[Video]
[5.67]
Katherine St Asaph: The most fun had with this subject since Roy Orbison in Clingfilm.
[7]
Alfred Soto: The dolorous, authoritative voice suggests John Grant as Kaiser Wilhelm, and the synth chimes recall mid eighties Hall and Oates. Damned if I know what Roy Orbison has to do with it all — maybe to hint that he would have sung Eurofestival pop?
[5]
Megan Harrington: What “Roy Orbison” most reminds me of is Peter Schilling’s 1983 hit “Major Tom (Coming Home),” a dance song with a familiar titular character. Schilling released a translated version of his German original, but you could get a basic sense of the plot from hearing the way he moved “Major Tom” through the song. It’s clearly dramatic and the persistent synths suggest some measure of peril. “Roy Orbison,” by contrast, is a little sleazy and tied to nightlife. There’s a cheap tinniness to Stig’s synths, like well vodka and soda water, and a particular 4 A.M. weariness. While lyrics translations exist, they’re a bit crooked and “Roy Orbison” is speaking two languages simultaneously. If you don’t understand Finnish, listen to the way the song travels and you’ll hear all its settings and learn all its characters.
[7]
Anthony Easton: I keep hearing “I eat your coq au vin” which is almost as anti-Roy Orbison a statement as the limp electronic decoration offered here. Imagine the aching want if you combine Moroder with “Crying,” and hear the disappointment when this happens.
[4]
Micha Cavaseno: They’re vocalling that corny-ass Drive soundtrack I see.
[2]
Madeleine Lee: Whenever I run into the words “viral music video” directly in the name of the music video, my response is skepticism — back in my day, you just posted your fanfiction about wrapping Roy Orbison in cling film on the internet and assumed no one was looking, get off my lawn, etc. But I can see why this song would inspire that kind of confidence: there’s the cheap thrill of turning a famous person’s name into a nonsensical hook — delivered, of course, with the correct steely deadpan voice — but I replay it for the way the syncopation in the chorus snags on the synth bounces just right.
[6]
Scott Mildenhall: Lacking the exploitative biographical jukebox musical that someone has got to write, an eponymous song quoting a famous line will do. That it comes translated is curious, at least from an English-native perspective. Taken from its original language and melody, the reference is almost irrelevant. It might resonate more in Finland, but without the language the song is just benignly catchy electropop with a gimmick unfulfilled.
[6]
Will Adams: Angular and fluorescent, “Roy Orbison” is its own Rainbow Road theme, with a power-up chorus lurking at every turn.
[7]
W.B. Swygart: Chief ingredients: dude who pronounces Orbison with five Rs and four Ns; synths that suggest a shopping mall lit entirely by pink and green neon and consisting solely of branches of H&M and vending machines that sell cans of purple tears with Nietzsche’s face on them. Yeah, you can stay.
[7]