The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals reviews the eight acts who will be competing in the anda chansen round of Melodifestivalen 2018. Next we take a look at Melfest sophomore Mimi Werner with her entry “Songburning”. Did we feel the heat? Read on to find out!

Mimi Werner – “Songburning”

“Songburning” reviews

Anthony: Mimi was robbed back in 2016 (ironically, in the same semi-final as Samir & Viktor), and I’m pleased for her that lightning didn’t strike twice. Continuing with the country-pop genre that Mimi is best known for, “Songburning” delivers the pleasant pop song vibes of a Carrie Underwood-esque single. But it does feel like a bit of a buzzkill after the upbeat “Ain’t No Good”.

Score: 7/10

Chris: Mimi is giving us her best Dolly impression in parts of “Songburning”. Perhaps that’s why it doesn’t quite click so much for me: it’s hard to tell who Mimi really is.Whereas the likes of First Aid Kit have cornered their own slice of the Americana market, Mimi kind of blends into the background as an artist here. It feels like it could be anyone singing – there’s some spark, but no explosion.

Score: 6/10

Deban: “Songburning” is a lightweight country-pop offering. Mimi Werner does a good job smiling through her lyrical adversity. However, the song title burns brighter than the actual composition. By Melodifestivalen standards, this is distinctly average.

Score: 5.5/10

Natalie: It’s always great to have a really charming country-inspired song in a competition like Melfest. Especially one that is as anthemic and catchy as this one! Those heavy drums in the chorus and the major chords are just magic for lifting you up, and Mimi seems so comfortable and energetic on stage. It’s just a shame that even though all the elements are done so well here, they’re not really anything we haven’t seen before, and it’s not exactly an earth-shattering original song. Also “Google Define: Songburning” doesn’t yield any results.

Score: 6.5/10

Robyn: I’m surprised at how much I like this song. Mimi really sells it — she sounds like she’s living every word and she really is about the power of a good song. “Songburning” has folky and country tones, but there’s a solid pop song at its core. The whole production is packed full of so much life and positivity that it’s impossible to not get buoyed along.

Score: 8/10

Tobias: Last time Mimi competed was in 2016 and she placed fifth in the semi-final. I’m not surprised she ended up in a better position this time. People know more about her now and the song I actually like a lot more than the one back in 2016. I don’t think that country songs are something Sweden would send to Eurovision but hey, it’s a nice tune.

Score: 4/10

In our Sweden Wiwi Jury, we have 16 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Angus: 6.5/10

Antranig: 8.5/10

Bernardo: 7/10

Bogdan: 7/10

Cinan: 8/10

Jordi: 7/10

Josh: 7/10

Luis: 6/10

Ron: 7/10

William: 5/10

 

 

 

 

 

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 4 and a high of 8.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.68/10

Read all our Melodifestivalen 2018 Wiwi Jury rankings here

Read more Melodifestivalen news here

9 Comments
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Elliott Powell
Elliott Powell
6 years ago

I really love Felix’s song

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

It reminds me of “Rainmaker” Emellie de Forest sang in 2014. It has this drums in the chorus. The song is good. Not the best though. The live performance elevates it. 6/10

ts
ts
6 years ago

This is one of my favourites to win to be honest….

SpirK
SpirK
6 years ago

Really like it. Ain’t no good is slightly better, but this one is really charming. She enjoys herself so much, her stage performance is fantastic(got to hit that note though) and the chorus has a nice hook. It’s too bad that Felix and Mimi are my AC favorites. 9/10

Antranig Shokayan
Editor
6 years ago

Love Mimi, best of luck!

Cedric
Cedric
6 years ago

It’s a great song but she stands no chance against Felix :/

esc freak
esc freak
6 years ago

I like this song lots. Country-pop is totally my thing. Sadly, she is up against Felix in Andra Chansen so I can’t see her advancing.

8/10

Eurovision Junior (NL)
Eurovision Junior (NL)
6 years ago
Reply to  esc freak

YES!!

Felix is my 1st
Mimi is my 6th

SO SAD!

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

A really good song in its genre but sadly the genre itself doesn’t seem to appeal to juries especially. I quite like the song but the verses are a little weak.
A 7.5/10