Yesterday the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessional — went to Serbia and visited the historic Belgrade Fortress. Deep inside its solid stone walls, we discussed ZAA Sanja Vucic and her song “Goodbye (Shelter)”. Did it make us want to say hello? Or were we happily waving farewell? Read on to find out!
ZAA Sanja Vucic with “Goodbye (Shelter)”
“Goodbye (Shelter)” reviews
Bogdan: Serbia is serving us a big diva ballad this year, but I’m not feeling it. It’s overly dramatic, from the make-up and lyrics to the delivery, bordering on downright ridiculous. I am not a fan of musical theatre and this is what “Goodbye” feels like. They need to turn it down a notch, or they risk overshadowing the song’s otherwise powerful message.
Score: 6.5/10
Angus: Category is: cinematic Bond theme ballad. Sanja’s expressions are theatrical, but her voice is the act. Homegirl can sing for days! Unfortunately she’s stuck with what feels like the neglected little sister of “Molitva”. The orchestral backing gives this some punch, but that aside the whole thing feels very emotionally hollow and Broadway. A lot of power without a lot of feeling.
Score: 6/10
Anthony: “Beauty Never Lies” defied my pre-contest expectations and Serbia’s tenth place finish was a pleasant surprise. So the pressure’s cranked up a notch on Sanja as Bojana’s Eurovision successor. Best known as the lead singer of her band ZAA, Sanja has clearly channeled her influences on “Goodbye” and delivered it with such expressive emotion. It’s a worthy contender to keep Serbia’s top 10 momentum going.
Score: 8.5/10
Cristian: This Serbian song leaves me cold. Maybe it’s her forced and bizarre interpretation but I’m just not connecting to it. “Goodbye (Shelter)” has good arrangements but the melody reveals a staggering mediocrity and lack of creativity.
Score: 5/10
Chris: Drama, and lots of it. Sanja’s performance borders on the distracting at times, but I have a feeling that they’ll tone that down just enough when we get to Stockholm. My concerns would be that we’ve not yet heard the song live, and therefore whether Sanja can really deliver with such ferocity for three whole minutes.
Score: 7.5/10
Maria: Sanja is so vivacious as a performer and sings this ballad with conviction. With a less theatrical aesthetic on stage and toning down the images of masks that look recycled from last year’s entry I can see “Goodbye (Shelter)” not only progressing to the finals but perhaps even surpassing Serbia’s commendable place last year.
Score: 7/10
Deban: Channelling angst, pain and tortured emotion, “Goodbye” immediately hits your conscience. I applaud Sanja Vucic for starting a conversation about abuse, and addressing it with conviction. She may look like Amy Winehouse in drag, but in this contest, she remains the voice of reason.
Score: 7/10
Diego: Serbia puts its bet on a strong pop ballad, leaving aside the Balkan/ethnic element that worked so well for them in the past. Sanja’s performance really hits the spot with both her dark soul voice and her acting, making this “Goodbye” a musical journey through pain and suffering from beginning to end. Serbia aims high again with a different formula.
Score: 7/10
Padraig: I loved “Goodbye (Shelter)” from the very first moment I heard it. Oozing class and sophistication, it’s easily one of my favourite Serbian entries for years. Whilst not ground breaking, it possesses many of the qualities that made “Rise Like a Phoenix” so successful. A sultry singer, a retro vibe and a gigantic cinematic climax. It gives me major feels – but not the right ones. I want to raise my fist in the air in solidarity, although I’m not quite sure why. It’s only when I listen closely to the lyrics that I realise the adversity she’s overcome. Everyone can see the anguish in Sanja’s face. She just needs to channel it through her voice instead.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: “Goodbye (Shelter)” reminds me a little of “Running” — a really catchy song dealing with the issue of domestic violence. Sanja has a strong, expressive voice, but there’s one really big problem: the performance is dominated by Sanja’s over-the-top body movements and facial expressions. It would be fine in a comedic cabaret show, but when the song is about a woman trying to flee an abusive relationship, the gurning and flailing strongly detracts from the serious message.
Score: 5.5/10
Sami: Sometimes putting a deeper message into a Eurovision song doesn’t work as planned, but in this case the message really comes through. You can see that Sanja is giving it her all, but some of her facial expressions made me laugh to the point I couldn’t take it that seriously anymore. I don’t see this standing out from the rest of the female ballads, but I still think it can reach the final.
Score: 7/10
William: While I appreciate the thoughtful subject matter and passionate delivery, something about this just doesn’t click. What starts out as a promising Balkan ballad morphs into a somewhat strange Amy Winehouse cover act. The gesticulation and shaking — no doubt meant to convey the horrors of domestic violence — is unfortunately comical and Sanja would be wise to limit her contortions. Despite my reservations, I have no doubt this will come to life live — Sanja’s voice oozes soul and power. Properly deployed — particularly in those key changes — it could win her major points.
Score: 5/10
In the Wiwi Jury we have 40 jurors but only have room for 12 reviews. The remaining 28 scores are below.
Antranig: 8.5/10
Bernardo: 8/10
David: 6.5/10
Dayana: 6/10
Denise: 8/10
Edd: 6.5/10
Forrest: 7/10
George: 9/10
Gökhan: 4/10
Jason: 4/10
Josh: 7/10
Judit: 5/10
Kristin: 5/10
Liam: 7.5/10
Luis: 8.5/10
Marek: 8.5/10
Mario: 5/10
Max: 6/10
Mike: 6.5/10
Mikhail: 9/10
Patrick: 7.5/10
Renske: 6/10
Rezo: 3/10
Sinan: 8/10
Steinunn: 6/10
Tobias: 2/10
William C: 7.5/10
Zakaria: 7/10
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 9.
Ridiculous reviews. Fantastic song. Best vouce in the contest. Hope she wins
@Holden: I concur. My #17 at the moment.
She deserves to be in the final. 7.5/10
This is outright over dramatic and ricidilous. No, not the song, but the review. I mean, I won’t be biased since I’m from Serbia, but the reviews are complete nonsense. Most of them comment on the appearance at the song presentation and talk much less about the song itself. Though I do agree that the appearance is kind of weird and not very pleasing, but it’s far away from bad or mediocre. The jury should’ve talked about the song, not the appearance, since it will be changed and will look much different. The scores don’t even go with the quality… Read more »
I can’t get past the fact that she looks and moves like a drag queen. Anyone else feeling Violet Chachki vibes from this?
@Juri
Malta and Croatia aren’t overrated, neither is Ukraine, they are just good songs with a good catchy beat or a message behind the song 🙂
Serbia’s act has the Maraaya effect from last year- if you watch the video, you can’t help but crack up at the facial contortions she’s pulling, but look elsewhere, and the music comes in. Its a solid, not spectacular song, that could do better at conveying the emotion of the subject matter, but at the same time, if she can nail this live, expect it to shoot up. Definitely finals material, but don’t see it making too much of a splash on the big night.
RANK: 19TH/43
Serbia is an interesting country at Eurovision, they either enter truely exceptional entries(2007, 2008, 2011, 2012) amor absolute joke acts (2009, 2010, 2013, 2015) there was never a balance, it was always one extreme to the other, this year they have come to the contest with an exciting entry although I do think that Sanja is being too dramatic in her performance. It’s a good song, but she needs to turn down the dramatics for me to become invested in it. It should qualify, they have done it with worse. But could place anywhere in the final except top 5.… Read more »
A bit too dramatic to make a huge impact. Simplicity triumphs these days.
Great voice and nice musical composition.
Around 12th position.
One of best song at Eurovision 2016. Deserve to be in TOP 5.
Serbia is underrated on betting odds, for me overrated are Croatia,Malta, Australia,Sweden and Ukraine with political song.
Underrated song – she is beautiful young woman with a great song, voice and scary moves. At first sight I thought she was at least 30. Without horrible make-up she is nice girl.
Just because Wiwiblogs think the song is just OK doesnt mean they dont think the overall package on May will be great, specially because the voice and charisma of Sanja. I would give this song a 7/10, however I’m expecting it to be one of the highlights of the night in May thanks to her talent.
I love this song. Too much drama in the delivery, she needs to tone it down. Amazing voice too, beautiful backing chorals. A bit dated but there’s a fine line between dated and vintage. And I’m a sucker for vintage. Top 5 for me.
Wth William?!!! When you did a first reaction on the song you LOVED it. Now you give it a 5?!?!! Don’t take it seriously, but are you kidding?!?!
one positive thing, there’s no harsh negative reviews on this song, still, it’s underrated, in my opinion.
this is wonderful and going to do well in may.
william i chellege you to a duel.
Okay Wiwi jury, I really like your site and I really enjoy reading your articles but W T F Okay, I may be a little biased since she’s from Serbia and I’m from Montenegro, but how could you possibly rank her lower than for example 2-in-1 song from Norway? Plus, you’re callin’ this “not emotional”? Excuse me, but I bet that you won’t say the same thing for for example Australia, which is one of the most overrated songs ever. That song is definition of “not emotional”, this one is not. Overall, this song is CRIMINALLY underrated here. My #1… Read more »
I completely agree that this song is in fact amazing. The lyrics and music are second to none. Music is all about a strong feeling behind it whether it be powerful (like this) or so good that it makes you want to dance. Her overall presence is built around the song too. I’m so glad there is a song like this! People these days seem to just enjoy anything with a beat.
I like it, but I don’t love it !!!
Hoping that the big stage will do It’s thing and make me feel Sanja’s magic.
It’s a 7.5/10 for now 🙂
only 6,59? wtf she is so underrated 🙁
Incredibly cheezy ballad… Will struggle to qualify even in the weakest semi…
I was not sure about this until I saw the pre-party performance. Her image was more on point and her delivery was excellent. It is a strong song but without the hook that would really deliver an outstanding position on the leaderboard. It should do as well as their entry last year (for what it is worth, it is a much better song than Bojana’s). I feel the strength of Croatia’s entry is going to take a lot of points away from this.
7/10
Serbia is only #10 in my personal list this year, but these Wiwi juries results verge on the outright ridiculous. This is definitely one of the entries that will be a contender for the top spot this year – it is made to be universally appreciated by juries and public.
This jury embarasses itself for another year with its scores…
I am appalled by how low of a rating this masterpiece has. Again, reviewing my favourites first what is this?! This is my third favourite of the whole year, it has power, emotion and a killer build in the final minute. The exaggerated movements – though not for everyone – is a physical representation of the meaning of the song – abuse. I much prefer it to just a static performance, but the song itself is perfect beyond belief, I love every aspect. Plus, Ms Vucic may have the best female vocal in the competition this year.
Score: 10/10
this is so underrated. I didnt have any expectations from Bojana last year, but she took Vienna by storm. I think Sanja will do the same in Stockholm.
9/10
This is one of the most underrated songs this year 🙁
3/43 in my top
Sanja Vucic, wow what a singer
@John Doe
here i can agree with you, Sanja has an amazing voice, maybe potentially the next Mariah Carey or Beyonce 🙂
Bundle of meh
The song is special and could possibly be a dark horse candidate. Sanja can easily connect with the audience while on stage because of the emotions and body language she evoke with the song. Somewhat like Loreen but this one has a different story.
Right, let’s start with the positives, Sanja has a banging voice! Boy does she belt this out. Her English is fantastic. I agree with the criticism that she needs to tone it down a bit. She’s looking like a cracked out Amy impersonator auditioning for RuPaul’s drag race. Tone the hands down and the sass- she doesn’t need to lose what makes her unique, just don’t over do it. Once is experimentation, twice is a habit… The cracked out Whinehouse look has got to go too, she is a beautiful woman and looks so demure in some of her photos… Read more »
Those who hate it don’t know anything about music!!!
8.5/10
5/10
This is a nice song. Good vocals and decent song. But I’m not excited by this at all. This just falls into the many “nice” songs that seem to be more than half of the entries this year.
Extremely underrated song and singer!
I like her the way she is (strange moves, make up..).
Do you want her to give up everything that makes her different, interesting and entertaining? Should she look like and move like the others? It wouldn’t make any sense……….. Be a ‘pioneer’ Sanja!!!
Yesterday a Serb killed his wife and her sister outside an Austrian supermarket. When I heard this, this years song from Serbia struck me
Sooo underrated. 6.59 for music/lyrics/vocals/interpretation like this?
This is a masterpiece and will do very well if there’s any justice.
Estonia – 10/10
Germany – 9.5/10
Norway – 9/10
Netherlands – 9/10
Hungary – 8.5/10
Spain – 8/10
Serbia – 8/10
Belgium – 7/10
So far, still only good songs. 🙂
Dobra pjesma, susjedi 😉 Sjajan glas, super tekst. Nastup je malo predramati?an. Svejedno, siguran prolaz u finale. 8/10 od mene ta sad.
Truthfully i feel like sanja is screaming her voice off. I don’t feel the emotion she’s trying to give. The song should convey a depressed, exhausted of love kind of feeling but i hear a voice that’s fuming with anger. She’s done an excellent vocal performance but since this is eurovision i think giving more emotion to the song would make it much better.
I think a 6.59 is way too low for this entry, but that’s just my opinion.
If Bojana placed in the top10, this deserves at least the same
Actually, let me add that Czech Republic also has a strong ballad.
I really think this song is overrated in the betting odds. It’s not top-10 caliber – it’s basically the “One Last Breath” of this contest. It may be well sung, it’s not bad by any means, and Sanja may very well blow me off my feet with her performance in the semifinals like Maria Elena did. But in the end, we’ve heard this song before. I don’t really pay attention to the visuals when I listen to it either… and I think that perhaps the reason Sanja is so overtly dramatic when she sings is simply that she’s trying to… Read more »
I widely agree with your review. It is an ordinary song, just a little overdramatic. I like emotional songs but this one is a bit too much. I still liek the song and she has a good and different voice. This song will of course make it into the finals and may even reacha top10 result. It is definately better than their last year’s entry.
My ranking would be so far:
Play / Say yay: 9/10
Ghost / Pioneer / Slow Down: 8/10
What’s the pressure?: 7,5/10
Goodbye: 7/10
Icebreaker: 6,5/10
my favourites from semi final 2 are
Bulgaria
Serbia
Macedonia
Denmark
The song is good but they need to decide on a title for it…is it Goodbye or Shelter?
She and her song reminds me of music in James Bond movies American old films
Totally agree with those below me, my personal 10th overall. I personally think the lyrics are very powerful. Although she does act quite odd in the music video, she has done a live performance and she looks and acts far more toned down and less distracting. She’s actually quite beautiful without the heavy makeup and a great singer.
I’ll agree on the styling in the video. She really does look like a cheap drag queen but i know performing this live Sanja will take us to church and back. She has the powerhouse entry that’s missing in this years line up.
If anyone else sang this the song would fall flat. However, this song is made for Sanja and Sanja is made for this song. Sanja has got a strong voice, one of the best this year, and her control over it is amazing. I think her unorthodox style can appeal to many people, it certainly did to me.
7/10
15/43
Sanja is truly amazing, i really like this song, it reminds me a bit of a Operatic song, but it’s pop/soul
of course this will qualify, World-Class song, by a potentially better singer than Beyonce
10/10