The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — have been watching the film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga and have a few opinions about the songs that make up the film’s soundtrack.
We’re starting with “Coolin’ With Da Homies”, written and performed by accomplished American songwriter Savan Kotecha. In the film, the song is performed by the Swedish act Johnny John John. Did this fictitious Melodifestivalen winner get us grooving? Read on to find out!
Johnny John John (Savan Kotecha) – “Coolin’ With Da Homies”
“Coolin’ with Da Homies” reviews
Esma: During the national final season, I’m always rooting for the hip-hop entries. Much to my sorrow, rarely does such a song actually make it to ESC so it makes me glad to see they included this underrated genre in the Eurovision movie. It’s no surprise I’m vibing on “Coolin’ with Da Homies’’. I love the song’s energy, the funky beat but most of all the brilliant and hilarious lyrics. I can’t wait for the full version of this song to be released! And no, I’m not loving this BecAUsE IT’s SwEDeN.
Score: 8.5
Pablo: There is always a “Coolin’ with Da Homies” in every national final, every year, and ironic that they gave it to Sweden this year, the fabric of perfect pop boys and boy bands. It is delightfully cringy, and taking it as a jab at those “trying to be too modern” entries, I admire it. But it doesn’t stop it from being a bit grating in the meantime.
Score: 6/10
Robyn: Most hip hop at Eurovision never manages to get it right and deserves to be mercilessly skewered, but is “Coolin’ With Da Homies” a little too good? While Johnny John John’s rhymes are right on level with the sort of rhymes that have been dropped on the Eurovision stage, the super catchy chorus is a dead giveaway that there are pop geniuses behind it. And as for claims that a song like this would never win Melodifestivalen, well, if Samir & Viktor can effortlessly win a semi-final, anything is possible!
Score: 7.5/10
Suzanne: “Coolin’ Witt Da Homies” opens up with a fun, catchy beat that makes me want to drop to the floor and dance. From the movie, I picked up on a seemingly “You Got Me” and “Soldi” (both Eurovision 2019) inspired vibe with the colourful background, the train, and the beat with which I was really in sync. There is a sense of rebellion — no one’s going home to cut the grass. Opposing rebellion is a healthy side – sipping on a café latte vs. gin and tonic. Just one question: Why do rap songs always gotta go gangster style?
Score: 5/10
William: Johnny John John gives swagger rhythm in this surprisingly musical number about living life on your own terms. As with so much rap, the lyrics are clever if you listen. Kanye may not appreciate Kim’s silicone volcanoes, but surely even he will applaud Mr John John’s takedown of haters and his ability to persevere through these difficult times: “Glaciers meltin’ all around, but they ain’t gonna drown me.” This isn’t my cup of tea, but I appreciate the par-o-dee.
Score: 5/10
In the Wiwi Jury we have 11 jurors but only have room for five reviews. The remaining scores are below:
Antranig: 8/10
Deban: 6/10 Julia: 2/10 |
Renske: 6/10
Sebastian: 4/10 Tom: 7/10 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a low of 2 and a high of 8.5.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 6.06/10
What do you think of this song? Share your own score and review below!
Unpopular opinion: This is my favorite original song. I can’t get it out of my head. I don’t think I talk too, talk too, talk too, talk too, talk too, talk too fast.
A seriously vile “song”
It’s a mediocre song on screen and off screen. If this ever got to esc most would be tired of it after 40 seconds. I don’t see this song qualify and i don’t see sweden send something similar to this. Though they did send benjemin ingrosso so they can make mistakes.
Benjamin Ingrosso was not a mistake…
I’m not sure how to rate it as a real song, but in the context of the movie it didn’t feel quite right. Maybe Sweden wasn’t the best country to give it to…it doesn’t really feel like anything they’d ever send, and written by an American? Sweden are more than capable of writing their own song, and half of the everybody else’s. It doesn’t feel real. I know it’s only a comedy, and fiction.
I agree, rap is very uncommon at ESC, it makes very little sense to use a rap song to parody the contest. And nothing like it would ever win Melodifestivalen. Maybe if only kids could vote!
This thread reminds me of “Woki Mit Deim Popo” which I thought would qualify. The joke was clearly on me.
*American previously based in Sweden and is married a Swede (based in interviewsk
I do feel like this could be something might send in an off-Melfest year if all other entries miraculously canceled each other out for sounding so similarly poppy and the odd ones out come up on top (schlager, folk, hip-hop).
I was talking about Savan Kotecha, not Will Ferrell. Is that who you mean?
Yes. He lived in Sweden for more than 10 years, writing music for other artists.
That’s fair enough. All I know of him is how he was described in the above article. I stand by my original comment.
Kotecha has lived in Sweden half his life, and got his music education from the network around Max Martin. I don’t think there would be much difference to when RedOne competed in Melfest. And DYO for instance had two American and one Australian songwriting credit.
Not entirely sure what would qualify as “writing their own song”, or why the capability to do so is relevant.
That’s nice to know. It doesn’t change my opinion. He Americanized the Swedish music industry alongside Max Martin – Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys don’t scream “Sweden!” to me either. Maybe that’s the whole joke and I just missed it. Still, like I said, I wasn’t judging based on quality or plausibility – but parody. To me, a Linda Bengtzing-style or Fredrik Kempe would’ve worked better as comedy. That’s just my view, there’s no right or wrong here.
if eric saade wanted to be justin bieber
This is basically a Black Eyed Peas song.
The direction in which the contest is going, sadly. Americanised vocals, mimed backing, generic over organic. Something like this will win in 2028.
“Love Shine a Light” and “Secret Combination” says hi.
The script describes Johnny John John as a ‘very good dancer’, which I find subtly humorous.
Pure trash and mockery.
This song is really clever, it is my favourite of the short snippets. It perfectly plays on many of the cliches that we sadly still often see in Eurovision. The lyrics are delightful on many occasions: – references to talking too fast – an excellent riposte to what many people say ignorantly about rap music – references to people pretending to be something they aren’t – lots of references to “homies”, “gangster”, all the misspellings “tryna”, “coolin’” “droppin’” – perfectly shines a light on the inauthenticity you can often see in Eurovision – I love the lyric of mowing the… Read more »