Ever since their televote win at Eurovision, Norway’s KEiiNO have gone from strength to strength. In June, they had us “Praying” for an album after their first new music since “Spirit in the Sky”. And in September they threw us all back to the 90s with their cover of “Vill ha dig” by the Swedish synth-pop group Freestyle.
Now, the Norwegian trio have released their third original track, “Dancing in the Smoke”, returning to their familiar dance and Europop style. It’s the style that they owned when Europe fell in love with them following the more chilled-out vibe of “Praying”.
In a press release, the band highlighted their intention to “bring serious subjects into engaging pop music”.
“Dancing in the Smoke” focuses on climate change, an issue that is increasingly coming to the general public’s attention. Whether discussing Greenland’s melting ice sheet or Greta Thunberg’s activism, the subject is now a staple of the evening news from New York to Nairobi and beyond.
In a statement sent to wiwibloggs, the band made this connection explicit, saying:
“The rainforest is on fire. The ice is melting. The young are on the streets protesting, urging the older generations to wake up and start acting as if their house was on fire.”
“Still most of us continue to do just about the same things as always. Are we trapped in a system? Do we really want to sacrifice something? Or do we just believe that we can’t make a difference?”
Though “Dancing in the Smoke” sounds more Tiesto than John Lennon, its political undertones are highlighted through Fred’s signature “joiking” in the chorus, a traditional Sami way of singing.
The new single release coincides with an Al Jazeera report on the threat that climate change poses to the Sami population, adding a new layer to the song and still further reason why the issue should be close not only to the band’s heart, but all of our hearts.
What do you think? Does KEiiNO’s new track have you dancing, or is it simply smoke without fire? Let us know in the comments!
I have a feeling about 20 or even more acts talking about different aspects of the climate change problem are waiting for us in ESC 2020. And one of them may even join the list of Eurovision winners.
KEiiNO always serving it with important socio-political commentary in the form of great bops
I must have missed “socio-political commentary” of Spirit in the Sky .-.
or you can just downvote instead, sure
Spirit In The Sky was about opression of different social groups.
I just hope we won’t get +10 “climate change” songs in ESC2020. You can’t tell it about everyone, that’s granted, but I’m not naive enough to believe that everyone who became ultra-ecologist last week or so doesn’t say about it everywhere to gain profit. Cool song though.
We most likely will. I mean, just look at JESC 2019. Futhermore, one of them will probably win. Now I’m feeling even more sad for Paradise Oskar’s 21st place in 2011 than I was back then when I was cheering for him.
i love how all of their songs start with some joiking in the distance skjsksjds another bop