Wild a lot of cuddling among the audience:
Artist: Sebastian Zalo
Where: Kulturkirken Jakob, Thursday evening
Dice roll: 4
REVIEW: That the pandemic has curled up to the music industry’s usual cycles becomes extra clear in the case of Sebastian Zalo. Is he not really too big to play on Bylarm? Has he not broken through for a long time?
After all, he has been on the NRK program “The Next”, released a song with Ingebjørg Bratland and the big-emotion hit “My Dear Fear” has rounded 1.6 million plays on Spotify. At the same time: Had it been February, and not September, it would probably have been exactly as it should be.
But precisely because he has already made a breakthrough, expectations are all the greater. And then it all gets a little more tricky. Zalo is a kind of mix of Cezinando, Sondre Justad and Lillebjørn Nilsen, and sometimes it just gets a little too much “A sky full of stars” for my taste.
Not that it seems to bother any of the audience members in Kulturkirken Jakob. I have not seen so much public cuddling since 2019. Zalo is obviously the couple’s artist, they respond to the music by rocking calmly back and forth while holding each other. Fair enough. But I suspect that the rugging is a result of some of the songs being a bit… monotonous and boring?
On some of the material, there is simply too little variation in the melody lines.
Fortunately, Zalo took the opportunity to play new songs. The tribute stone to the friend who was killed is close, strong and has a distinctive nerve. The new single is also full of fun.
Still, I expected a little more contact with the audience, yes even more breakthrough tendencies, simply.
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