The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has travelled to Norway to review the songs competing in Melodi Grand Prix 2019. Ten years on from their last win, we are looking for the next Norwegian “Fairytale”. Up next is Carina Dahl with the song “Hold Me Down”. Will Carina soar or will the Wiwi Jury hold her down? Read on to find out.
Carina Dahl — “Hold Me Down”
“Hold Me Down” reviews
Antranig: Backed by a team consisting of Sennek and Laurell Barker, “Hold Me Down” oozes quality. Carina Dahl has the attitude and vocals to deliver a solid performance of this catchy number. It’s certainly not the best song in the Norwegian selection but many countries would be wishing they had this song in theirs. The chorus could use a touch up to give it a bit more oomph but “Hold Me Down” is a solid entry in every stretch of the imagination.
Score: 8.5/10
Antony: Produced with quality, the song has a tendency to flow throughout in a subtle manner. However, the killer vocals from Carina invigorates the song. The challenge for this act would be for Carina to deliver exceptional vocals to elevate the song and be competitive in a tough national final.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: The snippet of this played at the artist reveal came across as a lot more thrilling than the full song. It’s still a highly enjoyable piece of pop, expertly delivered by Carina and loaded with attitude. But as a song, “Hold Me Down” gets repetitive and starts to feel a lot longer than three minutes. It needs to tell more of a story to work as a Eurovision entry.
Score: 7/10
Oliver: A well-produced and professional entry, “Hold Me Down” checks all the boxes for what a pop song should be. That being said, I don’t believe that will be enough for the entry to stand out in the competition. It has a good flow and is accompanied by good vocals but I’m missing that unique star quality with this entry. Overall the word I’d use to sum it up us just nice.
Score: 7/10
Sebastian: Scandi-pop by the numbers, “Hold Me Down” holds my attention for a scintillating first verse. But by the time it gets to the chorus, my attention goes elsewhere. This had potential as a possible contender, but it unfortunately fails to take risks as it progresses.
Score: 5.5/10
Deban: Predictable pop that seemingly held me down for way longer than three minutes. It may be Spotify friendly, but it is also disposable and a tad boring.
Score: 5.5/10
In our Melodi Grand Prix 2019 Wiwi Jury, we have 14 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
| Florian: 7/10
Pablo: 2.5/10 Luis: 5.5/10 Renske: 7.5/10 |
Steinunn: 7/10
Bernardo: 4.5/10 Izhar: 6.5/10 Julian: 3/10 |
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 2.5 and a high of 8.5.
Would not mind if this won, anyone but generic mess Keiino
Yeah it’s good. Another potential surprise winner. (And there is “you know who” involved AGAIN. If there is a word for “bigger than jealousy”, use it here.)
The very definition of a 7/10 song. Everything is done well but nothing transcendent about it. A top three song in this selection but shouldn’t be anything more.
I’ll be happy if either Carina or KEiiNO goes to Eurovision.
Hold Me Down – For this day and age, female self-empowerment songs have become almost as common as songs about peace. Yes, she is stronger than the man who did her wrong, I get it. It’s still an enjoyable pop-piece with killer vocals and if Carina can make a great show, who knows? 6.5/10
Carina actually had a female-empowering song in 2011 as well. I have to say I love carina, and here in Norway she is pretty known, however I don’t see this song winning unless Sony puts in some amazing staging.