2016 Reviews – Iceland – Greta Salome – Hear Them Calling

Another returning artist of this year comes from Iceland – Greta Salome is back, solo this time, with the song Hear Them Calling. Her last participation was with Jonsi back in 2012, but will she improve on her previous results, and bring Iceland a win?

There is no doubt that this song is absolutely modern, and has the ‘Heroes’ feel about it with the stage show. The song was originally presented in Icelandic as Raddirnar, but then the English version titled Hear Them Calling is the version that will be taken to the Eurovision stage. I along with many, think this is a bit of a mistake on their behalf. The Icelandic version holds so much mystery and tension, which all gets a bit lost in English.

The song has a good balance of highs and lows in the actual music, and her voice builds well at the end, and holds a lot of drama within it. One major problem I have with this song is just how much repetition this song has. The English version has lyrics that are just repeated throughout the song and I feel like I need more. This especially annoys me at the end, where the bridge is repetition of ‘I hear them calling me’ and then it needs to build into the chorus, but then the chorus is exactly the same lyrics. It just ruins the climax of the song.

I think this song is more about the stage show than it is the actual song, and I doubt they will change this for Eurovision. It’s like a mix of the simplicity of Euphoria and the revolutionary graphic/singer interaction that Sweden had with Heroes last year. You can tell a lot of effort has gone into the stage show, and if anything, it’s this which will give the song it’s good results, not necessarily the song.

As for the vocal performance, I actually think it’s lacking. Sometimes I feel that Greta struggles with the fast pace of the song, and I can imagine that trying to belt out a fast song while working in synchronised body movements can’t exactly be easy. It’s by no means terrible, but it’s noticeable compared to a really vocally great group this year.

Regardless, I think this song will be a qualifier. I think it will be somewhere in-between 5-10 going into the final, and then in the final, I think it will be somewhere in the middle. I really do enjoy the drama brought by the stage performance, but I do think it’s a shame that the song isn’t in Icelandic! With all that said, I think I’m going to give this a 6/10.

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