Wiwi Jury: Moldova’s Lidia Isac with “Falling Stars”

Yesterday the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Moldova where we paid a visit to Stefan cel Mare Park in Chisinau. We found a shady area where we could discuss Lidia Isac‘s song “Falling Stars”. Did we fall in love? Or did it make us fall apart? Read on to find out!

Lidia Isac – “Falling Stars”

“Falling Stars” reviews

Chris: “Falling Stars” feels very underrated to me – it’s got a good beat, Lidia’s English diction is good and the chorus is remarkably memorable. My fear is with Lidia; whilst she’s shown that she can perform well on occasion, I’d worry that she wouldn’t be able to do that consistently in Stockholm. If she can keep it together for all three minutes – particularly where the song starts to lull slightly by the end – I’d almost be happy with this qualifying.

Score: 5.5/10

Angus: This is a falling star that rapidly turns supernova. Lidia has a beautiful voice but an ugly song. “Falling Stars” is way behind the musical curve and the performance is something straight out of Eurovision 2006. Back then, Lidia would have cruised to the top 10. Today? She’ll be lucky to make it into the top 15 in her semi-final.

Score: 3.5/10

Anthony: I loved both entries equally from Doinita Gherman and Lidia Isac at this year’s national final. So I was glad Moldova chose one of my two front-runner favourites in the end. Having seen her official video for “Falling Stars”, I can understand Lidia’s decision to lower those higher notes slightly. As she demonstrated on Romania’s national final, when she’s on form, she can deliver it confidently when it comes to live performances.

Score: 8.5/10

Bogdan: Lidia’s song has grown on me a lot since the live audition. The pitch of the song was lowered so the delivery is not strained and shouty anymore, and so “Falling Stars” becomes hella catchy. I found myself humming the chorus for days after the national final, which is a good sign. Of course, the song remains generic pop, but at least not all hope is lost that Moldova can qualify from a very difficult semi-final.

Score: 7/10

Robyn: Lidia’s presentation of “Falling Stars” has improved with every public performance she’s given. So it’s reasonable to expect that with Team Moldova’s history of strong staging, Lidia will bring a decent performance to Stockholm. But yet it still doesn’t quite feel good enough. She still does the that weird yelp on “didn’t mean to leeeout you go”, like she doesn’t have the technical ability to sing it. The song needs a power diva to lift it beyond being a generic dance track, but Moldova isn’t delivering.

Score: 4.5/10

Deban: The much needed revamp is a good effort, particularly the chorus which has been remastered to maximum effect. “Falling Stars” is a dance number which will keep you stomping the floor, and shaking your tail feather. I have journeyed with this entry, and I’m pleased with its progress.

Score: 6/10

Edd: Being the only EDM number in the whole contest, the sounds of synths are a breath of fresh air. That said, the song is really quite dated and lacks personality, so she should take her outer-space theme and run with it. Instead of the 2005 rock-chick sound, the song needs modern, synth-infused verses (a la “Paradisio”). And the chorus needs far more layers for full power. But with the right pyro and an expensive stage show (astronaut backing dancers, please), I can really see this coming to life.

Score: 7/10

Kristin: Oh Moldova. You’ve done it again. Honestly, when Belarusians withdraw because of corruption, there has to be something wrong with the whole set-up! With that said, Falling Stars is by no means a bad song. It just portrays a singer that has zero feelings for it and a dull stage presence. Lidia needs to loosen up, and let herself go. At the moment she looks like she’s doing her laundry and regretting her choices in life.

Score: 5.5/10

Luis: “Falling Stars” is probably the most generic song this year. This is late 2000s electro pop, without a single identity mark that can make it stand out. As for Lidia, she needs to work her facial expressions (and a bit of her vocals). She is suffering from the same fate Boggie suffered last year: she keeps the same facial expression during the whole performance, and this, plus the song itself, that doesn’t manage to transmit any feeling. It’s making her chances of qualifying fall faster than her stars.

Score: 3/10

Mario: “Falling Stars” is a slight step forward from previous attempts and the only sensical effort from O melodie pentru Europa, yet the singer’s shaky vocals in some parts turn everything into dust. Since it’s in semi-final one, with no Romania in it for some buddy help, I’m afraid the Moldovans can only wish for better luck next year.

 Score: 3.5/10

Padraig: On paper, “Falling Stars” is a decent entry. But in reality it falls short on so many levels. The production is lacklustre and uninspired, while a dated air hangs over the whole arrangement. However, the biggest crime is the mismatch of song and artist. Lidia is a fine singer, but her vocals simply don’t suit the song. Even with the pitch lowered, her voice still sounds strained. It’s looking like Moldova will be sitting out the final once again.

Score: 4/10

William: Slightly dated and totally disposable, this is the kind of music I love. Lidia has upped her vocal game in recent months and gives this Euroclub banger a degree of class. I love how her voice warbles like a mad woman on “let you down”. Sadly, the song loses its momentum about halfway through and rather than shaking my thing, I’m shaking my head in disappointment. Even so, this could get Moldova back to the final.

Score: 5.5/10

In the Wiwi Jury we have 40 jurors but only have room for 12 reviews. The remaining 28 scores are below.

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 9.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 5.01/10

SEE OUR CURRENT EUROVISION 2016 REVIEWS AND RANKINGS