yet a cheese fest: it actually feels like Hanna made a genuine effort with the song rather than cobbling on a message about ‘togetherness’ onto herself as an ‘identity’. Good stuff.
Score: 6.5/10
Bogdan: If Emmelie was a copy of Loreen, Hanna is a copy of a copy. She took all the worst bits from Emmelie (I’m surprised she isn’t barefoot) and turned them into her own version of “Only Teardrops”. However, “Hope” has none of its qualities and the childish singing is even more cringe-inducing than the lyrics. She looks interesting, but that’s about it. There’s no hope for Hanna, I’m afraid.
Score: 2/10
http://youtu.be/3xeS9fzSAPk
Deban: Too lyrically heavy! The arrangement is dense, and the instrumentation is un-inspiring. You’ve only got three minutes to court millions of lay viewers. Sadly this song struggles to capture the attention of a music expert for one minute. And the interpretive dancing? So 90’s!
Score: 3/10
Katie: When the song began, it sounded like something Turkey would have sent to Eurovision in the 80s and the dancing was cringe worthy. Then, all of a sudden it became a cheesy ballad and the dancing was inspired by Westlife! Halfway through the song, I was totally bored and the singer had turned into an Emmelie tribute. I can’t imagine “Hope” would have any hope of qualifying in Copenhagen if it ended up going there.
Score: 4/10
Padraig: Hope just meanders along aimlessly for a few minutes before it eventually peters out. It’s as flat and bland as a stale pancake (and just as unappealing). As for Hanna, I’m convinced she must have been cobbled together in some laboratory using a mish mash of other artists – a dash of Florence’s dress sense, a dollop of P!nk’s preachiness… And just to clarify, no the song does not improve the more you listen to it – I was originally going to give this a 5.
Score: 4/10
Sami: This kind of makes me sad, which is probably a good thing, at least it gives me some feelings. But no, I don’t like the song that much. Almost nothing happens in the whole song in the 4 minutes. The lyrics are very eurovisionary and I’m not the biggest fan of that. I think it wouldn’t do well in the contest, but I don’t think there’s need to worry it would even get the chance.
Score: 2/10
Wiwi: As Hannah says, we have our good times and our bad times. I’d like to add that we also have times where we cannot get through a song because it is cliche and boring. I’m sorry, but this song needs to go. So does the cheerleading bit from 1:30.
Score: 3/10
Wiwi Jury Verdict: 3.5/10
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This is probably Finland’s best hope at a Eurovision success this year, actually, with the exception of maybe Jasmin or Hukka ja Mama. Also, this has only the slightest similarity to Emmelie’s song. But having a little similarity to a successful song from the previous year isn’t a problem… remember “Da Da Dam”? It’s alright. 7/10
Every sound that escapes her lips is clear, deliberate and measured, and each line feels a little different.
The understated tribal/trip-hop rhythm, piano accents, and bass fills provide all the accompaniment it needs.
It’s a simple tune performed with a care and restraint that allows for close listening.
While the hook feels uncomfortably glib, it is offset by reminders of the human drama that motivates it.
Improvement is possible, and at almost four minutes, it could easily condense some of the more languid stretches or lose a chant-section, but it’s already a pleasure.
8/10
I was expecting a little higher but i guess we all have different opinions. I do argue with the statements that it wouldn’t do well in Copenhagen. I feel like it would do okay, at least better than maybe a few other entries. It’s probably my favorite in UMK this time around.
Little surprised by the results…Hope’s been one of the fan favorites for a while…a lot different views than my own.
I think she soared 🙂
“Hope” is one of the fan favourites :O so this is very surprising to see. It’s my favourite in its semi-final and my favourite in all of UMK. I think this’d do very good actually.