They made us go haba, haba in 2010 and they encouraged us to break the ice in 2016. But what will Norway throw have us doing this year? To find out the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — recently gathered in Oslo to discuss the ten acts competing in Melodi Grand Prix, the national selection for Eurovision 2017. Today we turn to Jenny Augusta and her song “I Go Where You Go”. Does Jenny get us going? Read on to find out…
Jenny Augusta – “I Go Where You Go”
“I Go Where You Go” Reviews
Luis: I didn’t know dolphins with marshmallow horns were so appealing. In all its weirdness, this song is one of the best in Norway’s MGP. It’s fresh, delightful and quirky, and Jenny’s voice is fab. Staging and choreography may make this trainwreck of a song work. But for now I’m totally digging the studio version. I go where Jenny goes!
Score: 7.5/10
William: She sings of miniature rainbows, cats riding dolphins with marshmallow horns and the sudden appearance of unicorns. I don’t know what she’s smoking, but I advise all of you to avoid. From the piercing vocals to the banjo to the rodeo-hoedown sound, this is beyond bonkers. And that’s probably why I find it both hilar and entertaining. Musically it’s a no, but she gets points for making me smile.
Score: 6/10
Antranig: This has to be one of the most unconventional national final entries — yet it somehow works. She’s chasing unicorns and marshmallows but I want to go where she goes anyway. A little bit of weird goes a long way — the song isn’t trying to be accurate, safe or predictable and there is plenty of merit to that. It will be very interesting to see how they stage this.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: I was going to ask why the main violin hook of this song sounds like The Simpsons theme song. But then along came “cats riding dolphins with marshmallow horns” and suddenly nothing mattered. “I Go Where You Go” is delightfully weird. It is three minutes away from the cruel world, offering a peaceful fantasy land full of rainbows. Yay!
Score: 6.5/10
Chris: I’m pretty certain that in another life Jenny was called Rain and had her own kiln. This is so kooky and offbeat that it probably strays a little too far off centre to really work. Enjoyable whilst it’s on, but this isn’t a song that is going to make me mash the repeat button. I’ll be upset if the staging doesn’t have marshmallow horns included though.
Score: 6/10
Jordi: Jenny is driving me to heaven or the land of dolphins with marshmallow horns. Her angelical voice mixed with a magical but Celtic and traditional melody, it already feels heavenly. This is enchanting and sweet, but distinctive. Even if her voice is pure, I’m quite concerned if it’s strong enough to win the hearts of Eurovision fans. “I Go Where You Go” is a slice of pure wonder, and I feel I’m already going where she’s going – take me to that place where rainbows expand!
Score: 7.5/10
Edd: Wow. It starts off teasing a beautiful folky chant and ends up as a very bizarre, Björk-esque song. It’s messy production, and the wailing backing vocals and symbol crashes can make it stressful at times — but that’s its appeal. If she can play on the weird and prowl around the stage like some possessed Norse princess, then this could be magic. If she tries to play it off as a cute folk song, it could be seriously awkward.
Score: 7.5/10
Forrest: On the surface, this is a pleasant enough folk ballad, although a close listen to the lyrics paints a very strange picture indeed. An ethereal world of “candy floss clouds” and a galloping unicorn descends into one with “mountains of sorrow and pain” where the aforementioned unicorn drowns in a river. This is quirky and, if nothing else, will provide an interesting opportunity for creative staging. I, for one, am looking forward to the dolphin-riding cats making an appearance during the performance.
Score: 6/10
Our jury for Melodi Grand Prix 2017 contains 20 jurors, but we only have room for eight reviews. The remaining 12 scores are listed below.
Angus: 3/10
Bernardo: 5/10
Cinan: 4.5/10
Dayana: 7/10
Florian: 5/10
Jason: 8/10
Josh: 5/10
Jovana: 9/10
Kristin: 6/10
Sami: 3/10
Steinunn: 5.5/10
Zakaria: 6/10
Before calculating the average score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 3 and a high of 9.
Fun-fact: She made a break through by entering Norske Talenter (Norway’s got talent) and her most popular song is a song called “Drit og dra” which basically means “F..k off”. So one could call her lyrics rather special! But also hella fun!
Is it just me, or does the string hook sound a lot like the theme song of The Simpsons?
This is a sweet song. I actually liked it when I listened to it.
It has a folk element I like.
However it gets repetitive at some point.
Plus, I don’t know if people will like this. It’s difficult to really like a folk song.
The only thing I get is a headache.
Not nearly as good as Wrecking crew.
I like only two of the songs in Norway’s pre-selection: This one and Elin’s entry.
Just to clarify, “Haba Haba” is from 2011. BTW, “I Go Where You Go” has GOT to win. 😀
Sorry, but this one is horrible… 6,06/10? :O haha that’s funny.
I love this. It’s my favourite! Go Jenny! 12 points from Spain 🙂