Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Oslo to get burgers with Margaret Berger. After we completely stuffed our stomachs with what might have been mutton, we settled down to review the ten acts competing in Norway’s national final, Melodi Grand Prix 2018. Next up, we look at Nicoline and her song “Light Me Up”. Does Nicoline light our fire? Read on to find out…
Nicoline – “Light Me Up”
“Light Me Up” reviews
Deban: As an unbending anti-smoker, I take objection to the lyrical content here. Putting that aside, it’s a generic slice of EDM pop that isn’t lighting my fire — it barely flickers.
Score: 5/10
Bernardo: This should get me up and invite me to the dance floor but the chorus is so underwhelming. Not even Nicoline’s crystal-clear voice makes me move. It’s generic but at the same time it may stand out enough to contend for a victory.
Score: 5.5/10
Robyn: There are so many references to cigarettes and smoking that it’s a wonder the artist isn’t named Nicotine. If you ignore all the Phillip Morris propaganda, “Light Me Up” is a cute love song. It sounds like it’s building up to a pop drop, but wisely throws in a proper — and very catchy — chorus instead. It’s another really good MPG 2018 entry. The national final will be a bloodbath.
Score: 7.5/10
Chris: I’m getting the distinct impression that Nicoline doesn’t want to go home yet. This isn’t so much crafting a song so that it has a great hook or earworm. Instead, it’s “beating you into submission with a phrase repeated too often”. Nicoline sounds great, but that should be a given in MGP. Sadly the song itself just lets everything down here.
Score: 5/10
Josh: Writing this review is so infuriating because autocorrect wants to keep changing Nicoline to nicotine and one can’t help but feel peer pressured into smoking cigarettes. And how apt that the song is called “Light Me Up”! This is a perfectly decent pop entry, but the lack of dynamism and originality makes this forgettable. I can’t see this winning MGP 2018.
Score: 6/10
Our jury for 2018 consists of 15 jurors, but we only have room for 5 reviews. The remaining 10 scores are listed below.
Antony: 7/10
Antranig: 5/10
Bogdan: 7/10
Cinan: 8.5/10
Jonathan: 6.5/10
Kristin: 6/10
Lukas: 8/10
Rezo: 4/10
Sebastian: 8.5/10
Steinunn: 6/10
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 8.5.
The hook in the chorus is catchy, the whole song is very enjoyable. “Light Me Up” or “Who We Are” should win in Norway
Very radio friendly! Love the verses, the chorus is just fine.
6/10
This NF from Norway is one of the worst of the year, alongside Belarus and Sweden. Full of trash, I only highlight one song: Who we Are. The rest is waste of time!
Azerbaijan 2012 did it better!!
not bad….but doesn’t stand out for me.
6/10
About this one: As a militant non-smoker, it’s a big NO-NO from me as well, of course.
Kudos to Norway for releasing the full versions of their songs way ahead of their show. I just wish they’d be better. Although, compared to Denmark, they’re downright awesome
It’s enjoyable for it’s light music, even though all the cigarette references are both too much and not enough. Is this song about smoking? Hmm…
6/10
Yea, the cigarette references are too much and tragic. Don’t smoke y’all.
This song has far too many cancer stick references for it not to be a promotional campaign.
Does she got credit for being competent in her genre and carrying a good voice in an EDM track? Yeah.
Is it a highlight of MGP? …Eeeeeeeeh. Can, but is not. It is enjoyable, but forgettable, should try to push it to the next level.
6.5/10