The Wiwi Jury now turns to the Melodifestivalen final, reviewing the eight acts who have made it direkt till final. First is Ace Wilder, returning after her second place in 2014, this time with the song “Don’t Worry”. Did the song have us worried? Read on to find out…
Ace Wilder – “Don’t Worry”
“Don’t Worry” reviews
Angus: It feels like Ace lost the anarchic charm that made “Busy Doin’ Nothin'” such a smash in 2014 and has instead returned as an entirely polished pop professional. That being said, staging is tdf and nobody does earworm nonsensical lyrics better. Unfortunately like Eric last year, it feels as if Ace is going to fall victim of being in the first semifinal.
Score: 9.5/10
Antranig: Ace Wilder is the single greatest performer alive. Not only can she sing and dance better than most people, her facial expressions throughout the act are to die for. This is not just a regular song — it’s an entire four-dimensional entertainment experience. “Don’t Worry” is lyrically impeccable, performed to perfection and it is insanely catchy.
Score: 10/10
Bernardo: “Don’t Worry” is getting a lot of hype just because Ace Wilder is performing it. It’s not better than “Busy Doin’ Nothin'” — obviously she’s playing on safe ground. With that being said, I believe her live performance was good, the staging really elevated a so-so song but I’m not seeing this winning. I predict a sixth to tenth place in the final.
Score: 6.5/10
Deban: An average pop song slays the pack with KILLER production. The bass beats on this is sick! The choreography is a visual treat from start to finish. Ace Wilder makes ordinary extra-ordinary by elevating other values to the point where the lousy lyrics are forgiven.
Score: 8.5/10
Edd: Now this woman is a true artist. It’s distinctly Ace, and I love the lyrics and love the show. But the song needs some cleaning up. The verses are 10/10, the pre-chorus is 10/10, but the actual production in the big post-chorus is a hot mess. It’s like they tried to mix Laura Tesoro’s “What’s The Pressure” with Martin Solveig’s “Intoxicated” and the truth is it don’t sound pretty. An amazing build up to a big, smelly fart.
Score: 8.5/10
Mikhail: This is very catchy and very funny in a special Ace Wilder way. I love every aspect of it. The lyrics are so relatable (if you cut out the boss-kissing part). When I hear the song my body starts immediately moving and I want to forget all my problems. There is no need to compare it with her other songs, because it slays on its own!
Score: 9.5/10
Padraig: I’m embarrassed to say it, but I didn’t come to love “Busy Doin’ Nothin'” until the summer of 2014, long after Melfest had ended. But there’s no such problems this time round. “Don’t Worry” is a blast! As always Ace slays lyrically. Tracks with such relatable messages often come across as clunky and forced — not a worry for Ace. And of course, the staging is glorious. The giant cubes are true showstoppers, and stay just on the right side of over the top. Most importantly, Ace’s personality shines through it all. This could be a winner.
Score: 9/10
Robyn: I was 100% Team Ace in 2014, I love “Riot”, “Stupid” – all her stuff, basically – but maybe for that reason I’m a disappointed by “Don’t Worry”. It’s a great, fun pop song, but it feels like a step back from Ace’s other stuff. The cool sound and secret social commentary of “Busy Doin’ Nothin'” is gone, and in its place is a generic “It’s gonna be ok” message. It’s still good – most national finals would kill for a song like this – but it could be so much better.
Score: 7/10
Tobias: She’s in it to win it! But will she win it? No. It’s not as good as “Busy Doin’ Nothin'”, but “Don’t Worry” is still one of the most advanced and powerful performance this year, along with Molly Sandén. The refrain is kind of flat and the melody is not that easy to remember — you will need to listen to it a few times. But it is a good song. It’s not bad, but it’s not douze points. I feel bad for her since it’s hard to deliver another great song just two years after a big hit. We will always compare it with “Busy Doin’ Nothin'”.
Score: 7/10
William: The staging is absolutely amazing — but it needs to be to elevated. An OK, if not amazing, song. The mambo vibe is inviting and laidback, but ultimately that’s the problem: Ace excels most when her bangers actually bang. This is too flat for her and, sadly, for me. My points stem largely from my love of her, not this number.
Score: 7.5/10
In the Swedish Wiwi Jury we have 26 jurors but only have room for 10 reviews. The remaining 16 scores are below!
Anthony: 9/10
Bogdan: 9/10
Chris: 8/10
Denise: 9/10
Josh: 8.5/10
Luis: 8/10
Marek: 9/10
Maria: 6.5/10
Max: 7.5/10
Patrick: 7/10
Ramadan: 7/10
Rezo: 6/10
Ron: 8.5/10
Sami: 8/10
Sinan: 8.5/10
Steinunn: 7/10
The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 6 and a high of 10.
She did absolutely wonderful in her performance, Ace for the win 🙂
Busy Doin’ Nothin’ was a much better song. This is still good, if a little more on the unremarkable side – the dynamics are kind of flat and it doesn’t really feel like there’s much change between parts of the song. BDN used dynamics really well, on the other hand. I do feel as though she should’ve given this song to someone else to sing (unlike BDN where her voice fit better), but I can’t blame her for wanting to try and I can’t knock the cool style in her performance.
Gooooo Ace!
I remember thinking the song sounded like a hot mess when the 30 second snippet was released, but after seeing the full performance… consider me completely converted!
I really, REALLY want Ace to win Melfest. ‘Don’t Worry’ NEEDS to be at Eurovision!
Currently my #1 I like it way more than Busy Doin Nothin.
I miss the review videos 🙁
I never really got the hype around “Busy Doin’ Nothing”, so I actually like this better. It’s not gonna win Melodifestivalen, but it’s still a very good, professional and extremely catchy (!) entry. Out of the 8 finalists so far she’s my #3.
Not a great song but still pretty good.
I should come in at about 6th in the final but she is popular so she might do better than that. Definitely not a potential threat at Eurovision itself and Ace is capable of doing better.
i love how you guys love to count how many words are repeated throughout the song. that is some A+ effort right there.
And here we have another overrated melfest song! I’m sure if it was another artist the one singing this song the result wouldn’t be that 8.06. This song is very average if not bad, she can’t sing at all, it’s always the same tone and her voice is very limited, I must say she dances very well and also she’s very expressive. On the other hand, it’s funny to read comments from Ace’s lovers about Frans not singing, but this isn’t better, as I said her voice is very limited and monotonous which make the song distasteful. I agree that… Read more »
I will say this: awful vocal performance as bad as her previous performance. This girl has no vocal range despite the attitude and the facial expression but vocal wise this is sadly average … But on the other hand, I love the vibe, the sillyness and the groove of “Don’t worry” it’s addictive … I was never into Busy Doin’ Nothing mainly because it’s too Icona Pop for my taste … This mambo-retro is more my thing. Her voice is her biggest flaw. But yeah she know how to perform this! I have to agree with Eugene on this: recycling… Read more »
Oh wow
Did not see these scores coming lol
Well too bad u guys spent those on this song …. I predict a lower half of the scoreboard finish ….. It’s gonna get eaten alive in the Final.
Also, I remember all u could say about Dinah Nah was that she is old old old …… This girl is the same age but no one mentions it, talk about being bias.
My favorite to win, followed by Wiktoria, David Lindgren, and Isa
“Busy Doin’ Nothin'” was my favorite back then. Unfortunately “Don’t Worry” is just not on the same level. Not even close.
Melodifestivalen 2016 Winner!!!!!
(I hope)
“Ace Wilder is the single greatest performer alive.”
Antranig, you are a ridiculous human being.
First Margaret, now Ace Wilder. You really like childish music.
My number Two behind Oscar! Ace knows how to put on a great show! This definitely deserves Top 3 (I swear of Frans scores higher than this i might cry!!!)
Ugh… If this is gonna end lower than Frans, I’m gonna cry. My favorite entry this year!
great song. not as good as busy doing nothing but her live performance totally makes up for it.