The Xtra Files: We Review Sweden’s ‘I Can’t Go On’ by Robin Bengtsson!

Welcome to The Xtra Files, our new series which will give you an insight into what the team at escXtra think of your favourite entries into this year’s contest! Today, we review Sweden.

Now that all the songs have been released, we are able to review each and every one of them. Our honest and brutal reviews will keep you entertained until the rehearsals start in May! We will also each give a score out of 10 for every entry, and create an escXtra leaderboard of the entries! You can see our preview reviews here.
Today, it is the turn of the Swedish entry, ‘I Can’t Go On’ by Robin Bengtsson, to be reviewed by Hlynur, Luke, Nick, Rodrigo, and Simon. Let’s get started!

The Reviews

Hlynur

Not sure what I feel about this song, gives me mixed vibes. But for the most parts I like it. Catchy and fun to dance to. Robin’s performance is charming and he looks freaking beautiful. But there is something, don’t know what, that makes me not like it that much.

Luke

For his performance, Robin will be showing us new ways to do cardio exercise on a treadmill. The song is pretty good, it’s at least catchy. I can imagine hearing this on the radio here in UK and it being popular. But despite that, it doesn’t really go anywhere; the song has only one level and it “can’t go on” to the next one. Still a decent entry though.

Nick

This is just too much, Sweden. Wanting it slick and polished is something we know the Swedes for. But planning every nanosecond (no pun intended), including a sickening look into the camera ruins a perfectly acceptable pop tune. During the Melodifestivalen final, Robin had a few moments of going for it. And 160 seconds of awkwardness because he had too be such a player. This might not do as well as people think.

Rodrigo

Contemporary sound. Check. Great song. Check. Catchy lyrics. Check. Impeccable staging. Check. Memorable hand gesture. Check. Gorgeous singer. Check. Hot back-up dancers. Check. Potential winner. Check.

Simon

The Swedes always follow the assembly instructions carefully, so this is very well put together. But it comprises cliché lyrics, cliché sounds and cliché compositional tricks.

Scores

When we remove the top score of 10 and the lowest score of 4, the average score for Sweden is 7.77.
(Removing the top score and the lowest score helps to make the average score more reliable and less affected by outliers.)

Leaderboard

Sweden reaches 1st place in our leaderboard with a score of 7.77.

1. Sweden – 7.77
2. Belarus – 7.75
3. Australia – 7.25
4. Serbia – 7.08
5. Switzerland – 6.96
6. Denmark – 6.83
7. Armenia – 6.80
8. Hungary – 6.79
9. Austria – 6.58
10. Moldova – 6.58
11. Norway – 6.33
12. Latvia – 6.25
13. United Kingdom – 6.00
14. The Netherlands – 5.33
15. Albania – 5.21
16. Ukraine – 5.13
17. San Marino – 3.92

Tomorrow, we will review Estonia.
Do you agree with our reviews of Sweden? What are your thoughts on Robin Bengtsson’s ‘I Can’t Go On’? Let us know in the comments!