JOWST Denies Using 'Pre Recorded Vocals' During His Grand Final Performance

Jowst the one half of the duo that represented Norway this year has broken his silence in regards to the use of, or not so apparent use of pre recorded backing vocals. Prior to Norway qualifying for the Grand Final there had been much scrutiny from fans, and journalists who accused the Norwegian duo of using pre-recorded vocals for their song "Grab The Moment". Norway performed a lot better this year than previous years, and many have attributed to it being the song, which was very modern and catchy. Check the song out here:

JOWST on his Facebook page stated that they were not pre recorded backing vocals, he stated "they are pre recorded. But they are not backing vocals. In fact, they are no longer vocals. They are now a digital instrument". He has clarified that the words used were in actual fact instruments so it did not break any rules. Regardless of this, JOWST was happy that the Norwegian delegation did manage to get the EBU to change the rules on this. He mentioned that, "to stay up-to-date, regarding the music productions and genres, it has to follow the new things that are being used these days". Therefore, the pre recorded backing vocals will make, "ESC songs to sound like a Eurovision song, but just a good song".

JOWSTargued that having the pre recorded bits in the song, enables a song to be heard, as intended by the artist. This is a very sore point for many people. JOWST clearly have not broken any rules, however many like the idea that the Eurovision is live, and the vocals are too. That some may argue includes the backing ones. On the other hand, it may be a slight hypocrisy for a competition that claims to be live in every way, to not actually have live instruments on stage, meaning half the music is pre-recorded anyway. If you look at the Swedish national final, pretty much all the backing music is pre-recorded, so can it be argued that Eurovision is going the same way. It may be argued it is not a vocal competition, but a song competition, in which the song is being judged, and not souley the strength of the vocals?

Ultimately, it is a competition that is televised, the vocals, including the way it is staged is important. Sometimes artists who have not have the best vocal range, have faired better than those who have. The performance and staging of this might have helped. The competition is not about one singer, but all including the backing who grace the Eurovision stage. Whether you agree if it is right or wrong, the juries did like it awarding it a very high score.

At the competition Norway qualified from their semi final with ease, and made it to the top 10 for the first time in years. At the Grand Final, they were only awarded 29 points by the televoters, however the professional juries were a lot kinder giving them 129 points. Combined the Nordic nation scored 158 points. Could this type of song be the way forward? Let us know your thoughts on this, and stay tuned to "VOXXVIEWS" where Andy and Elliot discuss this.

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