Yesterday the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Croatia and took in the seaside delights of Dubrovnik. As we explored the city walls, we discussed Nina Kraljic‘s song “Lighthouse”. Did it light our way? Or did it leave us in the dark?
Nina Kraljic – “Lighthouse”
“Lighthouse” reviews
Chris: I had very high hopes when Nina Kraljic was announced as Croatia’s representative, and “Lighthouse” does not disappoint at all. This is the song that could lift Croatia back to their late ’90s heights, then maybe even more. It’s an incredibly accessible song whilst also sounding native to Nina’s own style. Unlike some Eurovision winners, it feels genuine. It might just be my favourite song of the year, which I most certainly was not expecting.
Score: 9.5/10
Deban: “Lighthouse” is a hidden treasure. Unassuming at first, this entry easily morphs into an ear worm. Nina Kraljic’s voice bears strong resemblance to the British heavyweights – Foxes, Ellie Goulding, Marina and the Diamonds. There are great gains to be had with familiarity, especially when these three pop princesses have been radio staple continent-wide for several years. However, what really grips me is the fragility of Nina’s voice, and the overall mood captured in the track’s instrumentation. Subtle, yet magical.
Score: 8/10
Robyn: Nina’s voice is gorgeous, so crystal clear and able to deliver delicate notes with strength and power. I’m not fully convinced by “Lighthouse”, though I’m really loving the romantic nautical themes. The lyrics are a bit troublesome, with the near/fear/disappear/steer/pier/tear rhyming-dictionary extravaganza in the second verse, and that key change just ends up being a distraction rather than a climax. But still, it’s one of this year’s strongest entries, and it should get Croatia into the final for the first time since 2009.
Score: 7.5/10
Angus: “Lighthouse” moves me, but the studio version feels like a dull spark waiting to burst into a shining star. Nina’s vocal is amazing, and the addition of the traditional Balkan elements through the pop ballad make it stand out from the crowd, but it still needs a real raw live vocal lift to put it in contention for the top 5. Croatia is still lacking some oomph behind the track to knock it out of the park.
Score: 6/10
Kristin: The first time I heard “Lighthouse” I was less than impressed. I thought it sounded bland and generic. But luckily, it quickly started to grow on me, and I think that after some very bleak years, Croatia will FINALLY take their place in the finals and reach top ten. Nina is nothing short of amazing and will definitely charm Europe senseless. Croatia is totally back, and they mean serious business this time!
Score: 8/10
Bogdan: Croatia is dubbed as one of the main contenders this year and rightly so. The beautifully flowing melody, combined with the Ellie Goulding-esque quality of Nina’s voice, make for a very strong entry. Add a chorus that you can’t get out of your head plus a spectacular key change and the success of “Lighthouse” is guaranteed. Now the only thing Croatia has to be concerned with is the staging, and the Globe Arena stage offers amazing potential.
Score: 8.5/10
Denise: Wow, they’re really upping their game. It’s giving me Ellie Goulding vibes, but Nina is way better live. I’m glad to see Croatia doing so well in the betting odds and I hope it stays the same after the first rehearsals. The song is mysterious and her biggest competition will be Iceland with another magical song. I know which song I prefer.
Score: 9.5/10
William: There is a light and her name is Nina Kraljic! She may sound like Ellie Goulding, but she dirties that up with plenty of attitude and edge. Her voice is a total contradiction — it’s ethereal and light, yet still manages to pack a punch. The song itself is intoxicating. It’s completely modern and yet the drums and wailing give this a very subtle ethnic edge. I love it. My only concern is that when the song goes off I don’t remember it.
Score: 6/10
Diego: Be careful with this dark horse, ladies and gentlemen, because we might have a potential top 10 entry here. Nina Kraljic really nails the song with her soft and sweet voice amongst the instrumental sea with a strong balkan flavour that always reminds us where we are. Her live performance will either place this song high on the Eurovision heaven or doom Croatia to not qualify for the fifth time in a row.
Score: 7.5/10
Forrest: I love a good Balkan ballad and “Lighthouse” offers a modern entry into the genre. It feels fresh, due in part to Nina’s crisp vocals, while still nodding to the instrumental tones that make a song immediately recognizable as Balkan. “Lighthouse” has earned its key change — it bursts through the stormy verses much like a lighthouse. The studio version is strong, but there is a fragility to her voice; reminiscent of María Ólafs from Iceland in 2015. There are some spectacular notes she is going to need to hit live. If she delivers, I believe we’re going to Zagreb in 2017. If not, I don’t expect “Lighthouse” to make it out of its semi-final.
Score: 9.5/10
Padraig: Visually and vocally, Nina seems like an artist who belongs on the alternative end of the pop scale. So more’s the pity that she’s been lumbered with the anodyne “Lighthouse”. Just as actual lighthouses are becoming outdated, the track sounds like a relic from a bygone era… or at least a reject from Iceland’s national final. Nonetheless, Nina’s voice maintains a mystique that should push this entry to a higher position than it deserves.
Score: 6/10
Sami: For the first time in years, Croatia is sending a song what could actually win the whole contest. Nina’s voice is something really sweet, it’s powerful in its own way and I’m sure she can nail the live performance as well. The song could be from Emmelie de Forest’s album, but still has that Balkan sound. It will be a crime if Croatia doesn’t reach the final.
Score: 9/10
In the Wiwi Jury we have 40 jurors but only have room for 12 reviews. The remaining 28 scores are below.
Anthony: 8/10
Antranig: 9.5/10
Bernardo: 9.5/10
Cristian: 9/10
David: 7/10
Dayana: 7/10
Edd: 9.5/10
George: 7/10
Gökhan: 10/10
Jason: 8/10
Josh: 9/10
Judit: 5/10
Liam: 9/10
Luis: 9.5/10
Marek: 9/10
Maria: 8/10
Mario: 7.5/10
Max: 7.5/10
Mike: 8/10
Mikhail: 9.5/10
Patrick: 7.5/10
Renske: 7.5/10
Rezo: 4/10
Sinan: 9/10
Steinunn: 7/10
Tobias: 7/10
William C: 10/10
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 4 and a high of 10.
WTF? This is a bland, generic song, and the lyrics are frankly embarrasing.
Bland & generic. Even after repeated plays, this song is completely underwhelming.
Currently I rank Lighthouse 36 of 43.
No surprise Padraig and William lowball this entry. They are saving their 9.5 for Russia. Its so obvious. “relic from a bygone era… or at least a reject from Iceland’s national final” meanwhile Russia song is fresh as a daisy.
Musical experts have stated that Lighthouse has nothing to do with Uncover.I genuinely love Zara and her song but it doesn’t remind me of Nina’s song at all.If you claim they copied Uncover, then Ira Losco sings “NaughtyBoy-Running” (the songs are the same in some parts), Mans sang “Lovers on the Sun”, Loreen sang “Dynamite” etc.
Cascada’s 2013 entry was pure plagiarism of “Don’t you worry child” but nobody seemed to care.If you dislike “Lighthouse” ok, I have no problem, but don’t use fake arguments.If there’s a newspaper article about smth, it doesn’t mean it’s true.Enjoy the music.
#StopTheHate
@Pollaski
I was furious and said things I didn’t mean in the heat of the moment. I don’t think that either Mans or Frans plagiarized their songs and I love both songs. I wanted to shut the mean and unfounded spam comments. I realize that I tried to return them with their exact method and I’m sorry for that.
@QueenNina
The plagiarism accusations are pretty dumb on all sides. If a songs plagiarizing, its gonna get busted. Nina didn’t plagiarize anything, and I’ll agree that she’s one of the best artists in here. Mans didn’t plagiarize anything either. Both were investigated and cleared. To keep harping on about any of it is just weepy-eyed sour grapes.
@Pollaski I was reading other posts and never said anything, while the comment sections were filled with SPAM comments with the clear intention to damage Nina’s reputation. She is one of the most genuine artists ever, a solid gold for the fans who appreciate the art of music. Yet she is being attacked that she is copying some bubblegum pop performers. I could not stay quiet anymore. I apologize to the Swedish people, but I don’t apologize to the spammers because I’m allergic to the fakery.
76 comments until the stupid plagiarism talk started, and then escalated by an anti-Swedish bigot. I’ll admit, its WAY longer than I thought it’d take.
@Hana The articles actually originate from Sweden. A country that won the competition last year with David Guetta’s ‘Lovers On The Sun’ plagiarism. Furthermore, they are continuing the tradition this year – they are sending Frans with ‘If I were sorry’, a plagiarism of Matt Simon’s ‘Catch&Release’. It’s a land of plagiarism. They had to disqualify Anna Book from Melodiefestivalen because her song ‘Himmel för två’ was a complete plagiarism of Moldovan singer Felicia Dunaf’s song ‘Taking Care of a Broken Heart’. However, they didn’t disqualify David Lindgren whose song ‘We are Your Tomorrow’ is a shameless plagiarism of Axwell… Read more »
My top favourite this year! A good comeback from Croatia.
Most overrated song so far in wiwi juries score and in betting odds. Song is so similar with Uncover song Zara Larson. There are so many article abotu that in many newspaper through Europe.
@whitewalker90
That`s not even a mistake it`s just a little bit unusal prononciation. Damn, she is so good. How she can do it so well? :O My no.1 is Barei but Nina…nobody sings like her. NOBODY.
@Osterreich
You are being really rude! Please cool down and respect other people’s opinion!
@Andrey (from Russia) According to you which 10 songs are higher ranked than Hrvatska? I am very interested in your opinion.
This song is the 12th at the moment at bookies and, be sure, nothing can help it to enter top 10. There are some much better songs to get higher place than this Croatian song can.
@whitewalker90 Here’s a YouTube video of the same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMRtoJ5bM9o
https://vimeo.com/163100936 do you hear any mistake? besides “disappears”?
If all Balkan countries stand behind her (yes, block voting is existing) she will be the winner with landslide as she has the best irish entry in last decade and western countries will vote for her. If each balkan country chooses different favourites like Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia Sergey or Amir will win.
She was perfect on The Voice of Croatia.The staging will definitely change but the vocals were on point.
@Colin
have you seen 2 million views for them? 🙂
This one is overproduced, the words are hard to understand like azetbaijan hours of the wolf last year, even though it’s powerful in terms of music it stands alone lyrics takes her to another world world of dream. While Ukraine song based on real life situation as it says when stranger comes to your house, in Croatia song it’s light house that overproduced song
Edd gave it a 9.5 <33333
@EugeneESCUK
I have a question: can you please just mention a song that you think should win this year’s contest?
@Nicky91
I gave Malta (Ira’s song Walk on Water) an 8/10. It might grow further, since it started out as a 7.
“Image is very much part of the “Package” and so important in the ESC. The wrong image can lose you votes.”
@eugene: what’s wrong with her image?
It’s OVA
This is the winner, we don’t even have to celebrate the contest
If you ask me comparisons between Nina and Zara are totally unnecessary cause these two young artists are both wonderful but Nina has much better voice control and there’s much more versatility in Nina’s voice. As a musician I truly think that. I know that.
And this entry is absolutely wonderful. It’s not generic. It’s beautifully written and Nina sounds heavenly…
winner
@Colin
that’s a proper good system of giving points, what point did you give Ira again?
Me neither, @Uroš. As I once said, personal rating systems vary a lot and hence, gives a different picture to overall result. My 8 can be your 5 or the other way around. My personal rating system would go very similar to my system in rating movies: Basically rating from 1 to 5 is in the rough realm of not liking, while ratings from 6 to 10 are in the rough realm of liking. 10 – Masterpiece, a song which I think should win. 9 – Extraordinary good, would be happy if it won too. 8 – A good song,… Read more »
@Uros
well then just don’t believe him, and also we’re only 1 blog, and there are millions of people watching eurovision so i don’t think we have much influence in the voting
yeah Malta reached 2 million views on YouTube, and also over 13 000 likes
and I’m a 24 year old guy, if you think i’m a girl hahahahaha
I can’t understand William. He says that Serbia and Croatia have good songs but he gives 6
It’s really amazing. She deserves to be in the top 5, for sure.
10/10
4/43
@Bhrister
of course and let’s just hope and pray Nina can sing the high notes live, same with Ira i’m also praying for her she’ll nail that one high note in Stockholm 🙂
i’ll wish you luck for the semi finals 🙂
10/10
1st/43
Is it better than Euphoria and does Nina sing better than Zara Larsson? Not even close. That being said, for Eurovision standards, this is as good as it gets. The song gives me chills, it is peaceful and dynamic at the same time. Of course there are still doubts on how well can Nina sing the high notes live, but for now I shall give her the benefit of doubt.
@Sally
i agree with you, and who are your qualifiers from semi final 1, your top 10
@Miguel
well Sweden’s song is dull and boring, Russia’s song is cliche and dated and France’s song, i find it good but it’s almost similar to last year’s winner, also a good looking guy, the song is just a little overrated, it’s nothing special for me
for me i love Malta, Croatia and Czech Republic, and btw Malta’s song almost reaching 2 million views on YouTube 🙂 🙂 🙂
An absolute favorite for the victory!! Russia, France, Sweden…they don’t even come close to this woman’s talent!!!
Everyone has their own taste in music but you can`t say that she`s not a good live performer. In fact, she`s an EXCELLENT perfromer. Her voice is otherwordly…That vocals were on pint in Amsterdam! Crazy, crazy vocals abilities…
I`m Barei fan but Lighthouse and Nina`s voice are truly something special. That live perfromance in Amsterdam was even better than the studio version. Good luck Nina!
Sorry, but this is not my cup of tea… I love her voice in the beginning, but during the last part of the song she screams a lot and the backing track is a mess… But in the worst case scenario, this should still reach at least the top 20.
The wiwi score is inflated imo…
@Osterreich
they both deserve high scores, Nina is a really talented singer, and Ira is a great performer 🙂 🙂
For all those concerned on Nina’s stage performance – it will be flawless. She workes 4,5 hours each day on staging. They also had several special requirements about lightning and background on LED. Her performance will be very futuristic. There will be 4 backing vocalist to strenghten that part where she sings lighthouse, without any dance moves, just Nina and her voice.
For all the talk about who’s the favorite to win, this will finish higher than France, mark my words.
Could win the whole thing.
The class act of this year’s contest. At this stage, what more can you want? Lyrically profound, builds up nicely and seems to be ready-made for the singer. There is nothing that I would change about this song. It is a worthy winner and not only that, it would be the best winner of the past five years.
If Nina can deliver this live, there is not doubt that this will bring us to Zagreb in 2017.
As for the jury member who gave this a 4/10…..come on. Try to take this a little bit seriously.
10/10
@georgekirkas
but Malta will get your vote as well, mate, and you can also give a vote to Croatia 🙂
well Ira and Nina have got amazing songs, and they both deserve to be in the final 🙂 🙂
Nina, your voice is sensational and your song is far better than mine.
But you wouldn’t mind if i won, wouldn’t you?
Nina’s staging and presence were top notch since the live shows of The Voice. She can make any song stand out. Take for instance her staging for semi-finals with Nothing Else Matters, that was totally captivating, earning her more then 70% of votes, even though her teammate had a big fanbase, especially with young girls. And in the final she slayed once again, earning her victory over 3 other hot favorites. I have no concern that the staging in Stockholm should be great.
…and I forgot to talk about her style which helps her convey that magical and poetical vibe.
That started on The Voice and she has used it since the beginning.She’s got it all!
@Neyo
I really liked how she sings in the beggining, but the end is just too much screaming for my liking. The dress was terrible, but I don’t care.
And she is not the best female singer this year. Kaliopi and Sanja are better, also as a performers. And then we have so many good male singers this year.
I agree with Chris on every single word he said! Croatia is back in the game with a traditional, yet accessible masterpiece! I love the Balkan sounds and the chorus gives me chills! I never expected to say that, but Croatia is my favourite country this year! 9,5/10 P.S.:Unfortunately, not even Croatia is a perfect 10/10 for me this year! (Denmark, shame on you for not sending Simone to Stockholm! She would have been my absolute favourite with a 10/10! Anja would have been another amazing choice with a 9,5/10! Instead, though, you made the same mistake with last year… Read more »