Earlier today, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — gathered in Bern to discuss the contestants participating in Die Entscheidungsshow, the national selection for Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Today we look at power-vocalist Bella C with “Another World”. Does Bella C transport us to another world, or are we wondering what planet she’s on? Read on to find out…
BELLA C – “ANOTHER WORLD”
“ANOTHER WORLD” REVIEWS
Antranig: Bella’s vocals are impeccable and there is barely a difference between the studio version and the live version. “Another World” has some great lyrics but the song only becomes memorable in the last 30 seconds. It is one of the better entries in this final but would it stand out at Eurovision? I highly doubt it.
Score: 7.5/10
George: This is a quite lovely song from a very talented artist. The whole thing reminds me Adele’s “Skyfall”. Bella delivers the song in a unique way and especially after the first two minutes, her voice is stunning, making the best of it. The orchestration of the song is also one of the strong parts. I have to say this is one of the best songs in the Swiss final and stands a high chance to win.
Score: 9/10
Josh: Bella C is trying to transport us to “Another World” but honestly I’m quite comfortable staying in the world I’m in. I understand that Bella is trying her best to bring all of the drama to the Swiss selection this year, but I’m left feeling like a bottle of Coca-Cola that’s been open for three weeks – flat.
Score: 4/10
Mario: Love me some international touch in this selection! Bella C is a seemingly powerful and charismatic woman, and she can work drama and sass. Her rich vocals and musical accompaniment are great, but it really looks like she finds playing piano and singing at the same time painful at times. Just hire a pianist and shine on stage! You can bring me to another world, but just for a 10-day trip.
Score: 6/10
Renske: If you are a woman, just like me, you know it’s difficult to choose, and Bella is just another woman with that problem. She should focus on either the singing or the piano, because now the singing distracts me from the piano and the piano distracts me from the singing. Bella knows how to sing, but her voice is not strong enough to make such a ballad like this interesting for viewers at home.
Score: 6/10
Robyn: It’s not enough to enter a song in the style of a James Bond theme song (as Maria Elena Kyriakou discovered). Conchita Wurst made her Bond-inspired song an outsider anthem, Sam Smith injected his actual Bond theme with vulnerability. Bella hasn’t brought anything new, with the only point of interest being that her Bulgarian accent makes the song sound like it’s performed by a classic Eastern European Bond villain.
Score: 4/10
William: I’m not sure what world Bella C is singing about, but I’m confident that I don’t want to go there. Her enunciation is off and very exposed in the opening bars. And, while I appreciate her drama, facial expressions and sultry piano playing, at times she really looks like she is trying to push one out. But none of that matters. The ultimate problem is the lacklustre, forgettable song.
Score: 4/10
In the Swiss Wiwi Jury we have 16 jurors but only have room for 7 reviews. The remaining nine scores are below!
Anthony: 6/10
Bernardo: 5.5/10
Cristian: 8/10
Edd: 3/10
Luis: 4/10
Maria: 7/10
Mikhail: 7.5/10
Ramadan: 4/10
Sopon: 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 3 and a high of 9.
1:25… that take is so horrible… looking forced up to the sky…
I love this song, but I fear that I love it for all the wrong reasons.
Ps. To the critic who said that Maria Elena discovered it’s not a winning combination: What are you saying? She passed the finals and didn’t get nul points in it. Not everyone can win, but any finals entrant (minus Big 5, but it’s their own fault since the rules are such) is a winner of a sort. Stop being overtly ambitious, this is a music show, not political elections.
In my opinion, Bella’s song is just as good as Rykka’s and both would be a great winner for Switzerland. I really don’t see why this song isn’t as accepted as the other one.
Great song!!!! She can sing verry well and it’s much better than Rykka!
This song seems to draw inspiration from “Skyfall” in its compositional style, which is brave. I like the graveness of the song while not being too specifically political – this song has a good balance there and lyrically works quite well. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of Bella’s voice on the song. Other-worldly it may be, but I would prefer more power and dynamic contrasts. (Sorry Bella! Perhaps sing a less dramatic song next year?) x
I’m being totally honest here: I can’t see Bella lighting up the scoreboard with this in Stockholm if she wins the Swiss final. And pairing a piano ballad for her candidate song with another piano ballad in “Empire State of Mind Part II” for her cover song is very risky.