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There is something very good about how everyone in “Much Better”, besides wanting to protect the vulnerable in Jakob Hellman. Even Tove Styrke, who is the youngest and who has cried enough to gossip and recount her exhaustion at 19, seems dominated by maternal instincts. You’re always worried about Jakob, he says. “Because he is always very hard on himself.” But perhaps it is precisely that high bar that made his comeback so bright as well.
From that perspective, therefore, it becomes a bit painful to think about how everyone else has sucked the soul out of their songs in recent weeks. Helen Sjöholm turned “She has a way” into an incomprehensible sheet metal musical. “Tears” became a pale copy on Markus Krunegård, while Ana Diaz this week did Sting’s clinical music from “Be friends.”
But of course it is quite a thankless task to perform the album which has become something of the holy grail within the Swedish pop world. A perfect and adored album, which has been idealized for generations, even by those who were barely born when it arrived. How can anyone do him justice?
Poor Hellman, I think. Not because he seemed the least bit disappointed himself, but because I too have caught that care. You want to protect him and manage the treasure of his song. Because what will happen to Jakob Hellman Stim’s earnings after the show? Maybe he deserves more money at that table.
Plura’s unexpected awakening, therefore, is a relief. No, I do not mean that sailboat that was dedicated to Benjamin Ingrosso. Although it was an experience to see Plura with a cigar in her mouth and a boat in her stomach (maybe it should have been a steamboat), but in the final issue.
When Plura replaces Hellman in Persson’s pack classic “A Thousand Days From Here,” and also gets a visit from Per Persson himself, it’s like stepping back in time. Everyone is surrounded by a golden glow, Plura has suddenly come to life and Jakob Hellman’s eyes slowly fill with tears.
It is so worthy of that moment. In the best of worlds, it might even alleviate that sense of insecurity and failure that so easily seeps through him. Through us.
Too bad it wasn’t Hellman himself who wrote the song. But you can’t get it all.
