Yesterday the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Romania where we explored the picturesque castles of Transylvania. Looking out on the peaceful countryside, we discussed Ovidiu Anton‘s song “Moment of Silence”. Was his silence golden? Read on to find out!

Ovidiu Anton – “Moment of Silence”

“Moment of Silence” reviews

Kristin: Don’t you just love that tingling feeling of satisfaction, when a real epic metal ballad (a guy with a friggin sword? Hello!) finds its way to the big stage in Eurovision? I know I do. I was heartbroken when Avantasia did not win in Germany (seriously, I was shattered!). But then Romania restored my faith and is quenching my thirst for this music genre in ESC. Thank you Ovidiu, and thank you Romania. At least y’all have my vote.

Score: 9.5/10

Angus: From a nation with such a strong back catalogue at Eurovision, “Moment of Silence” is a real let down. Ovidiu’s rocker voice works, but the vampire styling and quasi-sea shanty composition don’t. The man with the sword is one inadvertently hilarious bridge too far into the realms of camp musical theatre rather than serious rock song.

Score: 1.5/10

Bernardo: The only positive thing I can really take from this entry is Ovidiu’s voice and stage presence — the song is just too dated. For sure, it is a dark and powerful proposal but that’s all about it. The sword dancer is just ridiculous. Why do I have a feeling the juries will reward Ovidiu’s voice and we will have an upset at Eurovision?

Score: 4/10

Deban: Controversial for knocking out the heavyweights on homesoil, I seriously doubt that the magic can be repeated in Stockholm. “Moment of Silence” isn’t claiming to be a fringe theatre number. It is fighting for victory at the world’s biggest music stage. I’d be alarmed if this advanced to the finals.

Score: 3/10

Bogdan: Although I was never a fan of the musical genre that Ovidiu Anton adopted, he undoubtedly excels at it. The fact that he personally wrote the song and lyrics of Romania’s winning entry is a testament to his talent. Nevertheless, in the sea of pop-rock entries this year, “Moment of Silence” is unlikely to stand out the way it did at Selectia Nationala, and its powerful message will likely be forgotten, just like the tragedy that inspired it.

Score: 7/10

Forrest: Somewhere in the vicinity of the intersection between rock and musical theatre you will find “Moment of Silence.” It’s a difficult sound to place neatly into a genre, but an interesting one nonetheless. Ovidiu’s vocals are rich and strong, which is necessary so that he isn’t lost in the behemoth of a musical production that is the backing track to “Moment of Silence.”  This song is not one of my favorites, but Romania is sticking with a tradition of sending original and slightly unusual entries, for which I applaud them.

Score: 4.5/10

George: This is a really bad version of Avantasia. I mean, he tries to deliver some epicness, but there is a severe lack of power in this song. For me it’s just bad, and I have to say I’m sad Romania won’t qualify this year. Seriously, even M I H A I would have been a better choice.

Score: 2/10

Marek: This is the most original song in the whole contest this year and I’m kinda proud of it. The melody is really impressive — you can feel the power of this song with every line. It’s fragile and powerful at once. Ovidiu’s voice sounds great live, so I’m sure he will do well. The lyrics beautifully connect with the melody and rhythm, although they are not that original. But every time I listen to this song it makes me feel like I’m in church. That’s really weird but it’s true (though perhaps not what he wanted to show during the national selection). Haters need to take the moment of silence because they won’t find anything hateworthy here.

Score: 7.5/10

Josh: I’d like to propose a moment of silence for the end of Romania’s qualification streak. This entry would’ve done great at Eurovision in 2007! We’re in 2016 now — the people want originality, the people want modernity. “Moment of Silence” lacks across the board.

Score: 3/10

Padraig: Talk about 2000-and-late. Or should I say 1980-late? “Moment of Silence” is so dated it’s painful. Of course, retro can work. To do so there needs to be some modern flourishes and a few knowing winks. Sadly, the whole production lacks any self-awareness. Ovidiu attacks the performance with such gusto that you’d almost forget the lyrics make little sense. It’s undermined further by the Meatloaf meets Lord of the Rings stage show. The entry has the potential to become a worthy novelty act. But in its current po-faced form, “Moment of Silence” looks set to bag Romania its worst result of the semi-final era.

Score: 1.5/10

Robyn: “Moment of Silence” is a big rock ballad, packed full of drama. Ovidiu has what it takes to deliver the necessary mighty rock vocals, and even the guitar solo has a place. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but in a really comforting way that throws back to the ’80s. Completely over the top, but I like it.

Score: 6/10

William: Romania always goes its own way at Eurovision. I am loving the use of 19th century warrior costumes, the overuse of smoke, and the gym-honed samurai twirling a sword. Ovidiu’s voice is on point and I love that he’s singing about the fight against corruption and, in his own way, remembering those who died in the tragic Bucharest fire. The song, unfortunately, isn’t as stirring as the message. It’s very musical theatre with a rock star taking on an operatic role. Most Europeans won’t get the meaning and they’ll just go tee-hee at the styling.

Score: 2.5/10

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

Anthony: 4/10

Antranig: 7/10

Chris: 5.5/10

Cristian: 1/10

David: 4.5/10

Dayana: 7.5/10

Denise: 3/10

Diego: 7/10

Edd: 7/10

Gökhan: 2/10

Jason: 3/10

Judit: 5/10

Liam: 4/10

Luis: 3/10

Maria: 6/10

Mario: 4.5/10

Max: 3.5/10

Mike: 7.5/10

Mikhail: 4/10

Patrick: 2/10

Renske: 6.5/10

Rezo: 1/10

Sami: 4/10

Sinan: 3.5/10

Steinunn: 5.5/10

Tobias: 1/10

William C: 4.5/10

Zakaria: 9/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 9.5.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 4.41/10

SEE OUR CURRENT EUROVISION 2016 REVIEWS AND RANKINGS

62 Comments
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David Who
David Who
7 years ago

Musical theatre rock, served a-la MeatLoaf. 🙂
Actually, this is a political rallying song in disguise. People literally died for this song to have been written, so it perhaps deserves more respect than some critics are giving it. Credit to Olvidiu as well for being a great live vocallist.
The staging is laugh-out-loud material though. I can’t take it seriously as it is staged at the moment, and that’s a pity because it has the potential to be very good with the right choreography.

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
7 years ago

Briekimchi, I also say that this is better than ‘Playing with Fire’. Now, we have to define ‘better’. I find this in this more quality than in Ovi and Puala’s song, on another part ‘Playing with Fire’ is more catchy for the large public. It’s a difference of genres, a lot more people are used to what they hear every day, disco, pop, house music, so Ovidiu’s song is not understand by everybody. But it is certainly deeper, stronger, more complex than ‘Playing with Fire’.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
7 years ago

@oooops – I am all for people having different opinions but saying that this is surely better than “Playing with fire”? Oh dear. Are you related to Ovidiu?

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
7 years ago

Racal, I didn’t say that we don’t get votes from diaspora. I don’t say that Romanian diaspora is not important. But let’s face it, ok, I didn’t know all the numbers, now that I’ve specially made some research I’ve seen that a lot of Romanian immigrants went to Germany. Well, I don’t really remember when was last time when Germay gave us votes. Belgium usually doesn’t. What you wrote about most votes from that certain countries is true, but they are statistics made in the all history from Eurovision. In the last 6 years there came up the juries. From… Read more »

oooops
oooops
7 years ago

I do surely not agree with Angus, none of the Romanian entries since 2010 have impressed me, but this is surely better than “Playing with fire”

Racal
Racal
7 years ago

@AurelianTamisan: My mistake, I know that Greece is not a neighbor of Romania. I was just thinking that they were both Balkan countries, but my fingers were writing faster than my mind. 😉

Racal
Racal
7 years ago

@AurelianTamisan: A lot of blabla for nothing. What do you want me to tell you? That Romania has qualified every year just thanks to the “amazing” quality of their songs? That diaspora hasn’t brought Romania a huge amount of points? We all know it’s not true. Romania has a huge appeal in Eurovision thanks to neighbors and especially their huge diaspora. Same is true every year, same will be true this year. Percentage of Romanians compared to national population: 2.5% in Israel (and you call that “not a very significant number”!!), 2% in Cyprus, 0.4% in Portugal, 1.8% in Italy,… Read more »

Huh
Huh
7 years ago

Ovidiu gives justice to rock music in general and to other bands who participated in their respective country’s national finals like Latvia’s Catalepsia, Germany’s Avantasia and Sweden’s Eclipse. He triumphed for wanting to perform with this kind of song as it shows a particular rawness and drama in European rock music sense. It’s only disappointing due to its underrated-ness which could leave sad faces towards rock fans and other fans alike. I am sure they would want another kind of rock music to reign the contest once again such as this.

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
7 years ago

Racal, Germany and France are usually not give Romania points, and the number in Romania is not at all big in that countries, especially in Germany, as in France we can say there are a few. Don’t judge just about the points you’ve seen sent for Romania by some certain counctries, in Belgium the Romanian diaspora practically doesn’t exist. Ok, we can say that Israel has some Romanians, but they are not a very simnificative number. Moldova is not an allie, you can’t judge them (excepting the juries, which are miserable in some countries), the Moldovan citizens are Romanians, you… Read more »

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
7 years ago

cc

ESCaddict
ESCaddict
7 years ago

Ovidiu would know his sound is not current. He would know many ESC fans won’t like his song. But you know what? He’s going to do it anyway because this is what he likes. Good for him. I imagine him saying, “You can like it or you can go f**k yourself”. I wish there were more artists like this, rather than hacks who “give the fans what they want”.
Romanian Meatloaf is fine for 3 minutes. I like musical diversity so I am glad “Moment of Silence” is in the competition.
I rank “Moment of Silence” 29 of 43.

Nicky91
Nicky91
7 years ago

@Racal, first of all thank you for voting for my country Netherlands i appreciate that, could you also give Malta maybe 1 vote, and the rest of your votes to Douwe

I’m voting for Malta as well, along with a vote for Czech Republic

i don’t care about swedish songwriters, the fact is they are really good songwriters, and they know about current songs 🙂

and Ira did also have her own input in this song, it was her personal favourite out of the 11 shortlisted songs 🙂

Azotman
Azotman
7 years ago

Bonsoir Stockholm,

This is very good. Soft rock with a powerful voice. A good performance in Amsterdam. I hope Romania will be in final.
My vote 9/10 !!!
6th/43
Bises,
Maxime

Racal
Racal
7 years ago

@Nicky91: Overall good song and good performer, but I think it lacks originality. It’s not surprising though: written by Swedes in an ocean of Swedish songs. But it definitely deserves to qualify, and maybe even to place in the top 10. I wouldn’t mind it winning, but I don’t think it’ll happen. My number 1 this year is definitely Douwe Bob. It’s original, happy, written by himself, well sung, well performed, etc. Can it win? I’m not sure, but I’ll definitely vote for him. I also like France, Italy (if only it was sung 100% in Italian), Ukraine, Sweden (I… Read more »

Nicky91
Nicky91
7 years ago

@Racal

and Ira, what do you think of her song Walk On Water 🙂

Racal
Racal
7 years ago

@AurelianTamisan: Yeah, and Germany, and Israel, and France, and Belgium, etc., and the faithful ally Moldova. Except Armenia and Turkey, I don’t think any other country has such a powerful network of televoters. 😉 Without that, I’m pretty sure Romania would have missed a couple of finals already. Numbers speak faster than words, so check the voting history of Romania and compare it with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_diaspora @Nicky91: I don’t like Russia either. It will probably score well, I just hope it doesn’t win. I wouldn’t mind Russia to win with a beautiful and classy Polina Gagarina, but Dima Bilan and… Read more »

Nicky91
Nicky91
7 years ago

@Racal

not the worst this year, that’s overrated Russia, but Russia will win, the EBU will make sure of that i think

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
7 years ago

Racal, do you want to know what is the big Romania’s diaspora? It means Italy and Spain, these are the only countries with many Romanians. Moldova is another case, it’s not diaspora, but in Eurovision it counts, of course. In the rest, nothing different from other countrie’s diaspora. Not to say that we have juries now, and we’ve seen that Italy and Spain gave very less points to Romania in the last 2 years. But you’re right, Romania will still qualify becauste the song very good. And this criticism and hate we’re seeing is even prooving that. I think that… Read more »

Racal
Racal
7 years ago

43rd out of 43 in my ranking, definitely the worst this year. But I’m not even sure it’ll fail to qualify, Romania has a big appeal in Eurovision thanks to their diaspora. I would be quite mad if this thing took a spot in the final from another more deserving song.

Nicky91
Nicky91
7 years ago

I Loved this style of music, i hope he qualifies to the final

Nicky91
Nicky91
7 years ago

Alexandra Stan for Romania please not, crappy singer 🙁

oooops
oooops
7 years ago

I agree with Kristin, as Avantasia was my favourite in the national final season I was heartbroken, Ovidiu is not my favourite in eurovision, but he is close enough to Avantasia, so I am happy with that, but Avantasia should be internally selected next year.

Julian
Julian
7 years ago

Hate is good. Most is just hating oneself for loving it.

lolhetalia
lolhetalia
7 years ago

Still say that Alexandra Stan should represent Romania

0/10 #sorrynotsorry

kewl
kewl
7 years ago

LOL it just reminds me of Jack Black in School of Rock for some reason, it’s so over the top and daggy

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
7 years ago

Thank you, William. This is musical theatre. Unfortunately, whilst I like some musical theatre, I do not like this. He is not a particularly strong vocalist as shown by his live performances and does not control his voice well. It is also cheesey and lacks power. I do not know what he is really going for but whatever the case, I do not want it.
2/10

Jerome
Jerome
7 years ago

2/10
Way too theatrical here. Can we have a moment of ACTUAL silence worth 3 minutes instead of this?? Seriously, I’d be more motivated by that than what this is trying to throw at me. Don’t tell me to fight for the truth! I already know the truth! This SUCKS!

Tom
Tom
7 years ago

Ugh can’t bear it. Take your Meatloaf tribute act and go home.

adriana
adriana
7 years ago

Hatters will gonna hate…Not many experts in here is it?Looks like quantity its what people wants not quality.My opinion is that Ukraine,Poland,France,Romania,Itally have the best songs so far….If i want a EuroPop trash i can listen on my ipad everyday without reading here the total utter crap from most.

Steven
Steven
7 years ago

This crap wandered out of some cancelled Disney theatre production. It’s like something a villain sings for his big moment. Horrendous composition, big notes are grating, it’s so serious but comes across as a joke. But as usual Romania will qualify because it never fails to do so! This however, would be shoving their qualification into a new sphere of ridiculousness. It’s tragic. 0/10 42nd/43.

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
7 years ago

Josh, you can wait for Romania’s finals qualification series ending, you’ll have some time to wait. Certainly at least one year. I really like this obsession about the ‘outdated song’, like the fact that the song has an old style means automatically that it wont do good. It’s stupid to think like that. Does soeone feel that Austria in 2014 had a very modern song? Ok, you’ll say the the reason it won was totally different that year. Let’s take nb 2, The Netherlands: yes, very modern song, country, sth you would have heard in the 80’s too. What about… Read more »

Skandar
Skandar
7 years ago

@Héctor It is better because of vocal performances. That is the only difference.

ManuelESP
ManuelESP
7 years ago

I like this entry. It’s kinda different from the bunch and it’s not cheap, it’s quite good.

One of my favorites of its semifinal. Hope they bring a nice staging and I’ll support this from Spain so we can see it again in the final.

Héctor
Héctor
7 years ago

4.41… Is this better than ‘Help you Fly’ (4.3)? Really? Don’t think so…

João Teles
João Teles
7 years ago

*they may send

João Teles
João Teles
7 years ago

lol, even the typical schmaltzy and cheese ESC fans hate this, haha, priceless. Well one things is for sure, i’m gonna have a good laugh watching this failure on ESC stage on the 12th May, haha, if this actually makes it to the final it’s for one of these two factors: 1. It’s Romania and just like Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Azerbaijan has to go to the final, no matter how atrocious entry they send. 2. The World is going to end. I see no other explanation if this thing actually manges to make it to the… Read more »

adriana
adriana
7 years ago

Maybe is not everyone cup of tea….Hatters will gonna hate,but i watched his performance on Amsterdam and i think he was fantastic……Great voice.

Darren
Darren
7 years ago

Romania’s entry is totally awful this year, what happened??? They have given us some strong entries in the past and are always fun to watch on the ESC stage but this is just awful. The campness, the dull ballad, I think it is this years joke act, along with San Marino. It would be an absolute shame to other deserving entries in the semi final if this manages to qualify. Im afraid it will because Romania has a 100% qualification rate, but that record deserves to be broken this year, they cannot advance to the final with this surely? 2/10… Read more »

Bapak Lurah
Bapak Lurah
7 years ago

Well, I’m on minority side who thinks this song is really good and like this song.
Ovidiou’s voice is very good and he can deliver the real epicness of this song! I hope he will qualify….
19/43
.
.
.
.
but still, Avantasia is better choice for me :p

Homer
Homer
7 years ago

I think this song doesn’t deserve all the hate surrounding it. Sure it’s nothing original or particularly modern but i agree with Robyn’s opinion, i kinda like it especially his outstanding voice and in a year full of europop this has a slight possibility of being a standout. BTW, if you think Falling Farts or Taylor Swift’s copycat are better than this then you don’t understand nothing about music…

Holden
Holden
7 years ago

I don’t like it at all, 3/10

Pollaski
Pollaski
7 years ago

Romanian Meat Loaf is not a dish I would be particularly welcoming of- but as a musical act its surprisingly palatable. Then again, I always love me some melodramatic rock opera, and adding in some Transylvampiric overtones just makes this a song with a great image base. Unfortunately, the substance doesn’t quite measure up to the image, as the song itself isn’t that much of a homerun. This is definitely a sink or swim act, and right now I have it managing to just keep its head above water. Whether it can get to shore or go down to the… Read more »

Ben Rafter
Ben Rafter
7 years ago

Bosnia, Greece and Romania might not qualify for the 1st time!
5/10
Boring, too pirate like.

xoxoxoxo
xoxoxoxo
7 years ago

I wanted Vanotek ft. others in Romania. I love metal and hard rock and Eurovision NEEDS more of this music, because we have so little of rock songs every year. Pity. Show must be various. But this is more musical theatre song and I don? like it. I am happy only for originality and sending something different. And I wanted Avantasia in Germany too like Kristin. Legendary band with perfect metal song. And we have next 0-pts-meh from Germany like last year. But this is for another discussion…

Skandar
Skandar
7 years ago

No final If there is justice on earth or in Europe. 3/10.

oooops
oooops
7 years ago

9/10
Epic

Bhrister Cjorkman
Bhrister Cjorkman
7 years ago

3.5/10
37/43

Let’s have a moment of silence for Romania’s ESC journey that is bound to end 12th May.

Antranig Shokayan
Editor
7 years ago

It’s a love it or hate it type of song. Personally, I love it!

Colin
Colin
7 years ago

Probably my favorite song nobody seams to appreciate. 9.5/10 from me and definitely in top 10. Love the epic vibe about it.

Nicky91
Nicky91
7 years ago

it’s a nice song