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 2020. Next up, we listen to Melfest 2019 finalist Mohombi and his song “Winners”. Did we get a winning feeling from him? Read on to find out!
Mohombi – “Winners”
“Winners” reviews
Angus: In the hands of another male Melfest veteran, titling your Melfest song “Winners” might smack of hubris. But in Mohombi’s case, his goofy guy on stage persona neatly torpedoes that idea. Instead Mohombi milks every bit of charm and charisma he possesses to bring a generic production line cut to life. Unfortunately the disco stone circle doesn’t do anything for me and the dodgy falsetto notes don’t helping either. And returning to the theme, this lacks identity and, consequently, appeal.
Score: 4/10
Florian: “Winners” is a solid entry from Mohombi, but isn’t really bringing anything new to the Swedish music scene. It feels a bit generic as it lacks in texture and more broadly a final touch to make it somewhat stand out among its competitors. Overall though, it’s an acknowledgeable entry that should secure him a worthy placing in the final.
Score: 5.5/10
Luis: “Together we’ll save the world”. Yawn. Mohombi is an artist who has pulled out bops the size of “Bumpy ride”, but both his Melodifestivalen attempts feel subpar. “Winners” is even worse than “Hello”, and that felt already uninspired and generic. It does have a good rhythm, and the beat is quite enjoyable… and that would be it. It kinda feels as if Mohombi had been granted a spot in Melfest and he just picked the first song he found.
Score: 5/10
Robyn: “Winners” isn’t working for me. It comes across like a dilute, slightly melancholic take on the same theme as Måns Zerlmerlöw’s “Heroes”. Mohombi is great — a really confident performer — but the song itself feels tired. The synth sounds feel anchored to 2010, when Sweden should be boldly looking to the future.
Score: 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: 7/10
Åri: 4.5/10 Barnabas: 5.5/10 Jonathan: 7/10 Lucy: 4/10 |
Natalie: 7.5/10
Pablo: 7/10 Ron: 7.5/10 Tobias: 6/10 Tom: 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 7.5.
I liked it but I was not wow tbh.
It’s like I was expecting something that never came. Maybe it’s me. I missed something that makes me really feel or speak to me.
Garbage song
12 weak songs. Shame on Sweden.
Meh. For me Melodiefestivalen is a dated project.
Jealous
x
I like it! But I just don’t see it winning on Saturday. Perhaps top5
The verses are like “She Got Me” and the chorus is like Gunther’s “Love Yourself”. A bit lazy. Mohombi could do better.
his songs are always dated by 10 years sound and production wise
tea
I can easily see Dotter and Anna cancelling each other and giving this song the win
If that happens which it won’t, there’s more chance of Robin or Felix getting the win not this utter garbage.
If Hello did not won last year, this song don’t have any chance to win, not even in top 6 ….
I preferred “Hello” but “Winners” is still quite decent despite the cheesy lyrics, what makes it very enjoyable for me is how much energy and charisma Mohombi pours on stage selling the song exactly right. He was lucky to be in 3rd (traditionally weakest) semifinal otherwise he would’ve landed 2nd chance in any other semi.
Not a big fan of this song. Feels generic even in the field of mainstream songs and doesn’t possess the anthemic vibe it thinks it does. Mohombi is a good singer, but I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that he qualified DTF, while Faith was eliminated.
I know it’s called melodifestivalen. But people vote for the known faces. Loreen not advancing from andra chansen in 2017 and Felix Sandman not going DTF this year is all because they sent songs a bit less mainstream. So if you are a known and liked face with at least a somewhat likeable song and your time in the limelight has not passed. Then you have a ticket for the finals. Mohombi stated in interviews that he wants to be embraced by the Swedish audience. And that is his main goal with participating. Yet, Torsten Flinck said it was a… Read more »
Thanks for this comment, Erik. I think this is a ”can of worms” which should be opened to discuss. People complain about how Sweden’s approach to ESC is somewhat cold and calculated. It’s because it literally *is*. Rumor has it, Bjorkman has only one instruction to those who get to be international jurists on Melfest – vote for the song which you think would achieve the highest place on ESC. Not your favorite one. Not the most interesting one. The one with the (perceived) highest amount of mass appeal. That is very smart and tactical on Bjorkman’s side and I… Read more »
Thanks for this comment, Erik. I think this is a ”can of worms” which should be open for discussion. People complain about how Sweden’s approach to ESC is somewhat cold and calculated. It’s because it literally *is*. Rumor has it, Bjorkman has only one instruction to those who get to be international jurists on Melfest – vote for the song which you think would achieve the highest place on ESC. Not your favorite one. Not the most interesting one. The one with the (perceived) highest amount of mass appeal. That is very smart and tactical on Bjorkman’s side and I… Read more »
Colin. I know many think it is calculated whith all pritty boys too – that we have sent. But i think we have to blame the swedish older ladies… tanterna… My mum for exemple… “but Robin looks so nice and seem to be a good prarson. “
Sometimes there are to many ladies that are voting, and there are no plan.
“…isn’t really bringing anything new to the Swedish music scene.”
I must’ve missed all of those cutting edge entries in this year’s Melfest. 😉
Best comment ever!