Yesterday the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Iceland and visited the mighty Strokkur geyser. As the powerful geothermal wonder gushed, we discussed Greta Salóme and her song “Here Them Calling”. Were we ready to answer that call? Or did we hang up? Read on to find out!
Greta Salóme – “Hear Them Calling”
“Hear Them Calling” reviews
William: Rooted in Icelandic folk, “Hear Them Calling” is less pop music and more three-minute art piece. The clever lyrics set up an ambiguity that never resolves: The voices call, whisper and howl, but we don’t know if they are a source of comfort or torment, and at times their pledge to come home sounds like a threat. The music builds on that tension, with the thumping timpani — reminiscent of a heartbeat — and metallic clangs creating a sense of urgency and drive. Despite tapping into something tribal and ancient, the song swells with modern instrumentation and production. It’s mystical, other-worldly and gripping — easily my favourite track of the year.
Score: 10/10
Patrick: Yep, Patrick is really happy about Greta representing Iceland for many reasons. First of all “Hear Them Calling” was the best song in the selection and it’s GRETA, like, THE Greta Salome who we all adored in 2012. “Hear Them Calling” is one of my favourites this year. It has such a strong sound, her vocals are matching perfectly and the choreography is stunning. People who say its Måns’ backdrop — back off, haters. This is a different concept as I don’t see a little person sitting next to Greta. Anyways, if Iceland doesn’t do well, then I will lose my hope in people. Slay!
Score: 9/10
Judit: “Hear Them Calling” is a catchy and a perfectly composed song. Greta knows how Eurovision works and she’s not lost without Jonsi. This song fits her voice, I love the background (hopefully she takes it to Stockholm). I really hope she will be in the top 10.
Score: 7.5/10
Luis: Iceland’s entry is probably one of the most clever this year. On itself, “Hear them calling” is pleasant enough to have it on repeat, but mixed with the staging, it’s pure magic. Greta’s performance in the national selection was a bit robotic, that’s true, but it’s just a matter of polishing a quite complicated routine. What this woman does is not within any artist’s scope, and hence it’s normal that the staging is not 100% coordinated on its second live take, but by the time this reaches Stockholm, be ready to witness how a singing shadow called Greta Salóme steals the show.
Score: 9.5/10
Angus: This wasn’t completely overwhelming in the original version, feeling a little uneven and as if the pace dropped in all the wrong places. The final mix has rectified that and the screens elevate “Hear Them Calling” into a slice of something really magical. While I’m not convinced it has winning potential, I am convinced Greta can put Iceland back in the top 10 where it belongs.
Score: 6/10
Anthony: Just as she did in 2012, Greta Salóme returns with another self-written entry and “Hear Them Calling” is simply three minutes of brilliance. The melody has you gripped but the chorus manages to retain the catchiness of a Eurovision pop song. Her shadow staging fits in with her storytelling and shows it’s no gimmick. I would have preferred the original Icelandic version “Raddirnar”, but I respect Greta’s decision to go with the English version.
Score: 8/10
Bogdan: I find Greta’s song slightly dated, because I used to listen to Icelandic band Of Monsters And Men‘s similar kind of songs back in 2012. Oh well. Notwithstanding that, it’s a very strong entry for Iceland, with a devilishly clever staging. Haters of LED screens should take into account that Greta is petite and this is a smart way to make her fill the stage without bringing the backing vocalists or dancing. Plus, it is as spectacular as the song. “Hear Them Calling” is Iceland’s best chance to win the contest since 2009.
Score: 8.5/10
Deban: Greta Salóme may have borrowed ideas from some of Eurovision’s greatest, but let’s get one thing straight – her work isn’t plagiarised. “Hear Them Calling” is a sophisticated take on haunting pop, showcasing a breath of talent in visuals, sound and movement. Enigmatic and deeply resonant, this entry touches listeners in both Icelandic and English versions.
Score: 9.5/10
Mike: This song is simply a masterpiece. Greta might have used some ideas from previous Swedish Eurovision winners but to be fair I think she even does it better. It took me a while to understand the song but in the weekend of the Icelandic national final I even started thinking this could be Iceland’s first Eurovision winning entry. Though I can not give it a perfect 10 because a bit of the ”Raddirnar” magic was lost in the English translation.
Score: 9.5/10
Padraig: “Hear Them Calling” is nigh on perfection. Greta takes us on a spirited sprint through the emotional spectrum. Are the voices good or bad? Are we singing in solidarity or revolt? I’m never quite sure, but my heart beats faster and my smile grows. The word anthemic is thrown around a lot, yet in this case it’s completely appropriate. And of course, there’s the staging. It’s simply sublime and I’m fully confident that Greta will have ironed out the minor choreography kinks by May. Dedicated Eurovision fans may have become immune to the songs many intricacies, but first time viewers are in for a true sensory treat. And then there’s the false ending. Just imagine that moment during the winner’s encore.
Score: 10/10
Robyn: “Hear them Calling” is one of the strongest entries Iceland has entered in years, with Greta’s skilled songcraft shining. While the staging is obviously inspired by the projection mapping of “Heroes”, it’s brought enough of its own character, that dark, mysterious Nordic vibe. The staging needs a little work (Greta spends too much of the song in darkness, and the false ending kills the flow), but assuming that’s all sorted out, this could easily be a contender for the top 10.
Score: 8/10
Sami: “Hear Them Calling” is everything we want a Eurovision winner to be. The performance really stands out, the song gets stuck in your head from the first time you hear it and the whole package is three minutes of pop perfection. You can hear that Icelandic sound, but it still has an international sound to get people behind it from all corners of Europe. It deserves to — and most likely will — do very well in the contest.
Score: 9/10
In the Wiwi Jury we have 40 jurors but only have room for 12 reviews. The remaining 28 scores are below.
Antranig: 10/10
Bernardo: 8.5/10
Chris: 7.5/10
Cristian: 5/10
David: 8.5/10
Dayana: 8.5/10
Denise: 8/10
Diego: 8.5/10
Edd: 10/10
Forrest: 7.5/10
George: 10/10
Gökhan: 6.5/10
Jason: 9/10
Josh: 9/10
Kristin: 9/10
Liam: 10/10
Marek: 9.5/10
Maria: 7/10
Mario: 7/10
Max: 9.5/10
Mikhail: 10/10
Renske: 8/10
Rezo: 4/10
Sinan: 8.5/10
Steinunn: 7.5/10
Tobias: 6/10
William C: 8/10
Zakaria: 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 4 and a high of 10.
A tad over-rated wiwi jury! Could you really all be wrong and all off point?. lol. 5/10
Listened to it and it didn’t hold my interest, though her voice was as clear as a bell.
@Maya
you know Maan, from the voice of holland
If Greta’s stage director can reproduce the images behind her on the Stockholm stage and position them perfectly, or go a step further with CGI, this might be a sleeping giant-killer. She is my #5 after my first review, and will likely stay in my top 10 after I’m done with my 2nd review this week.
I give Greta Salome 8,5/10 because I like her song with folk`s elements. It`s good song and magical performance. Iceland would be high in Grand Final but in my opinion wouldn`t win. Greta Salome – good luck in Stockholm:)
Icelandic folk tune becomes musical theatre art act. It’s very well put together and I personally really like it. Again there are some dark undertones in the song itself, but it’s impossible not to admire Greta’s performance – she’s stunning in musicality and movement, and seemingly always in tune. This should be a strong finalist this year, although I understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Overrated as heck. 3/10 and a 31st in my top
It’s not plagiarism. Just unoriginal and trying too hard.
I hate this song. It’s not a qualifier for me.
It just sounds like a song that Of Monsters and Men said no to. (Although, I’d probably like it if they would sing it, as I like almost all of their songs).
Maybe it’s all in Greta? I dislike Never Forget 100 times more than this one, actually.
If this is masterpiece you don’t have taste for music at all… so overrated, 5/10
They will be lucky to be in Final. They stole animation from Mans and choreography from Loreen. This is copy-paste generic song.What is authentic in this song? She repeats the same lyrics couple of times in song
Icelandic people- stop be butthurt- this won’t won or won’t be in top 10!
@maya
Plagiarism, mmm? Please, tell me more about it.
Its because there’s a backing track, isn’t it? Mans and Loreen had backing tracks to their song, so Greta rips them off by having a backing track of her own.
So obvious.
The best song this year imo! Hear Them Calling is the only song which gives me chills and makes me feel something. If this competition was fair, she would win, it’s a shame it’s not.
This is really bad song- PLAGIARISM of Loreen’s and Maan’s song.IT’s PLAGIARISM, not the best song
You have Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Serbia,Bulgaria that have million time better song than this one.I would enjoy more to Russia win than this bad overhyped plagiarism.
Best entry this year by far and the real winner of Eurovision 2016! Reykjavík 2017
Best Nordic entry this year! The staging will be great, defenite contender for a top 10 spot… but not as good as France, Italy or Australia 😉
This just looks unnatural to me and it tries too hard.
I also don’t buy the violin intro. You can please the crowd at the pre-parties with whatever you want, but you will have only 3 minutes on the stage in Stockholm => no violin intro. And as I said earlier, the vocal parts are just flat, and it really holds back the singers voice.
@bornealy
Totally agree.As for the song I can’t see it qualifying and if it does I doubt it will score more than 20th place.
5/10
My personal fav FTW!
A cheerful melody + an entertaining staging. An overall show that everybody should enjoy.
She’s also a lovely woman. I love the icelandic character, calm & composed!
As William said, this is not just a song! This is art! It combines many elements and the overall result is amazing! Also the revamp has made the song stronger! The staging is great and it gives life to the song, so I hope that Greta will bring it in Stockholm! My fear is that the song is not very accessible, so people that will listen to it for the first time may not like it!
9/10
This is a clear contender for the win. It’s not copying Mans or Loreen AT ALL, and it irritates me when people think so. I’m crossing my fingers for Reykjavik 2017 (which I’ve said far too many times already lol) easily my favourite this year by far 🙂
What overrated piece of nothing this song is
It is generic copy of Euphoria ( choreography) and Heroes ( animation and shadows)
Do you really have such bade taste, Wiwi?
This song is miles from good song. It won’t be in first 10 at all. I am bored of Scandinavians.Italian song is so better than this piece of nothing
@Colin
thank you, and i don’t know i can’t comment on the Czech Republic Entry either
Greta is ESC royalty & her song is one of the most interesting, musically, lyrically & on stage. I hope it does well.
Unfortunately I am not as excited as the Wiwi jury. Currently I rank Hear Them Calling 15 of 43.
@Nicky91, thanks, you are welcome.
Wiwi Jury – Why can’t we comment on The Czech Republic review???
I expected wiwiblogss to overrate this entry, but not this ridicuolusly. No originality, nothing exceptional, just an average/good song at best. The staging is so obviously trying to ride the succes of Loreen and Mans Zelmerlöw (I could also add Rybak for the violin, but I give her a pass on that one, because violin is more common, and I think she will not use it in Stockholm…), which is not a bad thing. But if you are inspired by others, you need to be more innovative, do it better than them, and take it another level. I don’t see… Read more »
I think you are completly overreacting. This song is very good, no doubts about it, but for god’s sake, this score is too damn high. Still, it’s better than overrated Australia (it’s only because the singer is well known and because of the country itself), Croatia (i think it has a good atmosphere but overall it’s very typical and nothing new) or worse, Spain (3 minutes of Say Yay screams is devastating, just awful!). I hope that you give France a strong score because that song deserves to be Eurovision 2016 winner! VIVE LA FRANCE!
i think this entry is a little bit overrated, to be honest, it’s not really a very original composition and it’s far from being a winner, in my opinion and besides it stands very little to no chances of winning this year, i mean, let’s be honest, it’s too reminescent of ‘Heroes’ to win.
Absolutely love it. Was not entirely convinced that the switch to English was going to hold up as the Icelandic was so good but Greta managed to make it work. Also, Iceland got stung last year by having a workable song but a horrible live performer so Greta is easily an upgrade and a safe choice. I love the fact that Iceland has got gone for disposible pop like many of the other favourites this year and the song walks and talks like a Eurovision winner but my worry is that not many countries are going to give this 12… Read more »
Iceland is my favorite country in the ESC ! And they definitely haven’t let me down with this masterpiece !
@Colin
thank you for your opinion
@Deen
of course, thank you that you mentioned it 🙂
“Hear Them Calling” also reminds me of ‘Of Monsters and Men’ which is a good thing. I wouldn’t call it an unoriginal or mainstream song, it is quite different to many other Eurovision entries. When it comes to staging it is obviously inspired by “Heroes” though.
Still, a very strong entry from Iceland – and I’m one of the few persons who normally dislike their entries (apart from 2012).
This is a good example of a generic song. It sounds like tens of other “successful” eurovision songs, as it’s been derived from other eurovision songs. Let’s make a winner song! Let’s borrow this bit from that song.. that part from that song.. Cool! Now, tick all the boxes and.. Yeah! We have a song!
Things are always “nice” in such songs. That’s why no one remembers them.
There you have it……any sounds more than three years old are “slightly dated”, but when latvia copies sounds from Calvin Harris, its called “avantgarde production” and “perfect tune” because of singer’s “perfect looks”
This must be a joke. This song is a big mess, it sounds like they pasted 3 unrelated songs together. They’re trying to be everything at the same time, and that just sounds like nothing in the end.
Wiwibloggs really likes big tacky over-the-top entries. 😉
Love this! It’s so shades of “Of Monsters & Men”. I love Greta’s voice, the the interaction with the animation and it’s damn catchy.
In my top 10. Good luck Iceland!
8.5/10
Love the slow build in verses, love the use of brass instruments in the chorus, love her voice on this track, love the stage performance. After what happened last year, Iceland should be able to bounce back with this amazing entry. Whenever I see comments saying Greta Salome copied Loreen and Måns Zelmerlöw, I cry a little at the ignorance and stupidity of these comments, then I start laughing at them. I had no idea Mäns invented projections and I never knew Loreen created dim lighting and choreography…. Come on, people!
I find this massively overrated. Yes, Greta is a good singer and performer, but for me the attempt at originality fails, and I simply do not like the song. 3/10
Every time I see the black smoke come out of her chest it makes me think of Doctor Who, and the episode where Clara faces the raven.
For those of us who get out of the house and watch more than just Eurovision shows, Hear Them Calling is contemporary performance staging that takes inspiration from more sources than just last year’s Eurovision show.
If Heroes is 9, I think this is 6. In Heroes, we can a few sounds creatively entangle with each other but they play in a very good harmony and they suit almost every part of the story that the song tries to deliver. When Heroes hits its first note, immediately we’re pulled into another dimension where the story begins. There’s helplessness and thoughtfulness in the beginning then the “hero” picks up himself complete with a new spirit. I think that kind of creativity appears to be absent in Greta’s song.
This is a great song that should definitely top the Wiwi jury. Will be interesting to see how it goes against some of the heavy weights (like Italy, Russia, France and Bulgaria) that haven’t been released yet.
Hmm, well yes the song is not bad and the performance can be amazing if they slightly improve it. I don’t think that the work with shadows can be regarded as a copy of “Heroes”, I only wonder if the televoters and the jury like a singer who is hardly seen on the stage. Apart from that it might be too obvious that Iceland tries too hard to make a good show. The jury this year probably cares more about the song and the lyrics and therefore prefers a calmer or less spectacular song. All in all I find it… Read more »
A little overrated, don’t you think? 8’37 is too much in comparison with the other songs that have been reviewed. Don’t get me wrong, I like the song, but to me it would be a 7’5 as much.
@Deen
Thank you! nicky 91 is aiming for the 7 million views of Sergey lazarev with his continuous annoying pushing. Well nicky 91 keep dreaming!!!!
Copycat cries seem to be the bog-standard go to of ESC fans when they don’t like a song for various reasons (Generally: A) They resent the country’s success; B) They feel threatened by the country’s entrant this year; C) They don’t like the artist for whatever reason; D) Politics) but they really have nothing better to say against it.
I’m sure I don’t need to point out the irony in uncreatively using a stock argument of accusing something else is uncreative.
overrated crap, will probably advance to the final on behalf of a much more deserving country, like czech republic……….
As for the song, it’s great but nothing exceptional. I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t qualify tbh. The 1rst SF will be a bloodbath.
7/10
@Nick91
Can you just stop talking about Malta in every article ? It’s annoying. It’s written “Wiwi Jury: Iceland’s Greta Salóme with Hear Them Calling”, not “Wiwi Jury: Malta’s Ira Losco with Walk on Water”
Thanks.
Easily my favorite.
10/10
My semi finals 1 qualifiers: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Malta, Netherlands, Russia
Still, I like Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova quite enough as well.
Meh: Finland, Greece
Bad: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, San Marino