The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to rate and review the songs competing in the grand final of Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2019. Next up, we listen to international star Mohombi with his song “Hello”. Did it make us want to say hej?
Mohombi – “Hello”
“Hello” reviews
Lucy: Well, isn’t this catchy as all heck? I can’t stop singing it (maybe sometimes in a Lynda Woodruff voice), and it’s one of the only songs in the first heat I can remember the full melody to. A truly Eurovision-worthy performance in an otherwise underwhelming heat considering the big names drawn into the round. Plus that staging is very cool, and exciting to watch.
Score: 8.5/10
Tobias: My excitement for Mohombi’s appearance in Melodifestivalen this year was over the top. He has a great resume with two big international hits “Bumpy Ride” and “Coconut Tree”. He has also been collaborating with artists like Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez and even won a Grammy! Considering all this, I have to say I was rather disappointed by “Hello”. I was expecting this to be his big comeback as he has been quiet the last seven years, but “Hello” was not even close to the hits that made him an international pop star. The song was nothing interesting. A catchy refrain, yes, but the overall song was nothing memorable. The staging reminded me only of “Heroes” by Måns Zelmerlöw. We have seen that already. The vocals were not on point and his voice was very shaky. I also hope he hires a better stylist for the final, because those pants were not fitting him well at all.
Score: 3/10
Robyn: Mohombi might not be the strongest vocalist, but he can deliver the performance with the emotion it needs. It helps that “Hello” is a such a catchy song that it’s able to withstand any vocal flaws. The screen risks feeling a little gimmicky, like a cross between Måns Zelmerlöw’s “Heroes” performance and A-ha’s iconic “Take On Me” music video, but Mohombi is an experienced performance and remains the star of the performance. Perhaps not a Mello winner, but a deserved finalist.
Score: 7.5/10
Anthony: After winning the audience poll prior to the show itself, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see Mohombi into the final. A far cry from his energetic Congolese-influenced bop of “Big Up”, “Hello” does have the radio-friendly feel to it. Although it’s well-executed and packs a catchy chorus, its heavy one-word use of “hello” does feel repetitive at times.
Score: 6.5/10
Deban: Mohombi sings well, but I don’t find him sufficiently engaging. “Hello”‘s moments of augmented reality don’t smoothly run into reality. On top of that, the song verses here are totally forgettable. When he starts to yelp “Hello, Hello…”, I gasp with renewed hope for an early goodbye.
Score: 4.5/10
Bernardo: Look, “Hello” is perfectly fine until it gets to the chorus. Actually, it has a pretty nice pre-chorus, despite Mohombi’s struggle to hit the falsetto with control. I see why it went direct to the final, but the chorus is too repetitive. Ultimately, this is a case where the stage performance completely outshines the song itself.
Score: 5.5/10
In our Melodifestivalen Wiwi Jury, we have 12 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
| Angus: 6/10
Antranig: 9/10 Cinan: 7.5/10 |
Florian: 6.5/10
Luis: 4/10 Ron: 8.5/10 |
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 3 and a high of 9.
Really hope he wins. Though I have recently realised the reason I love this song so much is actually the orchestration as I seem to love it way more than the singing theme. I think this instrumental could’ve been a foundation for a way greater song, but that’s it. The lyrics and the staging are also very good. It’s not a 10/10, but nor are the other songs, which are even weaker. The one more advantage Hello has over them is that it has already became a radio hit abroad.
The chorus is very catchy and works really good. The verses a bit weaker and his voice doesn’t sound as good. Still a 7/10 for me.
Super catchy! If he can tighten up the performance and vocals a bit, this would be Sweden’s best bet.
Song-wise, Hello is my favourite, and I’d love it to go Tel Aviv (Italy-Sweden on my Top 2 tres 2015), but it would be the fifth men with a pop song for Sweden on a row, so personally, I think Wiktoria, Anna or Lisa should go, or at least Hanna & Liamoo.
great song in the studio but awful live. dj méndez teas
This is not the bop I expcted, but it’s the bop I got and I am largely okay with it?
He PERFORMS it, and no questions why he got DTF. It is not a winner, but it proves Mohombi can take average and turn it into gold. That engaging factor can sure win audiences all over, including ESC. I wish he comes back with a better song, cuz he proved he can handle the Mello circuit.
Will be interesting to see whether Tobias likes ANY of the Melfest songs…over the top negative I think… XD
10/10 for me
Hello – The chorus is indeed quite catchy and his staging elevated this so much. However, on second re-listening I was pretty underwhelmed. It’s just an average pop tune and actually one of the weaker finalists. The issue here is that I am unsure whether it wants to be an unpretentious dance track or a serious love song and falls through the cracks. – 5/10
The song is CLEARLY beneath his talent level. I can’t get over the fact that this placed higher than Anna Bergendahl in the first heat. There is just nothing special about this…(which means international juries will inexplicably find something in this that none of the rest of us do).
I agree. The funny thing is that I actually like this year’s Melfest better than the last one. There are several good options for Sweden. But based on the fact that MF rarely picks the best option and that this is 2019, I expect a poor choice of a winner. :-\
Gosh this jury is disappointing. Hello is one of my favourites with Mohombi. Se his musicvideo. Stop comparing him to Anna. She had a nice performance. Its overrated because of the performance. Mohombi had an incredible performance live and in the musicvideo. I have listened to it so many times and I still love it. Few people can sing a simple world like Hello like he can. This jury should know better and notice details more. He only had Gabriella Tapia the dancer with him. He doesnt need a big choir to be heard cause he can do it all… Read more »
I hope sweden chooses either mohombi or liamoo and hanna ferm this year. I really tried to get into john lundvik’s song but i’m not feeling it.