The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to rate and review the songs competing in the andra chansen round of Sweden’s Melodifestivalen 2020. Next up, we listen to returning artist Malou Prytz and her song “Ballerina”. Did the song make us want to dance? Read on to find out!

Malou Prytz with “Ballerina”

“Ballerina” reviews

Angus: Too often we forget that Malou Prytz is sixteen. For her age she’s amazing. Vocally this is well put together and the hook becomes catchier on repeat listen. That being said, it feels as though the staging lacks energy, and only really comes alive in the drumbeat foot-stomping bridge. “Ballerina” is a catchy enough song and Malou is a competent performer. But it just feels as though they don’t necessarily belong together.

Score: 4/10

Florian: There’s a strong chord progression in “Ballerina” that really draws one into the song. Vocally, Malou’s far improved from her previous effort “I Do Me”. However, the performance came across as a bit stiff which might also explain why she wasn’t able to end up higher on the night. Personally, I’d like to see her bring the emotion across a bit further which could ultimately take her to the final.

Score: 6.5/10

Luis: “Ballerina” is little more than a powerful pop chorus. The verses are too weak: it feels like there’s nothing between one “When I’m alone” and the other. Luckily, that’s a great hook, but it only makes the song enjoyable for one of the three minutes. The rest passes completely unnoticed. It’s a pity because Malou Prytz is an absolute talent, but this song is below her.

Score: 6.5/10

Robyn: Something isn’t quite working here. “Ballerina” is a decent song, but it feels like something inspired by Sia’s “Titanium” era that has been given a modern production style (check out the Billie Eilish-inspired vocal distortion) in order to make it feel contemporary. Malou is a compelling young performer, but this song isn’t the right song for her.

Score: 6.5/10

In our Melodifestivalen Wiwi Jury, we have 14 jurors but only room for four reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Antranig: 9/10

Åri: 8/10

Barnabas: 7/10

Jonathan: 7/10

Lucy: 8.5/10

Natalie: 5.5/10

Pablo: 7.5/10

Ron: 7/10

Tobias: 6/10

Tom: 8/10

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.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 7/10

Read all our Melodifestivalen 2020 Wiwi Jury rankings here

Read more Melodifestivalen news here

15 Comments
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Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

The entry is quite good overall, but has two issues. Ah, those clangers in the lyrics (ballerina / …dark arena; dance like you’ve never seen [ah?], I will dance like a ballerina). But also there is something not quite right with the performance. Robyn’s thought that the song isn’t right for Malou might be the vibe I’m getting as well; I’m not entirely sure why, but there is a “disconnect”. But other than that, it’s a solid entry. “Never give up” indeed.

Jack Pricefield
Jack Pricefield
4 years ago

I hope Malou wins her AC duel whoever she’s up against, as a mid-teenager she’s pretty incredible and her stage confidence has improved so much from last year. “Ballerina” is easy to remember and definitely a foot-stomper, I never fail to sing out loud during the bridge “I’ll never I’ll never I’ll never give up”

Héctor
Héctor
4 years ago

7 is too much in my opinion.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
4 years ago

Taking the lyrics out entirely, I feel like they’re making the same mistake they made with Isa a few years back. She was a surprise finalist with an upbeat song that seemed authentic to her and then they brought her back the year after with a more “winner”-type song that wasn’t true to what she was as an artist.
I prefer the “You do you, I do me” version of Malou but either way, there talent is obviously there even if her songwriters don’t really understand it.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
4 years ago

she’s the better sia tribute act this year tbh

Ashton Schier
Ashton Schier
4 years ago

Why does Sweden get this special treatment? Where’s the Wiwi Jury reviews of all the songs in all the selections? Why only Melodifestivalen? smh

Colin
Colin
4 years ago
Reply to  Ashton Schier

I think it’s a good decision. We still get a lot of coverage and space to discuss our favourites. I just hope the April 41 songs reviews remain as they are. I really enjoy reading those and will be preparing mine. 🙂

keith mawson
keith mawson
4 years ago
Reply to  Ashton Schier

Dotter Only decent song in Melfest with Perhaps Mama’s and Anna in 2nd and 3rd place

MTD
MTD
4 years ago
Reply to  Ashton Schier

You must be new here.

Melodiplasticfestivalen is “the Queen” and its garbage plastic fantastic is always “made in heaven”, according to the fans.

Ashton Schier
Ashton Schier
4 years ago
Reply to  MTD

nah fam im not new, ik that Melodifestivalen is plastic and mostly bad (as well as being endlessly supported by toxic fans), but I just hoped the wiwi jury would do more.

Ashton Schier
Ashton Schier
4 years ago
Reply to  Ashton Schier

ok! just cause some countries you don’t even have a wiwi jury overall out, including Albania, unless I am mistaken. but I get that it would get exhausting, so you just keep churning out quality content and I’ll be happy. I still don’t get why you would still do Sweden out of all of the countries (if it is really exhausting, why not just scrap them all and focus on the mini juries?) it seems a bit like favouritism, but tbh there is always favouritism with Sweden

Grafton
Grafton
4 years ago

The song is REALLY good. I’ve had it on repeat. The production is amazing (that bridge!) and the chorus is powerful. But I hate the fact that the staging is a Sia copy-paste… With a more original staging the song would be on top of my scoreboard. Still I expect it to be in the final! I have it ranked at #5 / #6 among all the entries 🙂

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
4 years ago

To be honest, this is one that confuses me.
I’m not super-excited about it but it’s pretty good. Everyone who dismisses it labels it a Sia-rip or something along those lines but these same people are into Dotter’s entry.
It’s one of the better female entries this year for me.

Colin
Colin
4 years ago

Malou has proven to be a promising up and coming singer who can bring energy to stage. This time, she changed her pace a bit and sung a sleek pop ballad with a catchy chorus. The more I hear it, the more I like it. It might not have the wow factor, but Sweden could do much worse than this. I hope she reaches the final.
I assume this will be in my Melfest top 10.

Tom
Tom
4 years ago

She is my favorite !