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”. Today we look at a man with Eurovision experience — Mørland with “En livredd mann”. Has Mørland found the prince within or are we still terrified? Read on to find out.
Mørland — “En livredd mann”
“En livredd mann” reviews
Florian: This emotional cut stands out with its originality. With proper staging, it could do well, but this song heavily depends on a good stage presentation. His vocals can’t be faulted by any means. However, this isn’t as strong as “A Monster Like Me”. Still, this would make a good Eurovision entry.
Score: 7.5/10
Pablo: Let’s start with the obvious — this is a gorgeous song and Kjetil Mørland sounds amazing in Norwegian, no question. But, this has the same issue as Mikael Saari’s songs in UMK 2013 and 2016 — your first song was so raw, powerful and perfect, the following single that tries to emulate that feeling comes across as disengaging, with the magic being lost. Objectively amazing, but the ceiling may just be a bit too high for “En livredd mann” to conquer Norway’s hearts once again.
Score: 7.5/10
Luis: I have decided to stan. Mørland’s “En livredd mann” is a fantastic follow-up for “A Monster Like Me”. The song has an epic, musical theatre feel to it, but not in a cheesy way. This is “Hour of the Wolf” levels of drama and theatricality. The subtle instrumentation changes through the three minutes work well, and the Norwegian language fits perfectly with the mood of the entry. Norway, you have one job.
Score: 8/10
Renske: I am loving this song. What I loved about “A Monster Like Me” was its perfect combination with a full-string orchestra and now, Mørland is giving us orchestra again. Next to that, he shows us the beauty of his native language, as he wants to tell us a personal story. Everything falls together so majestically. It’s been way too long since we have heard Norwegian at Eurovision.
Score: 9/10
Steinunn: I‘m a big fan of Kjetil Mørland and this song does not change that. It‘s maybe not his biggest masterpiece but it‘s still really good. The song is dramatic and epic with just the right amount of theatrical elements to be engaging. The Norwegian lyrics also make it extra mysterious and the fact that it‘s the only one in the final gives it an edge. The only downfall is that the drama of the song takes a little too long to unfold.
Score: 8/10
Bernardo: I tried so hard to get behind this. I love Mørland’s voice. I love that he is keeping the song in Norwegian, since it gives it a mystical and traditional quality. The instrumentation is very good and that allows Mørland’s voice to shine. The audio track doesn’t bring anything new but I won’t dismiss the wonders this song may do live.
Score: 6.5/10
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:
| Izhar: 7.5/10
Julian: 4/10 Antranig: 8/10 Antony: 9/10 |
Robyn: 7/10
Oliver: 7.5/10 Sebastian: 7.5/10 Deban: 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 4 and a high of 9.
I must say I’m looking forward to Norway’s final tomorrow, there are several songs I like, this one included. I’d be very happy to see lovely Mørland in Israel this year.
I find it overrated. But it has a good chance of winning in Norway. This is still more quality music than Keiino’s that feels about 10 years too late.
An entry with extremely high quality songwriting behind it, undoubtedly. However, the bizarre symbolism of the lyrics will be a difficult sell to some people. The live performance will be fascinating to realise.
It appears to be symbolic nature poetry, which is, admittedly, perhaps better understood by a Norwegian speaker.
I ask: What is the man “holding on tight” to? With all the “burning” around him, the drowning and apocalyptic drama, what is that source of hope? The song appears to be about something intangible, which I find quite bizarre, and impossible to personally identify with. In summary: I don’t fully understand the song’s meaning. I was hoping that the music video would help to clear this up for me – it doesn’t.
This is nothing but a MASTERPIECE! 10/10 without any doubt.
Let´s send both this and “Spirits in the sky” to Tel Aviv, and one of them could replace almost any of the other selected entries so far…
Mørland is by far my winner of this selection. We’ve seen so many surprises this year, this would actually be the first time that I really would wish for one…
I cant really understand hype around this song … I support his musicality (“A Monster Like Me” was one of my ultimate favs in 2015) but there are those really talented ladies with such good songs and Keiino . Not saying this one is bad but it’s like 7th or 8th of me in this national final. (btw this NF is the best i think)
Would be a very good choice. One of my favs in MGP and could work well on stage because it is a very theatrical song.
I will never understand what the fanbase see in KEiiNO.. this is real music, Morland is the only choice for Norway
it’s only the best song of this entire NF season
(after Telemóveis, obvs)
Mørland is consistently magical. This song is so heart felt and wonderful. If you win, please keep it in Norwegian because it sounds so beautiful. The English version lyrics are dreadful and are not even similar to the Norwegian. Good luck. It’s going to be tough against Spirit In The Sky!
Only KEiiNO!
I think I prefer the “Spirit in the sky” out of the two. However, I think this one could do better against Russia (assuming that Sergey ends up singing a ballad/mid-tempo song).
“En livredd mann” has put Norway in the same situation as in 1985 when they had to choose between Bobbysocks/“La det swinge” and Anita Skorgan’s “Karma”. A fantastic song (quality 1980s) that came second in the national final – not because it was any better or worse than “La det swinge” – it was just entirely different from the winner and really down to a matter of personal taste. Listen to it: “Karma”, Anita Skorgan, 1985!
Oh man, it’s a shame that “Spirit in the sky” and this masterpiece can’t both go to Eurovision. Both of the songs are absolutely great. :/
The comparison to “Hour Of The Wolf” is an apt one. I mean that as a BIG compliment.
This is the best MGP song in years! My clear winner this year!
Love Morland, wish he had sent Skin a few years ago that was stunning.
He came in wrong year. We need “Spirit in the sky” now more and ever. Because they have already taken “Siren song” away from us.
I feel weird that I want Morland to win and also wanted Freedom Jazz to win.
En livredd mann – Beautiful, haunting song with outstanding lyrics. Morland has done it again! It would be amazing hearing a national language from any of the Nordics. Monster Like Me was my 2015 winner, so I’m not even comparing the two, but this is also great on it’s own. – 9/10