We are just days away from Belarus’ national selection for Eurovision 2016, which takes place on January 22. In recent weeks the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — has been listening and reviewing all of the songs. Kirill Yermakov is “Running to the Sun”, but will he also be running to Stockholm? Read below what we think about it!
KIRILL YERMAKOV — “RUNNING TO THE SUN”
“RUNNING TO THE SUN” REVIEWS
Mikhail: This song instantly got into my player. It sounds great and the melody has its interesting tricks that I appreciate. Kirill has done a great job with the arrangement of the song and I see a lot of potential in it. He seems to be a confident and energetic performer and the modern pop sound stands out.
Score: 9/10
Denise: My absolute favourite for Belarus this year. The studio version is really good. I like the beat and the changes that happen throughout the song. The versus are way stronger than the chorus but there’s lots of time for improvement. I can see this winning the national selection. With good staging, I’m already really happy to see this in May.
Score: 8/10
William: The creamsicle singing lead vocals is certainly passionate. In a less bargain bin setting, I’m sure his swagger would shine through. The song isn’t awful, but it definitely wouldn’t make the grand final at Eurovision. It’s too unfinished, juvenile, poorly produced and dated. But props for all that energy.
Score: 5.5/10
Robyn: I cautiously like this song, though there are a few aspects that don’t work for me — the lyric “don’t worry about me, Mum”, the flat backing vocals and that ’90s boyband breakdown near the end. But other than that, it’s a really decent pop song and Kirill gives a good performance.
Score: 7.5/10
Sami: This is my favourite song of the selection, but the small audition room wasn’t really the best place for this. It needs a big performance with dancers and maybe a backing singer. Everyone who lived through the best years of Backstreet Boys and N’SYNC will like this as well. And isn’t he nice to look at too!
Score: 9/10
Edd: There are some exciting little touches in the production, but once again the actual framework of the song – the melody – is very poorly written. He’s tried his best, but sadly for Kirill you still can’t polish a turd.
Score: 6.5/10
Luis: Mixed feelings with this one. It’s not bad at all, but I think it’s sooo pretentious, and as overly dramatic as “Time”, but a bit more current. Yet I can’t say I dislike it, it has something. But I’m not sure a revamp can work a miracle.
Score: 5.5/10
Cristian: Lesbihonest, this entry clearly screams “We love the ’90s” but it’s nice, catchy and addictive. The singer should be more careful sticking to the notes but the song is ok. Don’t think this would have great chances to qualify but I enjoy it.
Score: 7/10
Antranig: This is an absolute mess lyrically. Moreso than Natasha Bogdanova’s “Hello”. However, the beat is very catchy which leaves me feeling torn. Overall I think it’s a fun song that should be an outside contender for a top three spot in the final but I hope I don’t see this in Stockholm.
Score: 6/10
Bernardo: This song is inner destruction to my vital organs. I need to be honest with you all. From the moment I read the song title I was like: this could be good. And then my world crumbled down the first time I heard it. The song? The trashiest attempt at pop I ever heard. This is a standard Belarusian entry, it just doesn’t work for me… at all!
Score: 1/10
Anthony: Out of this year’s EuroFest finalists, this is looking like the one entry to beat. So unsurprisingly, it’s also my favourite entry of the lot. A contemporary feel-good pop song with that hint of John Newman about it, Kirill’s stage presence worked well on his live audition.
Score: 8/10
William C.: “Running to the Sun” is the entry that has the most potential from the Belarussian final, but it gives me “Time” vibes, which, considering its result, is not necessarily a good thing. This song is certainly memorable and addictive, but it takes a few listens to get it stuck in your head.
Score: 5.5/10
The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 1 and a high of 9.
Does me remind me of Sweden 2015
Still catchy and pleasant, though.
Boy, this song will need a lot of work if Belarus chooses it. But we all know that just like every year, the Belarussian song will change in some way between the national final and the Eurovision stage. So it’s not like issues with production matter right now.