FRESH: ‘Drivers Licence’ – KEiiNO

KEiiNO hold a “Drivers Licence”
Euro Pop

It’s been some time since we caught up with Norwegian trio KEiiNO. The 2019 Eurovision entrants came 6th with “Spirit In The Sky” and followed soon after with “Praying”.

It was later in 2019 that we last featured them with the single “Dancing In The Smoke” but Tom, Fred and Alexandra have not been quiet!

They released their debut album, “OKTA”, last May with a total of six singles lifted from the album. “OKTA” reached No.30 in their homeland and No.63 on the UK download chart and once they were done with that, a barrage of stand alone tracks have followed including their cover of Whitney’s 1987 chart topper, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”, given a Eurovision-style overhaul and coated with KEiiNO’s own inimitable style – see what you think…

It was announced that the trio would be giving Eurovision another try this year when they entered their epic track “Monument” at the Melodi Grand Prix 2021 in January. Sadly for them, it will have to be another year as they were pipped to the post by singer Tix, who will represent the country with the song “Fallen Angel”. The song has proven enormously successful commercially, however, taking KEiiNO into the Norwegian top ten for the first time since “Spirit In The Sky“.

With a second new track, “Unbreakable”, KEiiNO have just released a third new song for 2021, the retro-synthwave infused “Drivers Licence”. Taking it back to the mid-80’s, this is still very much heavy, pulsing power pop in the KEiiNO vein but with more than a liberal hint of electro-synth from back in the days. The song is a cover of American actress and singer Olivia Rodrigo’s recent chart topper, so could we be in for an album of cover versions…? As yet there are no plans for a follow up to “OKTA” but KEiiNO are keeping busy and keeping us all guessing about their next move!