The Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals – continues its whistle-stop tour of Ireland, and today we take some time to assess Nikki Kavanagh’s Eurosong entry “Memories”. Will we remember this effort as fondly as her 2011 song “Falling”? Read on to find out…
http://youtu.be/ies9w16h7Vo
William A: Nikki begins by saying that she doesn’t want to be another tragedy — is she talking about Ireland’s recent record at Eurovision? In any event, she’s got a great voice and this song really shows it off. The chorus is dramatic, stirring and memorable and I’m confident she will deliver it flawlessly. That said, I think this song lacks the progression and build of Erika Selin’s. “Memories” starts to get repetitive after the second minute.
Score: 8/10
Louis: I don’t know what to thing about this, it’s fine, but I’m worried it would leave Ireland in last place again. Also not sure whether it’s too high for Nikki and if she is struggling to reach her high notes (hence all the shouting). Accompanied by random drum beats and uneventful background music, I’m not jumping on the bandwagon with this one.
Score: 3/10
Robyn: It’s another Sia-inspired song with a massive shouty chorus (complete with lyrics about actual shouting). What’s she shouting about? Some sort of independent woman malarky? With Ireland in the same semi half as Malta’s similar “Warrior”, there’s a risk that despite the shouting, this just wouldn’t stand out.
Score: 5/10
William C: The song is okay. But I have a feeling Nikki will struggle with this on the night. Then again her vocals on “Falling” were anything but bad. I think in the actual contest this would be make or break, either do really good or absolutely horrible. There are quite a lot of shouty songs this years, so I’m not sure what would make Nikki stand out. Staging? Hah! Overall, a bit too middle of the road.
Score: 5/10
Mike: It’s a decent song, but I am afraid Nikki could have bad “Memories” about her possible Eurovision experience. If she wins she’ll be in the same half of the second semi-final as Malta’s Amber, and the two acts will steal each other’s votes. Nikki should give Eurovision another try when she finds a suitable song which fits her voice. Because she really is a very good singer.
Score 7/10
Kristín: This is so much better than Amber’s “Warrior”, and the song sticks with me a lot longer. It’s a great melody and Nikki surely gives it her all. I’m still recovering from the blank space/hot mess that was Kasey Smith last year, and I’m determined to have high hopes that Nikki will bring back my trust in my beloved Celts, should she make it to Vienna. Werk it girl!!
Score:9/10
Denise: This is really good. I have to say that Nikki was my firm favourite with “Falling” in 2011, so I had high hopes for “Memories”. She hasn’t let me down. There are a lot of high notes (actually, there are only high notes) and we already know that she’s a pretty good singer. I’m just a little bit afraid that this song will ask too much and that her voice won’t be able to handle it
Score 9/10
Mikhail: This is an awesome song! It’s so powerful, and I can almost feel the emotions striking me. I really hope that she can come out with a great Eurosong performance, because “shouting” parts are really hard to do live, as we saw with Amber, whose high “scream” notes were quite irritating.
Score: 10/10
Padraig: It’s unfortunate that from the off Nikki’s song has been compared to the likes of Malta’s “Warrior” and Switzerland’s “Time To Shine”, but alas, this is inevitable in a contest like Eurovision. “Memories” has plenty of merits in its own right – most notably Nikki’s phenomenal vocals. It’s certainly as good as “Falling”, if not better. One of two stand out songs in Eurosong, although there is a real risk it could sink beneath the other power ballads in Vienna. A risk worth taking? Possibly.
Score: 7.5/10
Angus: Kasey Smith bombed last year when she was stripped of her autotune safety net. Nikki Kavanagh’s voice has been similarly and audibly tweaked. That’s a future issue though, and the fact Nikki is the only act we’re even discussing a future for speaks volumes. The clear standout from the competition and the unquestionable winner.
Score: 10/10
I’d be a bit worried if this got through to Vienna. Ireland always seems to struggle with uptempo pop songs and I could see it doing okay in the televote but being voted down by the juries and perhaps even failing to qualify. Most people assumed that Kasey was a safe qualifier last year and we all saw what happened next : poor staging, dodgy performance and the whole thing was very flat and underwhelming.
Love it! Now let’s hope she sings decently live and it could just go through to the final! My choice for Ireland! 🙂
It’s a very good song, although I prefer “Falling”.
I rather have Sia-inspired music than Taylor Swift-ripped-off-crap anytime anywhere … but funny enough this song had something of “Blank Space” for me but sung in a “Chandelier” sort of way … it’s a nice tune but I also have to agree I fear she might struggle with the high notes during a live performance as it sounds really a bit out of her vocal range to honest.
She reminds me Annette Funicello (RIP). That hair!
Its my most liked song from the 5 actually but i really don’t know about the chances that it has..
8,5 / 10
Otna, they are just looking for reasons to hate e.g degrading it because its “to shouty” yet malta is forgiven for it.
Can’t believe how low some of those scores are. For me this is the best song I’ve heard in 2015 so far – assuming she can perform it live.
what i would like is if she could take the high notes ( particularly the start of the chorus) down a notch then i think its brilliant, but if I’m honest in terms of song quality i think its easily better than the other ballads this year but performance is whats key, maybe after hearing it live it will improve on the haters. Erika in terms of standing out would be smarter but a lot more risky as there is a lot of things that need to go right if erika wants to shine where with nikki its more straight… Read more »
@Realist – haha don’t worry, really, this is actually the reason we’re here! Discussing about esc songs 😀
@Realist – well I kinda already know that you’re going to disagree with me, but hell – I like Latvia, Malta, Iceland and Switzerland better. They might not necessarily be power ballads, but they’re ballads with a power note (or is it the deifinition? lol). I’m just hyped for there, while Nikki’s song is pretty, but that’s all for me. It’s not *THE* song, just *a* nice song.
OK, I read that and even I don’t understand it. So. Yeah. Just not my favorite.
@lel sorry for spamming lol,but if I’m honest i have to admit that my favourite is actually Erika Selin but i want Nikki to win because it has the best chance at eurovision but if Erika wins then my fav wins so I’m also happy :D, and god forbid any of the others win well….you may never see me again 😛
This is 3 minutes of shouting basically. She will struggle to hit those notes and make the lyrics coherent.
maria,aminata,amber…w00t no way, maria is an uptempo song so they are not considered. Amber is being compared to Nikki even though nikki is a better singer and a better song, aminata is in a better place because its second half but i can’t see it getting many tele votes where i can see malta and ireland getting decent tele votes IF they are performed well.
@lel who has a better ballad?
well, Realists, that’s where we disagree haha. But maybe I’m in a minority. However, I won’t be mad if Nikki wins, that’s for sure! Just don’t want to fall asleep. Pretty selfish and egotistic, but hey XD
I agree, they shouldn’t! If they believe in their act, sure, why not!
But I’d choose Erika, even though I like Nikki slightly better. Erika would be a stand-out, at least for now. And I don’t enjoy Nikki’s song as much as Aminata’s, Amber’s, Maria’s, etc.etc.; so to sum it up: instead of having 10 power ballads, getting bored and having to choose between my favorites – I would like a different, standing out act. At the moment – Erika would be the one.
@lel, Nikki’s ballad is better than the others in the semi so i don’t see how it would affect it, if anything it puts the other ballads in risk.
Just because there are female ballads doesn’t mean other countries should deter, especially if they are better.
over the Eurosong entries. She’s the best imho, but I THINK she would get forgotten in the 2nd Semifinal of ESC. If she had entered last year, I don’t think that would happen. But this year EVERY single power ballad is kinda in danger of not qualifying or flopping. So, if they sent Erika they would avoid this risk in my opinion. But that ESC, anything can pretty much happen.
lel, you pefer nikki over the rest as in the rest of ballads already selected or the rest of the eurosong entries?
as much as I enjoy female singers with power ballads I need to say one word: ENOUGH. I prefer Nikki’s “Memories” over the rest, but since we have already plenty of songs SIMILAR to hers – I’m gonna have to go with Erika’s “Break Me Up”.
What I like about Nikki is the fact that it seems like the dancers are getting ditched for Memories. That is a difference from RTÉ’s usual hunger and thirst for the use of dancers. She also told me that she plans on doing a promotional tour around Europe on Facebook. So I’m excited.
It is all too much. 3/10.
I think Nikki’s song is superb! By far the best contender for Ireland this year. Yes, this is another female-shouting song, but unlike Malta, Georgia, and Latvia, Nikki has instrumention that supports the vocal energy and a melody that flows naturally.
If this wins, it would become my 2nd favorite song thus far, behind Serbia.
Also I like Latvia in this semi, but it’s not amazing and it really is for a certain audience..it doesn’t make a great first impact. As for Switzerland…that needs a lot of reworking.
I don’t know who I prefer Erika or Nikki. That being said, I’m 80% sure that Nikki would qualify but her song is way too similar to some songs already selected especially in SF2. I think that she has a huge chance to win on Friday and I’d be delighted but for me there’s also something missing.
Having Malta and Ireland in the same semi final is actually quite clever as both songs are similar in style and both Amber and Nikki have immensely powerful voices. So it would be very interesting to see the 2 islands steal votes from each other. If I was decide who was better, it would be hard to call because I have ranked both songs very highly.
But I think Ireland and Malta will be in the final this year.
How is this even comparable to Warrior? They’re not alike and I really do not like Amber’s vocals or tone. However Nikki proved with Falling that she can belt one out. When I saw the first few people rank I was like wtf??? but finally scrolling down more people came to their senses. This is one of the only songs in all the national finals that has screamed potential winner to me.
Amber sings her BREAK really false, I hope Nikki sings the high notes better.
Theifo, i agree and i’d say she defiantly has vocal on par with Ruth if not near it and she is an experienced singer i believe she was sent 60 songs for eurosong which proves that she can be relied on plus unlike malta and switzerland songs nikkis song is actually good which helps it a lot. if she can pull it off live then its a potential top 10 maybe even higher depending on the playing field. atm the only songs i would consider better than it are Estonia and Italy but this song is at least on par… Read more »
The thing with this kind of shouty songs is that the interpreter needs to be VERY strong to make it sound good, otherwise it can become a disaster. Take Ruth last year for example, she managed to deliver a decent performance in the final, but there were moments during some of her live presentations before the final, when she sounded like she was just screaming, not singing.
So depending on Nikki’s live vocals during the national final, it can do very well or very bad. Either way, the studio version sounds good…
i can’t help but feel that people are only accusing her of the shouting because they want a reason to hate the song, because its being compared with malta and switzerland yet they don’t seem to be accused of the shouting…hmmm sorry to be controversial but this is just how i feel for some reason.
Being compared to Amber’s worrier does not worry me at all, who it should worry is amber herself, there both screamy kind of songs but the difference between this and warrior and time to shine is that this is actually a good song.
I can’t imagine one semifinal with Amber, Aminata, Melanie Rene and Nikki Kavanagh. 4 dark-hairs female singers with similar songs. And many duets. The most boring semi-final in Eurovision history? Ireland, don’t choose her!