The Estonian national selection Eesti Laul is due to start in three weeks time. Before then, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — will be listening to and reviewing all of the competing songs. We kick off with Rasmus Rändvee and his song “This Love”. Were we feeling the love? Read on to find out!
Rasmus Rändvee – “This Love”
“This Love” reviews
Steinunn: Straight from the first note I knew that I would like this. I love the folksy/Americana sound and it has the just right amount of rawness and dirtiness for my liking. Rasmus has an enchanting recording voice — I’m just crossing my fingers that his voice is as good live and that this song will fill the Eesti Laul stage.
Score: 8.5/10
William: His band Facelift Deer won Best Debut Album and Best Rock Album at the Estonian Music Gala, so we know he can rock. And he does it here. His voice is dreamy and gritty and works very well over the heavy tambourine, deep beats and piano. It’s quality, but as with Juri Pootsmann’s entry from last year, this is ultimately repetitive and forgettable. It creates a mood, but not one that makes me want to vote for it. Too plodding, too familiar.
Score: 3.5/10
Chris: “This Love” is slick, from the production to Rasmus’ vocals. Sure, the end might lack a final knockout blow, but this would very easily send Estonia back to the final. It feels familiar too, but not to a fault, which might help it with votes (for reference, I actually keep harking back to Elina Born’s “Untraceable”).
Score: 8/10
Antranig: The opening bars of “This Love” hit you like a tsunami. The composition of this song is impeccable. On the other hand, Rasmus’ vocals rub me the wrong way. It needs a little more Juri Pootsman seduction and a little less drunk uncle flirting with a bridesmaid. I am optimistic this will sound better live but we have to give a score based on what we hear in the studio version.
Score: 3.5/10
Robyn: “This Love” is full of drama, which suggests a song that could really make an impact at Eurovision. It has that same Americana sound that has been the hallmark of Estonia’s entries over the past two years. I’m not a fan of the compressed vocal filter used in the first verse, but that might be gone at the live performances.
Score: 7/10
Patrick: Usually when you have nothing nice to say you should stay quiet. Sadly that’s not what I’m here for. This is ’90s trash mixed with rock instruments and an annoying artist with an unpleasant voice. It’s not the worst song from the national selection but it is surely in the bottom five. The only good thing is the lyrics, which are also quite cringe. I’m not happy.
Score: 1/10
Bernardo: Y’all know the CW series The Originals, the one with the crazy vampires? This screams soundtrack of that series. I’m digging his vocals and the well constructed composition and production. However, it has too much of an alternative vibe to be at Eurovision. I don’t find it experimental, but instead a safe form of alternative. “This Love” would pull a Juri Poostsman if it wins.
Score: 6.5/10
Zakaria: The intro is very interesting but unfortunately I cannot say the same about the rest of the song. The format is very similar to Jüri Pootsmann’s “Play”: a James Bond piece delivered by a deep and mysterious voice. However, “This Love” lacks originality and feels more like a third-rate copy-paste “Play” and knowing how the latter fared…
Score: 4/10
In our Eesti Laul Wiwi Jury, we have 20 jurors but only room for 8 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Anthony: 6/10
Dayana: 7.5/10
Edd: 3.5/10
Forrest: 4.5/10
Jason: 8/10
Josh: 7.5/10
Kristin: 7/10
Luis: 7/10
Matt: 7.5/10
Mikhail: 9/10
Natalie: 6.5/10
Sami: 7/10
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 1 and a high of 9.
Very, very interesting piece. I guess I like it. Probably even a lot. 🙂
on the other hand, I changed me mind. Rasmus had a photoshoot in the submarine where I work ( well, actually in the museum with the submarine) and he is such a nice, modest, polite and hard working young lad. I wouldnt mind if this goes to ESC.
These type of songs are not recommended for the “average Eurovision Joe”. 😛
It’s way too much quality for them.
I love the song, hope it wins. But it won’t. Thanks Estonia for the gem, nevertheless.
The beat has Ewert & The Two Dragons written all over it, plus the looooong phrases. It is growing on me, but my mom likes it more. specifically she likes his voice more. hmm. but I agree with folks who say it is too similar to “Play”. Both songs are good, but not the taste of majority. I say let´s not send this and just pressure Ewert more to take part as not just a songwriter. I won´t vote for it for that reason. (I know, this is blackmail. I know.)
He has very good voice. He is talented. He has become better since “Dance” in Eesti Laul 2013. “This Love” is much better. Not the winner, though..
I love this song. The guy has a really good voice and the song is good. It reminds me of last year’s Estonian entry, in a good way, it has a similar vibe. I hope it’ll do well at ESC if he’s the winner. Because if we go back to last year, the song may have the same fate as the last year’s song and not qualify. Hope for the best.
You mean, a high of 9, not 8.5, right?
I like him and the song, and think this can work if he will have a classic hairstyle, and will not try to look cool. Just sing the song without caring how you look, because you look good anyway if you are natural.
He gave me the feeling that is like a teenager who wants to be cool and popular in highschool, but he does not know that he already has what it takes, he only has to act normal.
Yey! A solid (for Wiwibloggs standards) review for one of the best Eesti Laul songs.
Rasmus is really talented; a great live singer who looks far too cute and innocent for what he sings about – that’s the trap. 😀 But, this song is, as the lyrics say, “all out in a sea.” It seems to be floating along and never really gets going, which is a real shame. I want to see Rasmus at Eurovision, but not with this song. A frustrating entry.
Unfulfilled potential. This could easily stand out, as the instrumentation is quite strong. Unfortunately, the melody is really lacking. It’s very repetitive and as a result, I get tired of the song quickly.
5.5/10
I honestly think it’s awful. As pretty much half of the reviewers have pointed out, if Jüri tanked so hard last year, why send a remix of his entry? It’s like shooting yourself in the foot, Estonia. Play was the worst song of ESC2016 for me, by the way, and I had called its floppage since the very beginning.
First and I’m not old enough to be ashamed say that! 😀
I’m very excited to see more reviews. EL this year is clearly big thing, lots of us can imagine several songs that deserve to reach ESC finals.
But, well, that’s too high for this song, afm. As Deban have said, it’s weaker than Play last year.