Last night the Wiwi Jury—our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals—hopped into the team’s Volvo and drove to Stockholm to review Panetoz’s Melodifestivalen song “Efter Solsken” (After Sunshine). Did the tropical vibe make us feel all warm and sexy? Or did we want to throw our coconut water at the group and tend to our sunburns instead? Read on to find out…

Deban: The staging of this is a riot, but within the mess, a clearly defined structure emerges. Perhaps the most modern of the entries this year, but perhaps, also the most unsuitable for Eurovision. I wish the boys luck. This won’t cross the border.

Score: 4/10

Angus: There’s little questioning how unique ‘Efter Solsken’ is. It’s as brilliantly out of place in Melodifestivalen as ‘Haba Haba’ was in MGP 3 years ago. I must admit it has grown on me since I first heard it but that being said I don’t hear winning potential. It’s pleasant but not powerful nor especially memorable. It’ll be a perfect contrast on the night to show off the really super entries fielded in this year’s final.

Score: 3.5/10

http://youtu.be/_Zw9nByBS6E

Padraig: Suave, slick and sophisitcated, Panetoz are sorted in terms of image. As for the song? The harmonies and vocals are on point, but “Efter Solsken” simply isn’t memorable enough for Eurovision. I’ll hum along for the 3 minutes, however, if I was asked to do the same an hour later I’d struggle to recall anything.

Score: 6.5/10

Zach: It’s interesting to see such a different song in the Melodifestivalen final. I think Swingfly was the last time a “rap influenced” song was in the final. It’s a harmless entry, the tropical vibe is actually kind of fresh mixed in with the usual schlager and baby faced boy toys. However, it’s too different I feel. They’re not on point vocally, like at all actually. And somebody give that poor white man some dance lessons, he’s two moves behind the whole time, and it’s really noticeable and distracting.  The running order will kill them too. Sanna Nielsen, the fan favorite, precedes them. Ace Wilder follows them with that monster electro hook. They’ll be forgotten, and the European juries won’t like it I feel.

Score: 3/10

Patrick: I’ll never understand why this song made it directly to the final. This is a crap cover of last year’s “Jalla dansa sawa”, and this song was already bad. Yes it might be true that the boys do a great performance and the chorus might be nice…but ultimately this is really a pain in the ass. I’m not the biggest fan of rap music. Sometimes I like songs which include a rap portion but this is bad rap. I can totally understand why people voted for them, cause the boys bring some nice summer feelings to cold Sweden, but it’s not for Eurovision.

Score: 2.5/10

panetoz

Sami: Even though I hardly understand the lyrics and Swedish rap is not my favourite type of music, the energy and the feeling I get from this is amazing. Sure, this won’t do well in Melodifestivalen because of the international juries. But hopefully it will become a big summer hit. I like it much more than the songs before and after it (Sanna and Ace), but I guess placing it between them is even worse.

Score: 8/10

James: Eh. Rap. Sweden. Eurovision. Put them all together and you get the weirdest reaction from all of us Eurovision fans who are so used to the schlager, the glitter, the pretty faces, the blonde hair, etc., etc. It is by no means bad, and Panetoz sure do have some good stage experience with their cheeky faces and very active performance, so nae bad. It’s incredibly radio friendly too. Very radio friendly. But I can’t help but feel that it would get the support that it would need to win overall – our schlager queens’ll be launching a tirade against this winning, I bet. I don’t mind it. I won’t scream if it wins. It.. just doesn’t compute when you think it could represent Sweden though…

Score: 7/10

Panetoz melodifestivale

Anthony: What do you get if you cross the now defunct boy band JLS with Jessy Matador’s “Allez Ola Olé” and Stella Mwangi’s “Haba Haba”? That’s pretty much what you get with Sweden’s multi-ethnic boy band Panetoz. As a more experienced group—especially when compared to, erm, Destan from this year’s French national final—they certainly have chemistry between them as they all sing, dance and rap in sync. Overall, it’s quite a catchy entry, but my gut instinct tells me that this may not work as a Eurovision entry sadly. Decent effort though.

Score: 7/10

Franceska: Nineties boyband meets hip hop and multiculturalism. That’s a mouthful to say right there. And even though I support racial integration in my country of second citizenship, the song is convoluted and trying to do a lot in a little amount of time.

Score: 4/10

Ramadan: A muti-national group with an African and maybe Finnish flavour. They seem to get the crowd whipped up, even if those verses are a bit of a mess. However, the vocals come together for the choruses. The chorus is ridiculously catchy! Who wouldn’t like this song? They scored a big hit recently so they’ve got a decent shot.

Score: 7/10

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 5.25/10

Final ranking: #7 of 10

See our latest #melfest reviews and rankings on the Wiwi Jury page, and then vote for your favourite in our #melfest poll.

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Alex
Alex
10 years ago

I wonder if they’ll get everyone in sync and singing well for the performance on Saturday. They’ve certainly had a fair amount of time to practice. It’s an extremely hard song to perform – I’d love to see them pull it off really well.

Arianna
10 years ago

I love this song, but I agree with the fact that the performance is messy. It’s a lot of fun though and reminds me of French music like Jessy Matador who was mentioned above, Les Jumo, Roy. Always surprised when I hear Swedish instead 😀

bav
bav
10 years ago

predictions are more important

bav
bav
10 years ago

your reviews have no sense

bav
bav
10 years ago

realistic prediction:
1. Yohio
2. Sanna Nielsen
3. Helena Paparizou
4. Linus Svenning
5. Panetoz
6. Ellen Benediktson
7. Alcazar
8. Anton Ewald
9. Ace Wilder
10. Oscar Zia

Alex
Alex
10 years ago

Not meant for Eurovision, but pretty catchy and a welcome diversion from the usual fodder.

I do have to say to Patrick: this doesn’t sound like “Jalla dansa sawa” at all. Not even remotely. Yes, they are both rap songs with a sung chorus, but that’s about all they share in common. The dominating rhythms are so starkly different.

Mr. M
Mr. M
10 years ago

Damn love this one. I know that they won’t win but is my 2nd favorite song after Ace Wilder’s “Busy Doin’ Nothin'”.
Go Panetoz!

Ohi
Ohi
10 years ago

Is it bad that when I see this group all together I think the transition of Michael Jackson? I…dont hate it, it actually is nice in the studio version but this is so not eurovision

Thiefo
10 years ago

I agree it most probably won’t do well in the final, and how it deviates from what is considered the norm for the MF sound, but I don’t care, I love it! Is catchy and makes you wanna dance… though I must probably would dance like the white guy 😛