The Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals – have hit Sweden for the build up to Melodifestivalen 2015. Today we’re putting boyband JTR under the spotlight. Were we all on board for “Building It Up” or did we take a wrecking ball to the song, them and their heavily produced hair? Read on to find out!
JTR with ‘Building It Up’
http://youtu.be/_r-qtVL1CEI
Robyn: OMG, it’s JTR from The X Factor! Scream! These guys are adorable and I’m glad they’ve found as much of an audience in Sweden as they did in Australia. “Building It Up” is infectious pop and the brothers deliver some on-point harmonies. There’s so much fun and energy happening here, and the rap doesn’t even feel like it will be affected by the curse of rap at Eurovision. I’m glad to see this in the Melfest final.
Score: 7/10
Padraig: If Oscar Zia, Anton Ewald and a friend formed a band… The fangirl favourites crashed and burned last year, and I expect JTR to go the same way. This is unimaginative, straight off the production-line, boyband fodder complete with some complimentary faux American accents. Enough is enough! I’m giving it up!
Score: 4/10
William: Pretty is temporary, talentless is forever. This only made the final because teenage fangirls appreciate their styling. The song is a hot mess: non-sensical lyrics, an annoying rap sequence, uninspiring harmonies, and three obnoxious performers. I pray their stylist lights a cigarette while dousing them in hairspray: it may save us from having to hear them again.
Score: 0/10
Bogdan: I tried to listen to “Building It Up” twice, but I spaced out both times because I kept wondering why Midnight Boy is not in the final and this boring, reductive, and utterly forgettable excuse of a song is. I refuse to listen to it for a third time and it’ll serve as my toilet break during the MelFest final. It’s not going to Vienna anyway, so why bother.
Score: 0/10
Denise: Awh how cute are these little fellows. No doubt about teenage girls voting for them. I’m not a teenager, but I would’ve voted for them in their heat. They are so young, fresh and enthousiastic. They are doing a great job and and the public loved them as they were clapping along during the song. The only part I don’t like is the rapping. Please get rid of it and your performance will be even better.
Score: 7/10
Angus: If this were as bad as certain jurors make out then surely their acts from Deltävling 4 would be under scrutiny here and not out of the competition? Sorry ’bout it but JTR are H-E-R-E. And I am so, so, so glad! The hand-clap is infectious, the energy in the song never dies and unlike other performers they look like they’re having fun and aren’t viewing the final as a case of Eurovision or death. Good looks, good voices and good stage swagger: they are a triple threat.
Score: 8.5/10
http://youtu.be/SU2amWsMb4s
Deban: A medley of thin voices eagerly awaiting their solo microphone moments. The staging of “Building It Up” has a lot going for it, and the high octane live performance of JTR is undisputedly an added advantage. However, with an average song such as this, it’s delivery would’ve fared better with fuller, rounder voices. Also, the rap segment at the end merits the hacksaw treatment.
Score: 5/10
Billy: These sweet boys made Swedish hearts melt and proceeded to the final. Blah. I’m sick of these boybands, who sing summer hits about love and holidays. I don’t find any original rhythm in “Building It Up”, and JTR seem inexperienced and voiceless. Combining rap and clapping made me hate their entry. Sorry kids!
Score: 0/10
Ron: JTR…WTF? This song didn’t deserve to go to the final and got there only thanks to blind (and deaf) fangirls that voted for this boy band. The song is nice and cute but nothing special.They don’t sing so well and even don’t look that good. Next please!
Score: 3/10
Sami: The song is catchy and their voices are fine, but I think ‘Groupie’, which was the little bit same style, was much better. Sure there’s lots of teenage girls who vote for this, that’s why it made it to the final. It’s a fine song, but I can’t see it placing top five in the final.
Score: 6.5/10
Wiwi Jury Average: 4.5/10
I’m with Robyn here. I’m a little biased towards them because I’m a huge fan of The X-Factor Australia. Their song is not bad but definitely not Eurovision worthy, but I’m just glad they made it to the grand-finals so we can see them again. Its definitely great to see them getting some love in their home country~!
First time posting here!
I’ve been following Melfest this Eurovision season and I must say Midnight Boy was robbed. Besides Mans, that’s the only other song I would have that song on repeat since Saturday!
Of the 3 finalists reviewed so far:
1. JHF (he might win even though it’s not one of my favorites)
2. Magnus Carlsson (I don’t know why that song is so catchy)
3. JTR (it’s a poor man’s 1D meets poor man’s Jonas Bros)
I can’t stop thinking we got this over Midnight Boy and I get very sad…Melfest has been very odd this year–with quality entries getting snubbed left and right.
That said, I prefer this to Heroes by a mile, if we’re comparing SF4 qualifiers. At least the lyrics are imaginative.
It’s a pretty glam song TBH, but it was only my 3rd favourite in SF4, and probably only will be my 5th or 6th favourite in the Final, depending on what happens at the Andra Chansen.
Anguse and Denise taking the piss with those scores. It’s a shit song sung badly.
This is gonna crash and burn in the final. They’re not even attractive (which we all know is the only thing the teenage crowd takes into consideration while voting) so I’m not sure how they passed to the final with a horrible song. I predict anywhere from 8th-12th with this one since I doubt it’ll impress the juries and all the voters that they had supporting them in their semi are gonna split their votes between Isa, Måns, Dinah (if she makes the final), and Eric I think.
Completely forgettable and nothing special at all song… Wasted minutes of my life that i will never take back.. 1 / 10 for this trash & im even very generous here.. Plus they seem annoying…They are not even handsome…Ewww.. But im not really surprised why enough people voted them to qualify to the final… I don’t care anyway…Even if these losers might win the Melodifestivalen i won’t give an actual d@mn after all….Sh*t happens all the time.. The world is full of obnoxious immature guys like them that make meaningless boy bands like this just to seek attention only and… Read more »