The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the songs competing in the grand final of Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2018. Next we look at Melfest queen Jessica Andersson and her song “Party Voice”. Did we want to dance with this mother? Read on to find out!
Jessica Andersson – “Party Voice”
“Party Voice” reviews
Antranig: What do I love more than a schlager queen? Absolutely nothing. I was expecting “Party Voice” to be epic and fun from the title alone. What I wasn’t expecting was for this to be a genuine contender to win Melfest as one of the best entries in this year’s competition. Jessica isn’t my favourite to win Melfest but she’s up there near the top and you can be sure she’ll nail a Eurovision performance if she gets there. If “Party Voice” gets to Lisbon, you’ll hear my fanboy voice.
Score: 9/10
Bernardo: Fun, catchy and well produced. Add a beautiful and charismatic performer to that and you have an overall nice package. Having said that, I can barely hear Jessica’s party voice, because the backing vocals mics are too high. We know she can sing — lower those mics and shine bright Jessica.
Score: 6.5/10
Cinan: I love when there are these type of songs in Melodifestivalen. It makes me feel that this is their thing — having a party, not caring about bad things, and having fun all the time. Jessica has a very good song. We don’t need any more ballads — let’s have a party! I wish her good luck.
Score: 7.5/10
Luis: In a way, it should be worrying that the best act in a Melfest semi-final is a schlager tune, but well, it happened. “Party Voice” is fun, catchy and it doesn’t really bother. It’s a bit of variety in the quite plain field of Sweden’s final. There’s no question Jessica can perform and uplift her entry, so schlager fans will absolutely love this entry. I’m not really in that demographic, but I’m well aware this is a well-produced and well-staged entry that could easily sneak into the top five of Melfest 2018.
Score: 7/10
Ron: I love Jessica Andersson and I must say “Party Voice” is a great schlager candy treat for all of us who missed schlager in recent years. But even though it’s one of the best songs this year, I expected much more. Jessica does look and sound great, but (like in many other performances this year) the backing vocals are way too high and we don’t get to hear her lovely voice much. Other than that I don’t know if it’s the sound or the pronunciation but I can barely understand half of the words being sung. This song automatically throws me back to Melodifestivalen 2006 where Jessica sang “Kalla Nätter” with a sexy outfit and a sexy dance. Maybe she doesn’t want to repeat it 10 years later, but she should definitely wear a sexier outfit other than her black suit.
Score: 7.5/10
William: She entered Melodifestivalen perceived as a tired old showgirl. But now Jessica is proving that she’s a dark horse to win it all. Taking on schlager and pulling it solidly into the 00s, she’s mixing her party voice with plenty of backing vocals to deliver one of the only listenable Melfest tracks of 2018. It may sound like faint praise, but I’m ready to dance like a mother… so long as Jessica is there to pack my lunch in the morning. Slay mama!
Score: 7/10
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: 6/10
Anthony: 7.5/10
Bogdan: 5/10
Chris: 6/10
Deban: 6.5/10
Jordi: 5/10
Josh: 6.5/10
Natalie: 6/10
Robyn: 7.5/10
Tobias: 7/10
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 5 and a high of 9.
I like it because of the Madonna Hung Up hook playing throughout the song.
I LOVE this song. It’s old good schlager sang by a good looking diva with a great voice. Although I love the evolution in Eurovision, I can’t help but missing the 2000s glamour and glitter from our beloved eurodivas <3 Go Jessica!
I like it’s up beat. You could have heard it in a club or sth (which I like). However, I don’t really like the chorus and I have some trouble with the lyrics.
5.5/10
I actually think this isn’t THAT bad, but it’s not that good either…. There are definitly worse Songs (Rolandz, Mendez,Martin Almgren, Renaida imo, Mariette) but neither the televote nor the Jury will give her many Points. It’s really dated Schlager, but it’s kinda catchy. 6/10
Although I concur with the positivity, I disagree with William’s review in that there is no way that this is bringing schlager into the modern day. This is unapologetically dated and I love it for that.
Oh how i wished that this had a chance to win, esc needs this. I guess it’ll be Felix Benjamin or Mariette
The song is catchy yet dated and Jessica is too old to sing this kind of song. No shade to Jessica, anyone over 25 shouldn’t be allowed to sing this song. NEXT!
Ageist nonsense.
You want someone under 25 to sing ”dance like a mother”? 😛
Maybe for those reality shows that follow impregnated teens.
I see that you are informed, I don’t watch any of these, luckily 😀
I don’t watch them either, I don’t even own a TV. I just know that they exist. One needs to be informed. 😛
well, I’ve always interpreted it to be ‘dance like a motherf**ker’, but Jessica decided to censor herself 😉
It’s just a fun but banal song. She has the potential to carry a heavier/better song. So no ageism here!
Same here! Honestly I thought it was censored swearing.
For real? I would say that nobody under the age of 25 should be allowed to sing this song. It’s like Sieneke, the Dutch teen from 2010, who had to sing a song made for an 89-year-old. They also styled her like a granny. Jessica’s song is very age-appropriote for her, if anything. It sounds like it was made for a middle-aged desperate housewife and they lyrics are literally catering to that image as well.
“I’m gonna dance like a mother”, the song says. So, there are no mothers over 25? Don’t make me laugh. Plus, Jessica IS rather young. Just because many singers on ESC are even youngER, doesn’t mean that she isn’t. What century do you live in?
PS. Not that it matters to the song, but I’d personally vote for Jessica on Top Model over many decades younger women.
Sertab Erener won the contest at 39 or something like that.
Let me be clear: I don’t want ESC to be a 25 years and older affair. God no. I’ll take a Kaliopi over a Demy any day of the week.
With this song, however, it just bothers me that there’s such a disconnect between the tone of the song and who Jessica is.
Totally agree. What a comparison. Kaliopi can actually sing, there’s the first striking difference.
About Jessica: I am only bothered that’s a crap song. Typical of Kempe. I think I would him more if someone else wrote the lyrics. The ain’t his strong suit.
How old are you Jelly, if even 26-year-old people are old for you? I guess 13.
I’m 32, thank you very much 🙂
And I would never in my life want to represent my country with that song at this age.
I think it’s great.
8.5/10
NO NO NO…
for the last places in eurovision.
By the way, if anyone has any other leaks… feel free to post them here asap. 😀 I was kinda hoping the trend would continue,
Well, Franka’s song will be out today, so the wait for the next entry will be very short anyway.
It’s fun while I listen to it but is super dated and doesn’t stick in my head at all. I was having a laugh when at one point in time this went on to become 1 in odds
6/10
Jessica is a good artist who I have come to respect over the years. This song is typical of MelFest, but compared to most of the competition this year it actually holds up quite well. This is my 4th favourite to win MelFest this year. 7.5/10
It’s a dated schlager, but it’s very enjoyable. Jessica oozes great energy and is very attractive. The song is catchy and quirky, even if cheesy.
7/10
Australia’s Song Is Available on this website: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6fqopb
There are three angles I’d like to briefly touch upon: 1: That of embracing womanhood and independence. She said something in the postcard about her wanting to “harness my full potential, as a human being, a woman, and a mother.” And she spoke about finally breaking free from the role of constantly pleasing others. With her on stage are 4 relatively ‘mature’ dancers, which certainly is refreshing. I dunno, I think she succeded in tapping into the zeitgeist here. 2: That of the convenient comparison to The Girl 2012. Both are Kempe schlagers, by schlager queens, surrounded by violet, singing… Read more »
Please mommy, stop it. She may be a MILF, but her song would not even be sexy or cool enough for the Russian grannies from 2012.
How this got a higher score than LIAMOO is a disgrace to music to me
This. Liamoo has modern, original, personal, different song. This is what we have heard for 100 years.
To be fair, we have not heard it THIS BAD for a hundred years. It is a new low. I guess that’s also some kind of “new”. hahaha
The answer is simple: If you are devoted Eurovision fan and you don’t love schlagers, you are not devoted Eurovision fan :))
LIAMOO is a Muggle rapper.