We are getting close to Belarus’ national selection for Eurovision 2017, which takes place on January 20. In recent weeks the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — has been listening to and reviewing all of the songs. Next up is NAVI with “Historyja majho zyccia” (The History of My Life). Are we willing to read all about it? Read on and find out!
NAVI – “Historyja majho zyccia”
“Historyja majho zyccia” reviews
Kristin: Yes! This is so fresh! So alluring! So much fun, y’all! And as a bonus it showcases the beautiful Belarusian language, which we never get to hear, because they always insist on smearing bad English all over their songs. NAVI are my shining light in Belarus this year. The ethnic sound is next to perfect and this adorable couple is everything I’m looking for in a duo of performers. More of this, please.
Score: 9.5/10
William: I feel like two singers have been lifted from the Navajo Nation, transplanted to Belarus and handed a top-notch producer. Wild, rambling, uplifting and just a little bit crazy, this song has character and personality in spades and it sounds current but indigenous at the same time. The singers’ charisma and chemistry make me smile and the vocals are as delightful. It’s the first song from Belarus that has made me want to clap — Hey! Hey! — in a very long time. My clear winner in Minsk.
Score: 9/10
Antranig: NAVI have a quirky sort of appeal — they’re the underdogs you want to see do well. I’ve always been unimpressed by their live performances but this song sounds terrific in the studio version. Perhaps the Belarusian studio doesn’t give them the tools to shine. That shouldn’t be a problem on the Eurovision stage and this song is definitely memorable.
Score: 6/10
Robyn: NAVI are utterly adorable and they’re delivering an incredibly fun, upbeat song that always make me feel happy. While it’s in Belarusian, the song is full of super catchy hooks that transcend language barriers so it should do well with an international audience. They both sound great harmonising, but Ksenia especially has an expressive and powerful voice and her lead vocal really makes the performance work.
Score: 9/10
Mikhail: It’s happy, it’s cheerful, it’s an utter joy. NAVI are so sweet that they can pull anyone out of a depression. This song creates a mood and it is so good. It’s simple, yet very effective and catchy. They sing together with the power of nature behind them and everyone can understand their intent without knowing Belarusian. Hey! Hey! Heyayayayay!
Score: 9/10
Sami: While NAVI was among my favourites last year, this year they are not cracking into my top three. After the first few seconds I’m already annoyed and when I hear the tedious “hey! hey! heyayayay!” for the second time, I’m ready to hit STOP. As a fan of commercial pop, this is not my cup of tea.
Score: 3/10
Chris: Praise to NAVI for rescuing what is, otherwise, a dreadful selection. Once again they’re clearly the best act in the field. Although I preferred “Heta ziamlja”, this is still worthy in its own right. It’s another obvious crowd pleaser and I suspect that this would go down well in its native tongue at Eurovision as it would in English.
Score: 7/10
Luis: This song gives me life. Everything around “Historyja majho zyccia” is fantastic, from their energy to the beautiful sounds of the Belarusian language. Props to Ksenia — she is the star in this performance! Her happiness and spontaneity is so contagious and it takes the song to another level. Having the hook repeated for 45 seconds at the end might seem annoying, but their performance makes it surprisingly enjoyable. However, I would tweak something at the end to make it less monotonous. Meanwhile… Hey! Hey! Hayayayayo!
Score: 9/10
In the Belarus Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for 8 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Bernardo: 7/10
Dayana: 8.5/10
Edd: 9.5/10
Jason: 8.5/10
Patrick: 5.5/10
Rezo: 7/10
Sinan: 6.5/10
Steinunn: 8/10
Zakaria: 9/10
Before calculating the average score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 3 and a high of 9.5.
I’m still learning from you, as I’m improving myself. I certainly liked reading everything that is posted on your blog.Keep the posts coming. I loved it!
Yes! This is in my top three this year and while I like Isaac and Alexandra as well…I am rooting for NAVI to take the win today.
Love it…best beyond Nuteki….it’s pagan, tribal Belarusian realness all the way.
Send NAVI to Kyiv! 8.5/10 😀
I LOVE this, Belarus, please, I need this song in ESC2017
This is pure folk. Did folk ever win in ESC?
>…As a fan of commercial pop…
of course…
Finally, the first song from this year’s Belarussian selection that isn’t a complete embarrassment! The hook is fun, but it’s a bit overused. It could stand a bit of polishing, but it’s got some shine already. Solid 7.5/10 from me.
Why do some of you guys think this won’t qualify? To me it’s 100% a sure qualifier. The voting public will eat this up just like they eat up pretty much any folk song. My only concern is that the juries will kill it because of the absence of English lyrics.
This stands out among the other songs. It’s different, it’s happy, traditional “want to dance” song. There’s no way of beiing confused. You’ll remember this. Why not?
Hands down the best song Belarus has put forward to date.
Semi-final only for sure in Kyiv if Belarus will select it. Not the best song from NS.
Aliaksandra & Kanstantsin kinda flopped back in 2004.
Don’t see it doing well at the contest if it wins the national selection
While this song is nice and gives me good vibes, I think is overrated. I wouldn’t mind seeing NAVI in Kiev, though. Certainly, it would be something different and will bring Belarussian realness to the contest. I can see this qualifing for the final, its positiveness and nature vibes can be felt even if you don’t speak Belarussian.
So far this is the best one! They really deserve to win. I also like Nuteki and Vladislav Kurasov, but Navi is really awesome.
We NEED this kind of music in Eurovision. This is by far the best song in Belarus’ selection, they just have to win.
The hook seems like a pre-chorus to me, the song isn’t finished like this. Nevertheless, for Belarus it’s probably the best choice.
When was the last time we’ve heard true Eastern European folk? I can only recall the Russian grannies from 2012… It’s time for Belarus to send the ultimate folk anthem. They better not translate one single line to English if they get selected. This song is fantastic, and Europe loves folkish stuff in national languages (even though the juries often seem to go for boring ballads or radio-friendly songs in English, for some reason – look at poor Zoë, Deen and Kaliopi).
The best…by far
This song is pure fun. Very catchy hook. The female vocalist kinda overshadows the male one, her vocals and stage presence are great. The only negative aspect I can see here is that it gets too repetitive in the end.
7.5/10
It’s an okay song. I’m still hoping for Belarus to choose Vladislav 🙂
Im probably the only one who thinks it’s a mess.
It is a bit of a joke song but considering it is Belarus and that is might just be novel enough to get out of a weak semi-final (luck permitting), they might just go with this.
There is no chance of this troubling the left-hand side of the Eurovision final scoreboard but then again, which Belarus song could? As for the song, I would not want to listen to it more than once.
Good gosh, Belarus. That’s your song, right there!
I agree that they need to either vary it up at the end, or else shave it down to 2:40 or so. It’s a good hook, but no need to bludgeon us to death with it.
I hope they win.
Props to Navi for joyful hooks, but yeah, just a lil advantage in progression would make it more perfected. Impressive rank so far…
I really like NAVI but I dislike this song. Seems i’m always in the minority of the ESC fans. 😀
I want them to win sooo much! I’d love to hear Belarusian at ESC. They give eastern folk vibes so convincingly