Guten Tag Deutschland! Earlier today the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — caught a flight to Berlin, where we took in panoramic views from the Fernsehturm before gorging on wurst. After the sausage party we settled our stomachs by discussing Germany’s Eurovsion 2017 song “Perfect Life” from Levina. Did we think the song was perfect for her? Read on to find out!

Levina – “Perfect Life”

About Levina

Isabella Levina Lueen, 25, is a German-born singer-songwriter who currently lives in London where she studies music management. The German broadcaster NDR handpicked her as one of the five finalists for Unser Song 2017 — Germany’s national selection for Eurovision, which saw a series of singers perform a series of songs, with the public selecting the winning combination.

“Perfect Life” reviews

William: “Sometimes it’s wrong before it’s right — that’s what you call a perfect life.” And that’s what I call this number, which I absolutely detested the night of the German final. But Levina — reborn as a platinum blonde with a ferocious mascara game — has grown into the song, which has undergone some subtle tweaks that distance it from “Titanium”. With her smoky voice and steely eye contact, Levina really sells it. I had feared this would finish last. But with the right staging Levina could achieve a result more worthy of her talent.

Score: 7/10

Chris: Undoubtedly talented, Levina is the shining star being blighted by this song. There’s nothing “perfect” about “Perfect Life”, which marginally was the best of a truly bad bunch of entries for Germany. It’s a song designed to be skipped after two minutes on Spotify. There’s nothing creative about it and there’s no “journey” to take you along for its duration. Will Germany give Levina any further chances with the staging? It seems doubtful — but she does deserve that chance.

Score: 4/10

Deban: “Perfect Life” is the perfect 2017 radio entry. The sample used here is obviously “Titanium”, but unlike the former, this offering seems a lot more restrained. Levina is an emerging pop artist, but “Perfect Life” makes her too cookie-cutter to stand out. 

Score: 5/10

Jovana: Every year at Eurovision there is at least one song that faces accusations of plagiarism. This year it’s “Perfect Life”. It does indeed sound like a lot of songs you can hear on the radio – most notably “Titanium” – but let’s be honest, it’s nowhere near as good. Objectively speaking, “Perfect Life” is a fine song, but Germany needs something more than fine if it wants to break its infamous streak of last place finishes.

Score: 7/10

Edd: The song is structurally and melodically very strong, but the production has less personality than transparent wallpaper. Furthermore, Levina looks uncomfortable and her vocals sound strained — and she naturally lacks charisma with a song written by some Americans who don’t even know her. “Perfect Life” is the perfect victim of a stupid national final system. If Felicia Lu had been given the opportunity to sing her version of the song, Germany could’ve been looking at top ten.

Score: 5.5/10

Rezo: They say that it’s copy of David Guetta and Sia’s hit ”Titanium”, but please stop the comparisons and think about the meaning of the song and its well-crafted lyrics. Yes, the first eight seconds are similar to that other tune, but the rest of the song is totally different and upbeat. I’m in love with her energy and humanity, which spill out from the song. Hopefully ARD will take staging very seriously, because I have a feeling that this will be appreciated in the grand final, as it will stand out stylistically. Best of luck, Levina!

Score: 8/10

Jason: “Perfect Life” is a perfectly fine song and Levina does her best with what she’s been given. But let’s not beat about the bush: this is nothing special. The dull track goes nowhere and leaves the listener indifferent. Germany needs to do a lot better if it was wants to avoid the bottom spot, because right now, things are not looking hopeful.

Score: 5/10

Robyn: The best thing I can say about this song is it’s adequate. Levina is a great singer, but it’s just a pity she’ll be making her big debut with such a dull song. If Germany wants to avoid being bottom of the table again, sending a bland, forgettable song is not the way to do that. It’s 2017. It’s Germany. They should know far better than sending such a generic song as their Eurovision entry.

Score: 4.5/10

In our Wiwi Jury, we have 38 jurors but only room for eight reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Anastas: 4/10

Andy: 7/10

Angus: 3/10

Anthony: 4.5/10

Antony: 3/10

Antranig: 5.5/10

Bernardo: 5/10

Bogdan: 2.5/10

Dayana: 7/10

Erdi: 3/10

Forrest: 3.5/10

George: 6/10

Jacob: 5/10

Jordi: 5.5/10

Josh: 3/10

Kristin: 4/10

Luis: 4/10

Marek: 8/10

Matt: 7/10

Mikhail: 3/10

Natalie: 4/10

Padraig: 6.5/10

Patrick: 4/10

Renske: 5.5/10

Sami: 6/10

Sinan: 6.5/10

Stanislav: 7/10

Steinunn: 4/10

Tobias: 3/10

Zakaria: 4/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 2.5 and a high of 8.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 4.99/10

What do you think of this song? Share your own score and review below!

See our current Eurovision 2017 reviews and rankings

Buy the Levina Eurovision t-shirt

Buy the Levina Eurovision phone cover

46 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
chavez
chavez
6 years ago

One question
How can you rate germanys entry if the final version isn’t officially published yet???
In my opinion u can just vote the video version or the NF version but that aren’t the final versions. Or were you all in Amsterdam at the concert??
Cause you can’t rate a song by hearing it with such a bad quality in like in the video from Amsterdam

CharlieChan
CharlieChan
6 years ago

Oh Germany… How can you be 60 million people and not be able to find a good song. The worst is that you found it: WILDFIRE. I still can’t believe that Germans chose this crappy song instead of it. Levina can´t show her power with Perfect Life…
5/10
Wildfire: 9/10

origami
origami
6 years ago

big5 skips the semifinals test…this is why a song that is already in the final will be judged more harshly. it makes sense.

oli
oli
6 years ago

I really don’t get the rebuff against this entry. It will remain one of they mysteries of this edition for me. Sure, it is not the most original song, but is uplifting, she sings very good and the lyrics are very positive (like a motivation book). I actually have it around my top 15, as this year’s level is not the higher either.

Francis
Francis
6 years ago

After 2 minutes of hearing on spotify*

Francis
Francis
6 years ago

Its totally a shame to rate this song with 2.5/10. Yes the song isn’t the best but what Levina is doing with this song is absolutly amazing. When she is singing live it’s very good ,Top 5 by live performance. I wanna know what version of the song they rated. U cant use the music video, cause the song will not be the same at the grand final. U have to use the version from Amsterdam. And it’s a shame to rate this lower than Montenegros entry. I read that somebody said after 2 of hearing on spotify you will… Read more »

Jon H
Jon H
6 years ago

Listened to this heaps and it really does grow. In fact is probably one of my favourites now..

sole
sole
6 years ago

…I mean the person who said it in the first place.

Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago

I actually expected a lot from beggining of selection process, but it was set to awkward way because of the songs and inability to replace versions of songs for each artist. The only versions I liked were ‘Perfect Life’ by Axel (which is not my favourite snce I dislike his voice), and ‘Wildfire’ by Levina. She’s a good person that tries her best to make it better, but song is unoriginal and super plain because of arrangements. Lyrics are ok to me.

sole
sole
6 years ago

The translator was a drama queen, not you, is not right to say to audience something like that, about middle finger, to make them feel bad for no reason, for NO REASON AT ALL. I wasn’t criticizing you, sorry for misunderstanding.

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

@sole I’m not provoking, and not even joking. On the livestream, the English translator of the NF said exactly that when the results of the poll came up. Word by word, I swear.

sole
sole
6 years ago

@Pablo
A tie is a coincidence, is not middle finger. Maybe were both equally liked, not equally disliked.
……….but let’s use the opportunity to be drama queens.

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

@sole I… never said it was planned. It’s just the overall attitude with the German NF and offerings that were ironically reflected on that moment, dooming them.

Darren
Darren
6 years ago

So disappointed by Germany this year, they have been in my top 10 every year since I started watching Eurovision in 2007. Levina is talented, she can sing and she seems really nice, but this song is just awful! If Germany had to compete in the semis they wouldn’t qualify with that! Which is unfair to think that a dull song like that is prequalified, while we will be losing some good and deserving songs in the semis as only 10 qualify. Beyond disappointed. Really want Germany to win again and for Berlin to be given the chance to host,… Read more »

EscAU
EscAU
6 years ago

Theres a bigger plagiarism issue at 1:30 of this song (identical)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPA5A7zU0K4

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

It is as if Germany refuse to learn. The Eurovision voting system does not reward you for being everybody’s 15th favourite song. You still get 0 pts! They need to be braver with their song choices as this is far too safe and bland. I like it but I would not vote for it. In lies the problem….

(For Robyn G.)
(For Robyn G.)
6 years ago

@ Robyn: I only was aware about this here on this article. I didn’t come back to read the comments on the other articles so I could get a grip about this issue.Then sure ok.I already try so to not write long comments.It’s just that i couldn’t make them shorter considering that I had to use 1 single line per country (for the top42 ranking) Now from now on, i will make the list much shorter with having 3/4 countries per line then. And if you still mind about it, then i will exclude the top42 list completely from my… Read more »

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

It features the iconic lyrics “I’m almost a sinner, nearly a saint” and “sometimes it’s wrong before it’s right”, I want them tattooed on my arms. No but really, this song is tragic in every way. First of all, it’s sung too high for her vocal range, and her voice sounds strained. Second… it’s so cheap, like, there’s no way this is going to escape from last place.

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

0,5/10.
She seems to be very nice though.

Lukewarm
Lukewarm
6 years ago

Silly song. 3/10 (35/43)

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

I won’t go on about this one – most of you know how I feel about this song. Basically, what Chris writes in the article above is about the same as my own review. Considering that this was written by a very famous American songwriter, I was expecting something more original. Instead, we got this. The other problem is that Levina has a deep voice, and this song is in much too high a key for her to sing. I don’t like hearing her strain those top notes. Chris is right; she deserves better than this. 🙁 4/10.

sole
sole
6 years ago

@Pablo – ”As the translator in the stream said when Axel and her tied in the pan-European poll: “It’s like Europe is giving us the middle finger”.”

That tie was not planned by Europe, how can you plan a tie? Do you really like to complain.

sole
sole
6 years ago

@Hada
You probably like Portugal that is like all the songs from 30’s

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

Levina is a great singer. What fails catastrophically is everything else. This song sounds like some composer’s fat trimmings welded together with a DIY blowtorch. It’s extremely uninspired, the “that’s what I call a perfect life” hook is annoying and overall it’s not memorable, not even in the slightest. It is a shame she is making her great debut with a song like this one, when Germany can make a song that can easily blow everyone away. And the selection process was a pretty hot mess. As the translator in the stream said when Axel and her tied in the… Read more »

Leo M
Leo M
6 years ago

I like the song but it is going to get lost among all the big ballads and dance numbers in the final. Doesn’t have a wow moment that makes it stand out and cannot see it having any impactful staging. Don’t think Germany will be last again but will probably bee in the bottom six

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago

@Eve: Personality and voice didn’t help Germany avoid last place in the past. Just ask Ann-Sophie and Jamie-Lee Kriewitz…

…Although I agree with you, that there are worse songs out there that deserve last place. Unfortunately, it is all too easy these days for Germany to be forgotten. If they are assigned an early spot in the singing order, or sandwiched between 2 real contenders (like in 2014 and 2016), last place could happen again.

Hada
Hada
6 years ago

My first thought is, why should I listen to this song when I can just listen to Titanium in the first place?

This sounds like they needed a jingle for an ad but couldn’t afford to license Titanium, so they settled for making an inferior rip-off that sounds just different enough that they won’t be sued.

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
6 years ago

This is another typical example of great singer with a weak/boring song. I love Levina, she seems great, but the song is just another pop song. Black Smoke was my fourth in 2015, and I don’t know HOW they finished with 0 points, but they did with a much better song, just like in 2016. Without a good draw, they will be lost, especially because 2017 is a very strong year. I can see this in last with the televoting, but I can also see a top 20 finish with the juries, so anything can happen. For me it has… Read more »

Digital Style
Digital Style
6 years ago

Somewhat generic, yet crafted with real meaning and performed with real emotion.

Erasmus
Erasmus
6 years ago

Not a bad song, but for it’s worse than Ghost and Black Smoke. I can’t give it more than 5,5 . I love her voice, but as Edd said the production has zero originalty. Hope that she won’t came last in the Finals.

cheesecake
cheesecake
6 years ago

This is just nice at best. It’s not bad, but not good either.
I still don’t see this getting (many) points, definitely a contender for last place, unfortunately.

sole
sole
6 years ago

Levina said that the sexiest man in esc is Romanian Alex Florea, so Romania mark 12 points for Germany, enough with that Moldova of yours SunStroke Project are Russians, they can’t even speak Romanian.

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

When I heard it I didn’t like it, but I really like Levina’s voice! But you can’t do much only with the voice! And the song is bland and boring as hell! I find nothing interesting about it! Probably bottom 5 in the final!

I’ll give this a 3.5! (mostly about Levina’s vocals)

Chupacabra
Chupacabra
6 years ago

Levina showed in Tel Aviv and Amsterdam that she is able to make an okayish mediocre song good because of her personality and fresh staging. Will do better than expected. In my top15. Of the presented entries my ranking so far:
1) UK, Lucie Jones: Goosebumps 9,5/10
2) Germany, Levina 8/10
3) Netherlands 7/10
4) Israel 7/10
5) Denmark ( good, but I don´t remember it) 7/10
6) Latvia, Triana Park: wannabe different and indie, dislike singer´s voice 4/10

laur
laur
6 years ago

The fact that Germany won in 2010 with that silly singer and song, and next year they’ve send the same silly singer, with a similar silly song, says it all. They think they’ve found the pattern that works for them, and will not be out of their brains for the next 102810519 years. Next year, expect another young girl with a silly song.

(#Glorious)
(#Glorious)
6 years ago

Germany’s song is just meh.
It’s too mediocre, dull & generic.
Its not that i dislike it, but I don’t like it either.
My grade: 5,5/10

ImpressiveInstants
ImpressiveInstants
6 years ago

Wasn’t Germany supposed to release a final version this week? Anyway…

I don’t dislike this as much as I used to, but it still seems very bland. The song doesn’t bother me, but it has no personality. It is as basic as a song can get.

Sterne
Sterne
6 years ago

Germany needs to choose their biggest stars from NF in next years and stop with the beggining young solo female singers for next ten years. Germany needs Unheilig, Xavier Naidoo, Söhne Mannheims, Gregorians, Laing, Avantasia… They have so many big stars, who wants to compete in Eurovision. Choose them, nobody understands, why they dont do it!

M_K
M_K
6 years ago

MY RANKING SO FAR:

1. Latvia (9.5)
2. United Kingdom (9)
3. Israel (5.5)
4. Germany (4.5)
5. Denmark (4.5)
6. Netherlands (3.5)

M_K
M_K
6 years ago

Personal rating: Even though the song has grown a teeny tiny bit on me, I still consider it rather boring. It’s an entry that was written in order to appeal to anyone, but in the end it just stays somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Levina’s not a sinner, not a saint – so in other words, she’s just average according to the song? Is being average the right way to go if you want to do well in Eurovision? It’s a shame since I think Levina has a very good voice and charisma, she just needs the right song.… Read more »

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
6 years ago

Isn’t this going to be revamped? Either way, the current version is fine. But that’s the problem, it’s just fine and nothing more. Pretty indifferent.

6/10

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

Considering we do have a zero as a rating, the median would be 5/10 and thus, this is technically the first negative review so far.

KennyESC
KennyESC
6 years ago

It’s OT, but Wiwibloggs, you should do a news about Michele Perniola (San Marino J2013 and 2015) being eliminated from ‘Amici di Maria de Filippi’!! (Maybe your Italian reporter Cristian)

Eve
Eve
6 years ago

Oh dear.. it’s a shame that such a good singer and nice person like her sing this boring bland song.. I really like her voice, very pleasent, I prefer this kind of female singers that screaming divas look-how-amazing-singer-i-am-cause-i-slay-and-i’m-a queen.. not last place simmply because of her personality and voice, all the best tho <3

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

4.99… it couldn’t have been rounded on 5? Ha ha. Anyway, this is my least favorite out of 6 reviewed songs thus far. The positive is that I like Levina. Not only that she has a voice, but a nice aura about her too. The song is a different story. May we say generic? There is nothing specific, personal. The whole selection process is wrong. The singer and song should compliment each other, not be paired on ‘eeny, miny, mo’.

Paul D.
Paul D.
6 years ago

Well this is an absolute bore, I feel like every time I listen to this I will dislike it even more. So average, so unmemorable that even though there are some worse songs out there this is my last place for being so anonymous. Germany please, get a grip.