Tag: Måns Zelmerlöw

Måns Zelmerlöw – Hanging On To Nothing

“It’s good enough, but that’s about all.”

Tim: The latest offering from Eurovision victor Måns, and to be honest I didn’t think all that much of it when I first heard it a week or so ago; however, reader Sam sent it in, with plenty of praise for it, so let’s have another go. (One moment of strong language, by the way.)

Tim: And, sure, it’s okay. It’s decent enough. I think the problem here is similar to the issue I had with his last one, which is: I don’t think it’s good enough. Or rather, it’s good enough, but that’s about all. There’s no massive memorable chorus, nor beautiful emotional vocal, nor amazing instrumental moment, and most importantly I don’t really really want to hear it again as soon as it’s finished, which I do with all those others. It’s not what I want from Måns, who has such great and catchy hits in his back catalogue that this just seems subpar.

Sam compared it favourably to the recent Olly Murs track we looked at and very much enjoyed, and actually that’s a very decent comparison. The only problem is that a good Olly Murs track is an average Måns track. DAMMIT, Zelmerlöw, why must you have been so impressive earlier on in your career?

Måns Zelmerlöw – Fire In The Rain

Tim: This’ll presumably be played to the world at Eurovision – it’s his new track, and, despite being guitar pop, it’s fairly listenable.

Tim: There’s whistling there which is nice, there’s a lovely chorus, and a verse which weirdly sounds a fine start, but then slightly dull when it comes back for the second round.

Tom: I’ll be honest, I did think it was a bit longer than three minutes. It seems a bit slow, despite having all the ingredients for a good pop track — and also some whistling.

Tim: To be honest, much as I’d often dismiss whistling as a bit twee and annoying, here it really helps the track, lifting it up above bog standard guitar pop. Would I like more in the final chorus? Perhaps – I’d certainly like that top vocal to be there from right out of the middle eight to give it a bit of oomph. It’s no Heroes – of course it’s no Heroes – or a Cara Mia, but it’s decent enough.

Tom: That’s hardly a ringing endorsement, though, is it?

Tim: And while ‘decent enough’ isn’t really something I want to be writing about someone twelve months after a Eurovision victory, here it’s about right. Oh well.

Måns Zelmerlöw – Should’ve Gone Home

“It’s not bad, but it’s not a Eurovision winner.”

Tim: It’s been around a couple of weeks, but here’s the video, in which Måns does a fairly decent job of singing parts of his song backwards.

Tom: Oh hey, it’s one of those Scandinavian lifts that has no inside door on it! I remember those from Helsinki. Sorry. Yes. He’s quite good as singing parts of it backwards, but he’s no Chris Martin.

Tim: You know, I’ve watched that video three times now, and I’m still trying to get the actual storyline figured out. Because he’s drinking his sorrows away etc., but I’d imagine this video (when played the right way round) would finish with him hooking up with whoever it is he shouldn’t been with, except he turns up at her place in his own car. Unless it starts out with him leaving who he’s hooked up with, in the middle of the evening, and he’s getting drunk before he does go home, though that’d be a bit weird.

Tom: You know that bit from Austin Powers 2 where he tries to work out the time travel and goes cross-eyed? That.

Tim: I don’t know – I even played it backwards to see what the woman was saying, but that was in Swedish so I’ve no idea.

Tom: That made me laugh a lot more than it probably should have. Well done there.

Tim: Oh, erm, thanks. RIGHT, music. First track from his next album, and hopefully an indication of what we can expect from that because it’s very good indeed. Strong chorus, slightly separated stylistically from the rest of the track in an excellent manner and…you know, much as I want to write about it I’m still thinking about that video.

Tom: Well, let me fit it in for you: it’s not bad, but it’s not a Eurovision winner. And why they’ve used what sounds like a cheap synthesiser to sample the last word of his chorus like it was a gimmick from the late 80s, I’ve no idea — it sounds so out of place. It’s not bad, but… well, it’s not quite the standard I’d hoped for.

Tim: Ah. Well, I’ve a slightly higher opinion, so I’ll close with: GOOD MUSIC, WELL DONE MÅNS.

Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes

“Oh my stars, the Melodifestivalen crew have discovered projection mapping.”

Tim: Two nights ago, I got a tad intoxicated as Sweden put on the strongest Melodifestivalen final I can remember, so I think it’s only fair we dedicate a week to it, and let’s start with the winner.

Tom: Now, normally I stay away from hearing Eurovision songs until the actual contest itself — I’m assuming there’s something particularly special about this year’s?

Tim: Well, last year saw the closest win in the show’s history; this year, we had the biggest win, with Måns taking over a third of the televotes and top marks from 11 of the 13 international juries.

Tim: And that there is a potential Eurovision winner. A fantastic song, sung by a good-looking guy with a great voice, and what I think is the most novel staging I’ve ever seen.

Tom: Oh my stars, the Melodifestivalen crew have discovered projection mapping. That is incredibly difficult to pull off live – it won’t have looked nearly as good in person, but that doesn’t matter one bit.

Tim: The perfect syncing is impressive in itself, and anybody even slightly tipsy might find it hard not to get emotional at the friendship on display. Slight shame his trousers are too tight for him to put his light back in his pocket, but I guess we can’t have everything, and the quite frankly “how the hell did that happen???” camera shot starting at 2:25 makes up for it as far as I’m concerned.

Tom: And let’s actually talk about the music here: that sounds like a good Robbie Williams track. Maybe not a “Let Me Entertain You”, but certainly at least a “Bodies”. You’re right: it might just be a winner.

Tim: In fact, as far as I’m concerned right now, we really are the HEROES OF OUR TIME, and I’ll be amazed if this doesn’t do brilliantly in Vienna.

Saturday Flashback: Måns Zelmerlöw – Cara Mia

“Pleasantly surprised by a lack of a key change.”

Tim: The greatest music competition of the year kicks off in Gothenburg tonight, Tom, so let’s have another trip to the archives, with this third placer from 2007.

Tim: So that there is I think the first time ever that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a lack of a key change.

Tom: I know! I really wasn’t expecting that.

Tim: Until that closing section, it’s very much by the numbers – good by the numbers, sure, with its BWO styling and very singable chorus line, but still fairly standard.

Tom: Now, see, I think differently to you: it think it’s a bit of an odd mix. Like you say, it’s good, but the introduction, verse, chorus, and middle eight all sound a bit like they come from different songs. And even that chorus has two very different parts — and there’s one solitary orchestra hit and what sounds like a single run down an accordion keyboard chucked in for the heck of it.

Tim: Hmm, I suppose it does differ in those respects, but there’s the big one that makes it stand out. After that middle eight (which I recommend watching in the non-embeddable official video), is that lovely bit where it goes all euphoric. It doesn’t last long, and I’d have loved it if it kept going for more that eight seconds, because it’s something genuinely different and unusual.

Tom: Yep, despite my grousing, I really do like this song. It’s got a lot of the ‘classic Eurovision’ about it, but not enough to make it immediately dismissable as ‘just schlager’.

Tim: I can’t help thinking that if it had been kept going longer, maybe even until the end, and given an impressive stage treatment, the song might have done a bit better. Ah, well.

Måns Zelmerlöw – Beautiful Life

“Another day, another Beautiful Life.”

Tim: Another day, another Beautiful Life.

Tom: And none of them will ever beat Ace of Base, of course. Anyway, it was Union J last time: what’ve we got now?

Tim: We’re replacing a British boyband with a Swedish singer and an initially gentle guitar backing with an initially gentle piano backing.

Tim: But isn’t that just wonderful? Such a fantastic soaring vocal, such a brilliant crash of instrumentation in the chorus, and such uplifting vocals. Gosh, I’m feeling enthusiastic for this song – I keep trying to find better things to say about it, and there aren’t so many songs that’ll make me do that. Make a list, sure, but keep trying to extend that list, not so much.

Tom: Oh, man, have I just been in a funk for this last week or something?

Tim: I don’t know, have you?

Tom: You keep getting all enthusiastic about tracks, and I keep going “well, that’s quite nice, but it’s not really going to bring the house down”. Everything seems to be stuck in a vague sense of ‘that’s generic’.

Perhaps I just want something startling, something that doesn’t seem like it’s by-the-numbers pop: C2C, the Pet Shop Boys’ new album, anything that doesn’t just fade into the background. I mean, this is nice, it’s soaring, but it’s… it’s just a bit generic.

Tim: Hmm. I’ll have a rummage, see what I can find that might excite you. But back to this song, there’s a lot of emotion in here, and it’s all very positive. Very positive indeed.

Tom: It is. I just wish some of it would rub off on me.