Saturday Reject: Isa – I Will Wait

Tim: Last year, Isa reached the Melodifestivalen final with Hairspray-variant Don’t Stop; this year, she bowed out at Andra Chansen, with this, a beautiful waltz of a ballad.

Tom: Strong lighting design there. Admittedly the dodgy curtain behind her does make it look a bit like she’s singing in someone’s living room, but still, strong lighting design, and strong dance to go with it.

Tim: It is indeed. As for the music – I don’t know why this is, but the way it seems to work with me is that if a song is in ¾ time it has to do a lot, lot wrong for me not to like it.

Tom: Interesting. And this time?

Tim: It does absolutely nothing wrong, and so it joins Queen Of My Heart and Can I Have This Dance as one of my all time Top Tracks.

Tom: For a moment, I thought you meant Top Tracks Ever, but that’s only because I never realised Queen Of My Heart was a waltz.

Tim: And one of the very best. But last year, Isa was all very much about the action, with little time spent to appreciate the vocal. Here, though, with such minimalist (though still lovely) staging, the voice is all we have, and my word it’s superb. Big range, big volume, big track, and quite possibly a top 10 Eurovision placer. The curse of Andra Chansen, though, is that when you’re up against even a slightly better or more popular track, you’re OUT. And so she was, so maybe next year?