Earlier today, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — gathered in Riga to discuss the contestants participating in Supernova 2016, Latvia’s national final for Eurovision 2016 . Today we look at Dvines, Marta Ritova, Miks Dukurs and Iluta Alsberga. Want to see the jury’s verdict? Read on!

Dvines – “Set It On Fire”

“Set It On Fire” Reviews

William: I don’t like it. It’s very 1997 and only enjoyable after a very large glass of vodka, followed by a few shots of whiskey.

Score: 4/10

Sami: “Set It On Fire” is very dated. It could play in a club, but no one would get on the dance floor. It’s very forgettable and would be more suitable as a background music. They might want to set it on fire, but the flame isn’t burning for long.

Score: 3/10

Sinan: Yeahhh! Love, love this! It’s very suitable to hear in club, to dance and have fun, but I’m not 100% sure if it is the right song Latvia should send to Stockholm for the Eurovision. We will see how they will perform it on the stage.

Score: 5/10

Josh: DVINES is unfortunately not living up to their name in being divine. “Set It On Fire” is a great jazzy, lounge track that I could imagine being played in a high-end cocktail bar or the lobby of a five-star hotel – so it sounds expensive. It’s just a bit dull.

Score: 6.5/10

Robyn: This is the sort of music that Spotify gives me in my Discovery Weekly playlist, so of course I love this. “Set It On Fire” wouldn’t be out of place in the neighbouring Eesti Laul. It has gorgeous cool sounds in the verses, and then a catchy chorus with some very welcome 1980s house sounds. But with it comes the usual Eesti Laul problem: while it’s a cool song, it probably wouldn’t work at Eurovision.

Score: 8/10

Antranig: Cue the hundredth “Love Injected” knock-off in the Latvian field. I’m not even a fan of Aminata and I’m somewhat offended that they have songs like these in Supernova 2016. I’m trying to find one thing I like about this song and I’m coming up empty. The group has potential — the song does not.

Score: 3/10

In the Latvian Wiwi Jury we have 17 jurors but only have room for six reviews. The remaining 11 scores are below.

Zakaria: 7/10

Bogdan: 4/10

Anthony: 7.5/10

Luis: 7/10

Patrick: 5/10

Renske: 6.5/10

Bernardo: 4/10

Sam: 5.5/10

George: 6/10

Edd: 5/10

Dayana: 4.5/10

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 8.

Wiwi Jury Score: 5.37/10

Marta Ritova – “Not From This World”

“Not From This World” Reviews

William: I feel her pain. Thankfully the song is so monotonous and soporific that she numbs said pain. This is just not good enough.

Score: 3/10

Anthony: Three minutes of this song and I was left wondering where was that missing wow factor. The intro gets off to a slow start before it simply drags on and on. Unless Marta can change my mind and nails her live performance, this fails to lift off and falls flat in the end. “Not From This World” and my mind’s already on another planet.

Score: 3/10

Josh: Well, there’s three minutes of my life I’ll never get back. “Not From This World” is like an everlasting gobstopper – it feels like it takes forever to end and it sucks the entire time. So incredibly boring.

Score: 2/10

Robyn: The chorus in this song is repeated four times; the chorus of “Heroes” is repeated six times. But here’s the thing: with “Heroes” it’s different almost every time, broken up with structural changes. On “Not From This World”, it’s just the same thing, copied and pasted. The end result is a gothic ballad that feels about five minutes along.

Score: 4/10

Sinan: I like her voice, but in the song there are a lot of pauses, which I don’t like. I think the song is not very suitable for the big Eurovision, but the junior one would be very good.

Score: 3/10

Patrick: I think this is the biggest disappointment for me this year in Latvia. I loved her 2013 NF song “I am who I am” and I thought maybe this will be the same quality… but no. In the end it’s a boring song. She has a nice voice, no doubts, but this is not comparable to any other song.

Score: 5/10

In the Latvian Wiwi Jury we have 17 jurors but only have room for six reviews. The remaining 11 scores are below.

Zakaria: 4/10

Bogdan: 4/10

Sami: 5/10

Luis: 2/10

Antranig: 6.5/10

Renske: 6/10

Bernardo: 6.5/10

Sam: 4.5/10

George: 5/10

Edd: 8/10

Dayana: 5.5/10

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 8.

Wiwi Jury Score: 4.47/10

Miks Dukurs – “Paradise”

“Paradise” Reviews:

Zakaria: That electronic sound is so annoying and distracting. The song doesn’t do much to me, I don’t like it but I don’t hate it. It’s just there.

Score: 5/10

William: Don’t be afraid — you slay! This song is emotional, it builds, it pulsates — j’adore! His voice stands out for his rock-edge and resonant sound. I’d listen to him all night.

Score: 7/10

Luis: This song is strangely lineal, even though it tries not to be it. The mix of guitars with that annoying electronic sound isn’t doing any good for it. At least, Miks has a good voice, but it’s not enough to save this. At the end of it, I feel as if I had gone through a tunnel. It’s weird.

Score: 4/10

Josh: When I think of a paradise, I think of lounging on a nice beach in Fiji, sipping on piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. “Paradise” is the furthest thing from that. Another generic electronic/jazz song in Supernova 2016 trying to ride the Savadogo wave – and it just doesn’t work.

Score: 3/10

Robyn: Despite the emotional delivery of Miks, “Paradise” doesn’t really do much. It’s yet another song where the lead singer feels like a guest vocalist popping up to give a soul vocal touch to some electronic beats. A good Eurovision performance needs to be much more than this, even though it’s currently a trend in popular music.

Score: 3/10

George: His voice is really amazing but this song is a crime! The song, though, is really weak and his vocal abilities are not showed off. He makes the best of the song, but yet it’s not enough. Honestly, I don’t believe he will reach the semi, even if he deserves it.

Score: 6/10

In the Latvian Wiwi Jury we have 17 jurors but only have room for six reviews. The remaining 11 scores are below.

Sinan: 4/10

Bogdan: 5/10

Sami: 6/10

Anthony: 3.5/10

Antranig: 5.5/10

Renske: 6/10

Bernardo: 7/10

Sam: 2.5/10

Patrick: 4/10

Edd: 8/10

Dayana: 8.5/10

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 2.5 and a high of 8.5.

Wiwi Jury Score: 5.13/10

Iluta Alsberga – “On Hold”

“On Hold” Reviews:

Anthony: Co-written by Iluta herself, I liked the catchy electronic beats this song has provided and her vocals adds a summery feel to it. However, the end product sounds samey and it’s just not memorable enough even after several listens. A majority of Eurovision viewers are non die-hard fans and this entry will literally put their memories on hold.

Score: 6/10

William: She sings about “a good time” but sadly she isn’t showing me one. Despite all the digi-sounds and whistles this remains decidedly bland. Starting with a melody would have helped.

Score: 1.5/10

Luis: I can see this as the background music in a fancy shop downtown, but not at Eurovision. This is enjoyable, but as she says “easy come and easy go” — it’s not memorable at all. At least, she will be a nice act to close the show and forget some of the disasters that preceed her.

Score: 5/10

Josh: Finally, we get an electronic song that is upbeat and danceable. I can imagine “On Hold” slaying its way through European nightclubs this summer. Is it totally memorable? No. Can it win Supernova 2016? No. But it’s refreshing to hear something different in the Latvian selection this year.

Score: 6/10

Robyn: I like listening to this song, but once it’s over, it’s totally memory-holed. I struggle to remember how it goes, even after repeat listens. And to me, that’s a huge problem for a wannabe Eurovision song. It cannot risk being the “Wait, how did that one go?” moment.

Score: 6/10

Edd: All I can say is listening to this makes me glad that I wasn’t living in Latvia in the 1980s. She’s just put some unpleasant synth noises in a pot, given them a good stir, and poured them over a badly-written melody. A complete non-contender.

Score: 1/10

In the Latvian Wiwi Jury we have 16 jurors but only have room for six reviews. The remaining 10 scores are below.

Bogdan: 8/10

Sami: 4/10

Zakaria: 5/10

Antranig: 6.5/10

Renske: 6.5/10

Bernardo: 4.5/10

Sam: 2/10

Patrick: 5/10

George: 6.5/10

Dayana: 1/10

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 1 and a high of 8.

Wiwi Jury Score: 4.68/10

For the all the Supernova reviews and rankings, click here

Keep up with the latest Latvia Eurovision News

5 Comments
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Griffin
Griffin
8 years ago

This score was so silly and extremely invalid, lol this is so funny

Belt
Belt
8 years ago

I did quite like Dukurs song.

Olllly
Olllly
8 years ago

I didn’t see this coming.

Expected a bit more support from q
Wiwijury for Dvines and Miks Dukurs. Well, I still like both songs and I think they will be the best ones in this heat.

LATVIA
LATVIA
8 years ago

And off topic now:

I know it’s different for anybody, but for me paradise is something completely different than some sunny island with fancy cocktails. It’s some cool place off the road when taking a roadtrip and finding a place where to spend night, with fireplace and beer and funny people, medium temperature, fresh spring air, sound of crickets and bright moon, some old house with lake by the side.

LATVIA
LATVIA
8 years ago

Read comments about Set It On Fire and immediately went to comments section. 1. Where the fxck you all live? Set It On Fire – outdated?? Ah forgot that you only listen to cliche pop songs. It’s called deep house which is gaining more popularity than ever before. Latvians like deep house, pretty often there are deep house songs on Spotify Latvia Viral 50 and radio charts. 2. Get your facts right before saying something. DV?NES means twins in Latvian, it’s nothing to do with divine. They chose this stage name because no matter how they would name their duo,… Read more »