The Wiwi Jury, our in-house panel of music unprofessionals, continues to feel the love for Slovenia. With the final of their selection process EMA 2017 looming over the horizon, our journey in the country is almost at its conclusion. But don’t worry — after our reviews of the four qualifiers from the first semi-final, we now turn our attention second semi final. We start with Raiven with “Zažarim” and BQL with “Heart of Gold”. Read on to find out what we think!

Raiven — “Zažarim”

“Zažarim” reviews

Deban: A genius composition, let down by poor staging. “Zazarim” envelops your senses at key intervals, whilst Raiven’s vocals draw you deeper into her world. Vocally and conceptually, this slays! Unfortunately, a winning entry calls for a much stronger visual presentation and an energetic stage presence.

Score: 8/10

Luis: There’s something missing in this song. Raiven nails the staging, but the song comes across as a bit bland. There’s no “boom” moment. It’s interesting, but not arresting, and that’s not the best sign in this kind of song. It has way too slow a cadence and there’s no big vocal moment here. It’s like a taco without sauce: tastes good, but it could be so much better.

Score: 4.5/10

Anthony: If ManuElla couldn’t reach the Eurovision final, “Crno Bel” might not have fared any better either. Raiven’s a multi-talented artist, and her co-written entry is like a Slovenian version of “Love Injected”. There’s a gradual build-up, then the chorus hits you with full on emotion. Unfortunately, the parts in-between don’t offer much and need working on.

Score: 5.5/10

Antranig: This has to be the most underwritten song in the entire national final season. There are chunks where it feels like some of the instruments stopped working. The song just goes in and out of life like a patient on their deathbed. Raiven is obviously a terrific vocalist but let’s be honest — this is an absolutely horrible take on an electronic ballad.

Score: 1/10

Robyn: Raiven has delivered a visually exciting performance, with a mix of a harp, pink hair, dramatic make-up and a bedazzled bodysuit. The song, however, is much less exciting. Despite the on-trend electronic production, the song doesn’t have anything to draw the listener in. It doesn’t help that the performance uses too many long shots, reinforcing Raiven’s distance from the viewer.

Score: 3.5/10

Zakaria: The whole performance seems to evolve around Raiven’s dress and the stage presentation. The song is dark and mysterious plus Raiven delivers it flawlessly. It is kind of reminiscent of “Lovewave”, only this lacks power and emotions.

Score: 5/10

Our Wiwi Jury for Slovenia’s EMA 2017 contains 14 jurors, but we only have room for 6 reviews. The remaining scores are listed below.

Antony: 9/10

Dayana: 7/10

Forrest: 4.5/10

Jordi: 7/10

Kristin: 2/10

Natalie: 9/10

Patrick: 4/10

William: 6/10

 

 

 

 

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.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 5.5/10

BQL — “Heart of Gold”

“Heart of Gold” reviews

Anthony: At this rate, Slovenia could end up with their very own Thomas G:son in the form of Maraaya. M:son anyone? They can cover various genres and continue to deliver with their songwriting talent. BQL may be the newbies of EMA 2017, but they’ve been paired up with a promising song. “Heart of Gold” simply oozes toe tapping Caribbean vibes and is one to watch for this year.

Score: 7.5/10

Antony: Smooth vocals and strong chemistry are key elements of this contemporary song, especially in the last chorus. The young guys seem warm and full of character, which will serve them well in this national selection.

Score: 8/10

Deban: Hues of falsetto sprinkled over a piano-driven tropical house track, “Heart Of Gold” is a solid entry. A little too wordy in parts — this would sound more polished with a slightly different arrangement. However, BQL are a promising act. They work very well together, even when positioned apart on stage.

Score: 7/10

Kristin: What a couple of sweethearts! They remind me a little of Joe and Jake, but with a slightly weaker vocal..and the song isn’t as catchy. However, these two might fly high and maybe all the way to Kyiv. I am not going to rule them out of contention, because: A, they are charming and B, because “Heart of Gold” has some serious potential. With the right staging and a stronger performance from the boys, this could be something.

Score: 7/10

Natalie: Interesting, a song that has so many elements, yet none of them properly work or go anywhere. It’s as though they had a checklist and refused to give in until they had every single musical trick packed in to the song. The two guys also don’t have enough chemistry, it’s way too forced and doesn’t come across well at all. It’s a shame, because they have a few good ideas here, but they just need to spend more time focusing on the beauty of simplicity.

Score: 3/10

William: Contemporary and soothing, “Heart of Gold” may be the most on-trend song in the selection. The tropical vibe has a hint of melancholy which elevates this beyond the club and the production shows real thought and sensitivity. The lead sings with soul and conveys real emotion — again a rarity when dealing with this genre. A real standout in Slovenia.

Score: 7.5/10

Our Wiwi Jury for Slovenia’s EMA 2017 contains 14 jurors, but we only have room for 6 reviews. The remaining scores are listed below.

Antranig: 8/10

Dayana: 8/10

Forrest: 5/10

Jordi: 8.5/10

Luis: 6.5/10

Patrick: 7.5/10

Robyn: 7/10

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.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 7.29/10

See all of our EMA 2017 rankings here

Follow all of our Slovenia Eurovision news here

Photo: Ulla Wolk / Bit Sever

26 Comments
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Ben_AUT
Ben_AUT
7 years ago

It’s interesting how Natalie rated BQL’s Heart of Gold with a 3 because of “so many but not matching elements”, while she gave Romania’s Eduard Santha a 5.5. Did you actually listen to both songs? And the supposedly nonexistent/forced chemistry between brothers… Really?? Hilarious!

Both Raiven and BQL are definitely in Slovenia’s top 3, along with Nika Zorjan. It’s a nice selection of genres, and while I think that BQL will be most appealing to the average listener’s ears, it’s nice to have a little variety — including of the more experimental, electronic, minimalistic kind.

SomeSlovenian
SomeSlovenian
7 years ago

Raiven’s song has a great story, but for you is the problem that you do not understand slovene. Why is she like ”discoball”? Because her song is about ligt!

here is (probably bad) translation od hers song before she turned into ”light”:
each beam is brighter when you turn off the lights… and in chorus she is singing ZAŽARIM wich means i glow, or i shine (there is no better word for that in english)

P.S. she will sing in english if she win EMA. 😉

am.casablancas
am.casablancas
7 years ago

Antranig quit your job, that review was way too out of objectivity. You are pretty much the reason why this contest doesn’t crack the international ice, we CAN’T keep nursing this kind of opinions because they limit greatly the shift between a very gay europop dance edm screaming lady contest to a very avantgard musical exposition with song of this era giving us A NEW SOUND.
Honey keep your negativity and your bull shhhhiiit to yourself because it’s really distasteful

Rich
Rich
7 years ago

BQL by far the better performance. It would be nice to see them in Kiev

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
7 years ago

BQL are brothers… that makes so much more sense now. Their vocals are so similar that I did begin to wonder if that were the case, and they obviously love each other somehow. If they win for Slovenia, it will be deserved. 🙂

Raiven is the bigger talking point here. How can someone with an astonishingly penetrating voice production sound and a great image be let down by minimalist choreography?! The song is gripping, but it has absolutely no story- she might as well be singing about frying eggs!! Get a new choreographer and start again, please Raiven.

Héctor
Héctor
7 years ago

My two favs alongside ‘Fse’, one of them should go to Kyiv. I was expecting higher ratings for Raiven, a bit underrated. However, BQL deserve that rating, great song and singers, they have a lot of chemistry. They remind me of Joe&Jake but with a better song, so I hope if they go to Kyiv get a better place.

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

I’m sorry, but BQL’s song is generic and absolutely nothing special. Raiven is much better.

Austrian Ari
Austrian Ari
7 years ago

* televoting

Austrian Ari
Austrian Ari
7 years ago

BQL should win this. I think the televising will be on their side.
However, I’m very curious to see how the regional juries will work out this time. Like many other countries, Slovenia does have a history with questionable jury voting in their national selections. Let’s hope they won’t screw it up too badly this time because they have a lot to be proud of this year.

Italy2018
Italy2018
7 years ago

@joff I don’t belive that she woul improved… She had 1 year and did nothing. Her vocals are bad, her stageing is bad and the whole song is bad. Last year she didn’t win because she didn’t have the booom efect (the whole song same over and over) this year is worst.

ESC-kluk
ESC-kluk
7 years ago

I think the criticism towards BQL was very constructive with exception of the critique from Natalie.I’m not sure whether she saw the same performance as I had, but saying there was no chemistry is ridiculous. Apparently they’re even brothers, so I don’t know how more “real” they can get. Other than that I agree with everything, and I think the song has potential 😀

Erasmus
Erasmus
7 years ago

You were rude to Raiven:( I love both of the songs, but Raiven is so original she has to win!<3

AngieP
AngieP
7 years ago

BQL are so good! Love their song!!

Kris
Kris
7 years ago

Aha…..thanks Anthony.It was love I picked up.It turned out to be brotherly love. 🙂
cool.They have good chemistry.

cheesecake
cheesecake
7 years ago

I’m surprised about the low scores for “Zazarim”, I really enjoy it.
As long as one of these two acts win EMA, I’m happy.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

I’m pleased to see not-so-raving reviews for Raiven. I don’t like any of her songs. She tries to make very atmospheric music, but she simply doesn’t have the voice for it… and Zazarim is no different. A big miss. BQL, on the other hand, are very young and charismatic performers with a very good song. It’s pop but it doesn’t sound basic at all.

uii
uii
7 years ago

EW @ the juries trashing Raiven and stanning for that basic boy band rubbish

joff
joff
7 years ago

I prefer the Raiven’s song, particular, bright, electronic and definitely it will improve before Eurovision.
The two boys are overrated and with a waste song of Enrique Iglesias

HBIC
HBIC
7 years ago

LMAO. You guys killed poor Raiven. I like her song.

Sendormir8777@hotmail.fr
7 years ago

To be honest i would like to smell her fart i mean Ravîénneee!!!!!

AzeriBoy96
AzeriBoy96
7 years ago

BQL for the win! 🙂

irish esc
irish esc
7 years ago

raivens performance underwhelmed me when i heard it first and still underwhelms me and that is why bql and herat of gold needs to win it felt special when i first heard it and is still special to me now looking forward to friday

kris
kris
7 years ago

And I’ve asked this previously where was Raiven’s stage director when Nina kraljic had called? It would have been so perfect with ‘lighthouse’

TheBoyFromRomania
TheBoyFromRomania
7 years ago

BQL for GOLD 🙂 .

kris
kris
7 years ago

The performance of the two guys is so good!! Its turned my heart to gold.And they have such good camaraderie.Are they boyfriends?
Also I love absolutely love Maraaya. Fse or heart of gold please.