Mariette Hansson once participated in the Swedish version of Pop Idol and released her debut album in 2008. She disappeared for quite a while, but made a glorious return during Melodifestivalen 2015, the Swedish preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Her song ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ reached the final and ended up in third place. She now has an EP out on which she collaborated with Swedish artists Ace Wilder and Miss Li and she recorded a song written by the composers who secured Sweden’s Eurovision winner this year, by composing ‘Heroes’. Here’s a track by track review of Mariette’s My Revolution.
01. If I Can Love You
Mariette shows off her soft and emotional side on the first song called ‘If I Can Love You’. It’s a mid tempo track with a slight country vibe. The lyrics tell a story about the better days in a relationship that does not feel the way it did before. The repetition of the word ‘you’ in the chorus is actually quite catchy and hypnotic and adds to the melancholic vibe of the song. A beautiful and touching opening.
02. Family Reunion
The pace is fastened on ‘Family Reunion’, a proper uptempo pop song about bringing a new girlfriend to the family party she used to go to with her ex. It’s a clear message who regrets letting her go and shoving it in the face that she has found a new lover that is now ‘swinging with her’ in the garden of her father. I have to say the feisty attitude serves Mariette well and she pulls it off convincingly. It doesn’t hurt either that the chorus is extremely catchy and well written. I love the tongue in cheek with the ‘grass that is greener on the other side’. A pop highlight!
03. My Revolution
Mariette recorded the official theme for the Stockholm Pride for this summer and it is called ‘My Revolution‘. She wrote the track herself with the help of Linnea Olsson, Fredrik Samsson and Anton Hård af Segerstad. ‘My Revolution’ has a light and uplifting vibe with an earworm chorus that stays in your head for the rest of your day. Compared to the rest of her songs, it is the most hopeful and upbeat and thematically, it is inspiring enough to be the Pride song in Sweden for the year.
04. Say Never
If you thought Mariette sounded feisty on ‘Family Reunion’, wait till you hear her sharp words on ‘Say Never’. She talks about the way she just broke up with an ex and there ain’t nothing subtle about the way Mariette handles these things. “Breaking your heart wasn’t easy, but shit it was fun, seeing you cry because of me, it had to be done,” she sings in a seductive and shady matter. The attitude is backed up by a strong production and a powerful chorus, just how we like our pop music, now don’t we?
05. Don’t Stop Believing
The second heat of Melodifestivalen 2015 got very exciting when Mariette came seemingly out of nowhere and won the public’s hearts with a powerful, atmospheric and faultless performance of her song ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. The song, co-written by Miss Li, sounded and looked mysterious on stage in a similar way to Madonna’s ‘Frozen’. It’s such a well written track with lots of personality and I’m glad it reached the 3 at Melodifestivalen. Although the Swedes chose wisely by sending Måns Zelmerlöw who eventually won Eurovision, I am sure Mariette would have done great as well!
This EP is a great way to introduce Mariette to a larger audience. De EP is full of well written pop with big choruses and strong hooks. Can we get more of this in the form of an album please? Thanks!