In this year’s Melodifestivalen, one of my favorite songs was Sigrid Bernson’s Patrick Swayze. It was a prime example of fun, dumb pop:
Super catchy hook, ridiculous premise predicated on the understanding of a 1980s film, and a fabulous ending featuring a surprise audience reveal. It was a perfect embodiment of schlager cheese.
And now, Sigrid is back with the song Hot Like the Sun, another entry in the summer sizzler category from Swedish chanteuses (see Dotter; Heatwave for more examples).
And here’s the problem – all the charm and goofiness that made Sigrid shine with Patrick Swayze has been stripped back into a generic banger that attempts to rhyme “Ibiza” with “wish ya”. (It does NOT work, no matter how many linguistic tongue twists you go through.)
Look, we all get the joys of a Caribbean-tinged beat in helping us to celebrate the summer, but it’s getting kind of old. You can’t just shove any old singer into the recording booth with a hype man and expect it to work. Imagine how much more fun Sigrid’s song would be if Hot Like the Sun were a tribute to the 80s movie One Crazy Summer. Or Summer School. Or another drivelly teen hit. It could totally escalate it beyond ‘meh’ to ‘yay’.
Sigrid, we want to root for you, but find a gimmick that harnesses your charm and stick with it! Don’t just do what all the other Scandiblondes are doing, okay?
dudepoints.fun 