Wiwi Jury: Belgium’s Astrid Destuyver with “Everybody Aches”

Earlier today, the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals, gathered in Bruges to discuss the contestants participating in Eurosong 2016, the national selection for Belgium. Today we look at Astrid Destuyver with her entry “Everybody Aches”. Did Astrid’s ballad sooth away our troubles, or were we left hurting? Read on to find out…

Astrid Destuyver – “Everybody Aches”

“Everybody Aches” reviews

Antranig: Everything from Astrid’s song to Astrid’s appearance screams Molly Sterling! Unfortunately I think that “Everybody Aches” would suffer the fate of  “Playing with Numbers” at Eurovision, but that won’t stop her from being one of my favourites if she gets there, especially if it is revamped to add some extra power. This is the song that should win Eurosong 2016 but I don’t think it will actually pull through.

Score: 7.5/10

Deban: When you’ve got only three minutes to court millions of listeners/viewers, you can’t afford to sell dull and lengthy verses. Killer chorus here, but I ache at the prospect of having to sit through pointless stanzas. Furthermore, Astrid is somewhat lacking in personality. She’s pretty to look at, but rather forgettable.

Score: 5.5/10

Edd: Well, this is very trendy! She has a beautifully soft, indie tone to her voice and the electronic/soul production is very in at the moment. However, I find the purposely off-beat piano chords really quite distressing, and it all just washes over me. This song would be far better suited to chiropractor’s waiting room than the Eurovision Song Contest.

Score: 6.5/10

Josh: This is pretty good! Astrid is super cool and edgy and this performance is fierce! The start of the song is seriously giving me Aminata Savadogo vibes, but “Everybody Aches” doesn’t quite build like “Love Injected” did, though I don’t mind that. I don’t know how well suited to Eurovision this song is — I picture it more being played in a funky bar in Melbourne whilst sipping on an Aperol Spritz. Nevertheless, still a great effort from Astrid.

Score: 7.5/10

Renske: This song was quite a let down, to be honest. Astrid has a lot of great potential and talent, but sadly I haven’t seen much of that talent yet. “Everybody Aches” is neither catchy, nor toe-curling. The song sounds a bit artificial, because the chorus and the verses don’t match each other. It’s sad that we can already cross such a talented artist with off our list.

Score: 6/10

Robyn: Astrid seemed like one of the most promising of the Eurosong contestants, but “Everybody Aches” isn’t quite capturing her talents. It’s a pleasant enough song, but it’s just not at all engaging. Astrid doesn’t sound like she’s comforting a depressed friend; she just sounds really bored by it all.

Score: 4/10

William: It’s like a prankster tampered with her metronome: at times she seems to be singing in slow motion, and at other times she’s been put on fast-forward. Regardless of the tempo, she’s never really in control. Easy-listening R&B just isn’t for her. I detest the dub-step-esque section from 0:57. It’s very Vilija Mataciunaite, and we know how that turned out…

Score: 3/10

In the Belgian Wiwi Jury we have 18 jurors but only have room for seven reviews. The remaining 11 scores are below.

Bernardo: 6.5/10

Cristian: 6/10

Denise: 4/10

Francheska: 3/10

Luis: 6/10

Maria: 4/10

Mario: 5.5/10

Mikhail: 4.5/10

Ramadan: 4/10

Sinan: 2/10

William C: 6.5/10

The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 2 and a high of 7.5.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 5.16/10

FOR OUR LIST OF EUROSONG 2016 RANKINGS, CLICK HERE

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