Tim: Tom, you’ve probably read that title, and I reckon you’re feeling fairly confident you can translate that, and I also reckon you’re already predicting you won’t like it, because it’ll be too twee or something – stop me if I’m wrong.
Tom: No, you’ve pretty much nailed my reaction so far.
Tim: Just to top it all off, though, I’ll tell you it’s an Aplin-esque version of a nursery rhyme, recorded for a Norwegian meat advert. STICK WITH IT, TOM.
Tom: This is the Norwegian equivalent of a John Lewis ad, isn’t it?
Tim: Now, it would be very, very easy to dismiss that as basically awful, and that is indeed what I did for the first thirty seconds. Because until, ooh, probably about when she finishes singing for the second time, all we have is the vocals for a decent song and then the instrumental bits for a decent song except one after the other rather than together, which is stupid. On the other hand, for the final minute or so, it’s really quite lovely.
Tom: Really? It’s… it’s an advertising jingle. It’s beautifully sung, I’ll grant you, but I’m not sure it qualifies as much more.
Tim: The instrumental is at a high enough level that it becomes worth listening to on its own, and while her voice isn’t really enough to carry the song with nothing behind it, when everything comes together: well it’s just lovely.
Still entirely unnecessary, mind, and I’m struggling not to giggle at the record label’s claim that she’s about to become huge just because her voice is now associated with a load of processed meat – at least Gabrielle Aplin had a snowman. What’s Iben got? Sausages. Sausages and spam.