Norway: Wiwi Jury reviews “Ta meg tilbake” by Marie Klåpbakken

The Wiwi Jury – our in-house team of music unprofessionals – in a quest for a great Norwegian holiday, decided to indulge in some famous Norwegian violinists. We became hungry for some more violin music and found “Ta meg tilbake” by Marie Klåpbakken. Some of us thought she pulled our heart strings, others that she was playing us along.

“Ta meg tilbake” by Marie Klåpbakken

https://youtu.be/MXgwKrXURR4

Josh: The song is gorgeous and it’s nice to hear a song in the native tongue – but we said the same thing about Siru in Finland and look what happened there. It’s pleasant to listen to, but the Norwegian selection is STRONG this year, and this will, unfortunately, fizzle into the background.

Score: 6/10

Deban: Electrofolk! This entry sits on the fence. You’re unlikely to hate it, but one’s equally unlikely to be in love with it, particularly in this year’s strong field of entries. The violin segments add strong production values. However, her vocals doesn’t marry too well with her chosen style. She would pitch much stronger with an acoustic offering.

Score: 5.5/10

Francheska: I will admit, when I saw her for the first time I thought “Oh God, another Norwegian violin act! Stop stringing us along for something different!” I was right: even though it’s pretty and Marie’s lyrics are gentle, it’s such an uninspiring song. That violin ain’t helping, girl. Yet, it’s an interesting mix between soulful lyrics, violins, and small bits of electronica, which is so intriguing.

Score: 6/10

Renske: I have to admit that I loved “Alvedansen”, but the chance that Norway will ever sent a song in Norwegian is very small. Although I like this song, it’s gets a little bit boring after a few minutes listing to it. The fact that Marie plays violin is not a big benefit, because she will be associated the whole time to Alexander Rybak.

Score: 6/10

Colin: This song isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. I do not think that her performing in Norwegian will translate well to the rest of Europe, despite how refreshing the violin is.

Score: 5/10

James: The only good song of the two sung in Norwegian. I really like the synthesis of the string section with this entry and it has really good structure. It probably won’t go very far because of Scandinavia’s general paranoia about non-English songs. A shame, but it’s going on my iPod!

Score: 7/10

Robyn: This is an instance where there’s a mismatch between the song and the singer. A song like this needs a singer with a big powerful voice. Maria has a lighter voice that would be a better suited to folk music. The result is she’s lost in the song, overpowered by all the synths.

Score: 5/10

Anthony: One of two entries that are entirely sung in Norwegian this year, it was difficult to work out what Marie had in store on her preview snippet. And I can now see the full extent after hearing the entire song. Marie’s violin playing skills delivers a haunting intro, before it slowly blends into a mix with electronica parts. Marie’s vocals then add up to becoming one truly mesmerizing experience.

Score: 8/10

Patrick: Norwegian is beautiful, and this really is a proof for it! It’s lovely to hear something nordic inspired in the bunch of english songs. To be honest, this song is sadly really noisy and the music, melody and her voice doesn’t fit. Although it’s special and magical, it’s not made for Vienna…

Score: 5/10

Ramadan: Marie can sing so well, but this song isn’t appealing at all. It’s nice that the song is in Norwegian, but Marie deserves a much better song. I really loved the haunting intro, but that’s all.

Score: 3/10

Sopon: Renske is right on point with this one. Marie is a capable singer, and it would be nice to hear a Scandinavian language performed in Eurovision (a rarity!), but this is not the one to do it. “Ta Meg Tilbake” is all over the place in pitch, tempo, and melody. Good for a fantasy movie, not good for Eurovision.

Score: 6.5/10

Max: I really like it when a song is sung in a country’s native language, I really do! I was really looking forward to this, but then my heart just sunk. It’s old, recycled pop that is seen at least 20 times during the national selection season and I can’t warm up to it in the slightest! It has an echoey effect that only exacerbates her whiney voice, no thank you!

Score: 3/10

Angus: Marie can sing but her song sucks. A classic case of a producer juggling six or seven musical elements, tripping and throwing them all at the same song.

Score: 2.5/10

The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 2.5 and a high of 8.

The Wiwi Jury Verdict: 5.28/10