The panel, on SVT’s 'Inför Eurovision' programme, gave the song universally low marks.
“This is sad and boring. It's like an Adele rip-off. No, yuck,” Tess Merkel from pop group Alcazar said on the show.
“I agree. It's sad and it's a shame because I love Norway and a lot of its music,” Eric Saade, one of Sweden’s leading pop singers agreed. “I do not think this is good.”
The gothic duet between Kjetil Morland and Debrah Scarlett won Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix in March, and has been tipped to go far in the contest by German and Finnish Eurovision experts.
Vivi Stenberg, who is heading the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) delegation, argued it would be wrong to take the Swedish sneering too seriously.
“That the Norwegian ESC contribution is criticized from Sweden is as good a sign of spring as Hepatica [a flower common in Norway],” she said.
“I think it’s a bit strange, because I believe that it is a qualitatively good track. It is also high on the betting list. The Swedes appear entrenched in their own schlager success formula.”
Kjetil Morland, 34, has lived most of his adult life in London, where he fronts the indie band Absent Elk, which has supported The Script, The Hoosiers and Girls Aloud, but never seen mainstream success.
Absent Elk’s geeky cover version of Girls Aloud's The Loving Kind became a minor hit on YouTube, after which Girls Aloud invited them on tour.
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