The Wiwi Jury is reviewing the eight acts who have made it direkt till final at Melodifestivalen 2016. Next is 2014 Idol winner Lisa Ajax and her song “My Heart Wants Me Dead”. Did she slay us with her vocals? Read on to find out…
Lisa Ajax “My Heart Wants Me Dead”
“My Heart Wants Me Dead” reviews
Angus: J’adore. I was super hyped for Lisa at #Mello and “My Heart Wants Me Dead” doesn’t disappoint, blending together hypnotic beats, a supreme vocal and a sparkling performance that leaves you wanting more.
Score: 8.5/10
Deban: Cookie-cutter pop princess devoid of emotional depth. There’s a startling disconnect between the lyrics, and her execution of it on stage. Yes, she can sing and follow choreography cues, but sustainable pop requires more than that. Nonetheless, this is a cracking tune, lyrically and melodically.
Score: 7.5/10
Padraig: Lisa delivers a perfectly serviceable performance of a well produced pop song. But the title says it all — “My Heart Wants Me Dead”. Lyrically, it’s a very dark track but none of this is conveyed through Lisa’s performance. Listening to her vocals she could be singing about any number of happier topics. Of course, the toilet-roll from the ceiling does little to help matters. Maybe Lisa will grow into the song as she gains more life experience, unfortunately that’s not going to happen in time for the final.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: “My Heart Wants Me Dead” is a really well-crafted modern pop song, and Lisa Ajax delivers a great vocal performance, but I just can’t connect with it. It comes across as a bit too precise, too perfect. I’m not feeling the emotional turmoil that the lyrics are insisting is happening.
Score: 7/10
Tobias: It’s neither the best nor the worst. In Swedish, we’d say it was lagom – in the middle. “My Heart Wants Me Dead” is quite good song and Lisa has a great voice. She is doing a good and interesting performance and the touch of the Middle East sound works really well. It will be interesting to see where she will end up on Saturday, but it won’t be the top five.
Score: 6.5/10
William: The promise of the first 30 seconds is swept away by a truly mediocre chorus. To make matters worse, everything about the stage show is cheap — from the smoke machine, which is clearly broken, to the cheap toilet paper in the background. It’s forgettable at best. Easily my least favourite in the final.
Score: 4/10
Sami: This is incredibly catchy and when you hear it once, you can sing along on the next listen. Lisa has an amazing voice and she looks like she has been performing for ages. Some might find the song very annoying, because of its repetitive chorus and Lisa’s slightly whiny voice, but I really like the song.
Score: 8/10
Edd: Good hook, good vocals. The Asian instruments sound BEAUTIFUL and this, along with the staging, elevates a standard R&B ballad to something very interesting. Part of me still sees this song in vain, because I was convinced that it would’ve been SMILO that would go direkt till final (who I think could’ve won Eurovision). Nothing “wow,” but certainly enjoyable.
Score: 7.5
Antranig: I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in love with a song as quickly as I fell in love with this. From the very first second I heard the Oriental sounds come in, my body just wanted to feel that beat. The chorus is spectacular and Lisa’s vocals are phenomenal. This is a song I could have on repeat for hours on end and never get sick of it.
Score: 10/10
In the Swedish Wiwi Jury we have 26 jurors but only have room for nine reviews. The remaining 17 scores are below!
Bogdan: 7/10
Denise: 8/10
Marek: 7.5/10
Maria: 6/10
Patrick: 9/10
Rezo: 8/10
Sinan: 6/10
Bernardo: 8/10
Luis: 8.5/10
Josh: 7/10
Ron: 7/10
Anthony: 7.5/10
Chris: 8/10
Max: 6/10
Steinunn: 5/10
Ramadan: 8/10
Mikhail: 4/10
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 4 and a high of 10.
It’s an alright song. She is a good singer, but fails to convey the emotion of the song on stage. The staging feels like a bit much for me – imo she doesn’t need the dancers or the toilet roll back drop. Also, just repeating “everyday” isn’t a chorus – catchy, yes, but doesn’t work as a chorus. Yet the verses work nicely and the middle eastern hint makes it stand out from other pop songs. 7/10
well boring and i don’t even like it, i hate it
2.5/10
SMILO was decent. That’s it. It’s club-worthy but not Eurovision worthy.
Im so glad to read Edd about SMILO because for me they have been the best act in Melfest 2016 too.
I liked this at first, but meanwhile I really love this. My 4th favorite.
It won’t win on Saturday though (of course).
The song lacks a hook. It is not memorable either. After listening to it, I completely forget about it!
There are too many big acts left in Melfest for this to leave an impression.
Oh, the joys of teen-pop! 🙂
8/10
I like how some of you complained that the lyrics are dark and Lisa’s performance doesn’t make the lyrics believable but Lisa herself has made it clear on her SVT-site that despite the song’s title, it’s not supposed to be a sad song.
She herself describes the song as a song with “a lot of happiness and warmth” and that is also how I experience the song. However, I’m not saying that you guys are wrong because everybody interprets lyrics in their own way, I just think it’s fun how people can interpret a song’s emotions so differently. 🙂
I love this song and if you guys are saying you preferred SMILO…I can’t really take your opinion too seriously. 9/10