Tag: Victor Crone

Victor Crone – Yes, I Will Wait

“Remember when Avicii largely ditched the electronic dance stuff and went all drum ‘n’ brass?”

Tim: Remember when Avicii largely ditched the electronic dance stuff and went all drum ‘n’ brass? Here’s Victor to continue the good work.

Tom: It took me a few seconds to realise that you said drum ‘n’ brass, there. You’re right: it’s very Avicii. There’s just something in the instrumentation and vocal techniques he uses.

Tim: I don’t think there’s any one song in particular it reminds me of, but it’s certainly got me thinking back – and, indeed, it’s not dissimilar to his Melodifestivalen entry where you made a similar comparison.

Tom: It’s an odd choice to take a style that is so associated with one artist: but he’s managing to pull it off.

Tim: And isn’t it just a great song to have to trigger the memories? Drums, brass, good vocals, good melody, good everything. It’s fabulous.

Victor Crone – Troubled Waters

“Up on stage asking his native Sweden if they’d let him have a go for them. They said no.”

Tim: Ten months after representing Estonia at Eurovision and not doing too badly, he was up on stage asking his native Sweden if they’d let him have a go for them. They said no.

Tim: I say they said no, that’s not entirely fair – the voters didn’t dislike this too much, apparently not holding much of a grudge; the juries ranked it right at the bottom, though, which is disappointing, not least because we haven’t had staging that confusing at Eurovision since Sergey Lazarev four years ago.

Tom: It took me a good few seconds to realise he was lying down at the start. Still, at least he seems to be having a good time on stage, if nothing else, that enthusiasm is genuinely impressive.

Tim: Mind you, it is largely about the song, and…well, as I say so often, I don’t get why this was ranked so low – I know it got to the final which is credit enough, but dammit jurors, let’s in future get them giving reasons for their scores as well can we?

I’ll grant you, it wasn’t the top song of the night, but both he and the song (that note out of the middle eight!) have got a huge amount going for them. DAMN YOU ALL.

Tom: You’re right, that note is impressive — but the overall piece sounded a bit like Avicii’s style ten years ago, and even at three minutes it felt a bit long to me. It’s good! There’s nothing wrong with it! It probably belonged in the final! But I can see why the music industry types would think it’s a bit passé.

Tim: Actually, lastly, back to that staging, and watching Sergey, it’s got me wondering: how long do we think it’ll be before Eurovision gets motion capture on stage?

Tungevaag & Raaban feat. Victor Crone – Take Me Away

“Like someone has somehow attached a trombone mute to an angry yet melodic goose”

Tim: The two producers are Norwegian, new to here; Victor’s Swedish, and occasionally Estonian, and we’ve featured him previously, but not for yeeeears. Now, it is, as I’m sure you’re aware, terrifyingly hot in the UK right now, but let’s have a summery whistly song so it doesn’t seem so bad.

Tim: That is lovely, I think. I like this opening a lot, mostly because it comes along like so many Avicii-esque dance tracks and so promises a lot. Not quite so keen on the quiet bit following it, the synths don’t really work for me.

Tom: Yep. That synth sounds like someone has somehow attached a trombone mute to an angry yet melodic goose. It’s a shame.

Tim: The drums hit, though, and I’m in. The string parts, the whistling, yep, all for it.

Tom: Wait, really? It feels like it builds to nothing; the bit that’s meant to be a drop just turns out to be a damp squib.

Tim: The perfect part, of course, is the final part – it’s an unusual thing for a dance track to do in a closing section, just speed up like that, but I think it really works.

Tom: I… disagree strongly. It sounds like they’re on the last lap of Mario Kart. There are some lovely parts in here, but they’re just surrounded by parts that… aren’t.

Tim: Damn nice lyric video, though.

Victor Crone – Feelgood Day

“Those are bloody awful lyrics.”

Tim: Second single from Swedish Victor, and before you push play, I’ll ask you not to be immediately put off by the lyrics in the first verse.

Tom: Those are bloody awful lyrics.

Tim: Indeed: let’s face it, the issues are myriad. ‘Shades of grey are more than fifty’ makes it already outdated, the restricted zone metaphor doesn’t make much sense, and I’m fairly sure ‘You’re not answering your phone, right outside and I can hear you’ would be grounds for a restraining order. Add that to the inevitably irritating ukulele twanging, and you’re almost certain to end up with a song I’ll hate.

Tom: “Your life is a restricted zone.” I’d say that’s a translation issue, but I can’t even work out what that might have been translated from.

Tim: Yeah – it’s really quite bizarre. After all that, though, and just as I’m preparing to throw my iPad across the room, that chorus comes along.

Tom: And it could be so trite! The lyrics are sophomoric, the melody is predictable (and has something of the Bublé about it) but somehow the sheer major-key enthusiasm of it saves it.

Tim: It really does just sound so good. Nowhere near good enough to make up for those lyrics, verse instrumentation, the missing space in the title and entire lack of effort from the middle eight onwards, but that it still a chorus that brings along, yup, a ‘feelgood’ day. Nice lyric video as well, so, hmm, 27%.

Victor Crone – Burning Man

“Almost triumphant, when that chorus kicks in”

Tim: Victor’s new, ish – he was in Melodifestivalen as a featured singer, but here’s his solo debut, with a lyric video seemingly made by a designer who was told he could only use Helvetica, so had to express ALL THE CREATIVITY in other ways.

Tom: Hey, there’s nothing wrong with Helvetica.

Tim: Hmm, you say that, but…

Tom: Although there’s definitely something wrong with how they’re using it there.

Tim: Yes. Now, I’m not sure if I’ve felt let down by guitar pop recently, but I really wasn’t expecting the chorus to be that good, after the less than inspiring verses and that irritating “without no light” lyric, so I’m really happy with this.

Tom: Agreed: there’s a real sense of progress, almost triumphant, when that chorus kicks in. It almost sounds like modern American country-pop.

Tim: It’s a chorus that got me tapping my fingers on my desk the first time, and by the end I was almost drumming.

Tom: And “all the way down to the wire” is a surprisingly catchy chorus line, all told.

Tim: It pulls off that nice trick we saw with Rachel Platten’s track (still incredible, by the way) of dropping everything but the drums coming back from the middle eight for more impact, and it works here just as well, also offering a mirror back to the start, where we had nothing but the guitars; don’t know if that was intentional, but I’m fairly sure it proves that drums are better than guitars. Anyway, good track, bar that lyric, so WELL DONE VICTOR.