San Marino, Jimmie Wilson, 1 [ELIMINATED]

Ciao San Marino! The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has again returned to the mountainside microstate of San Marino. Setting up at a cafe with a view, the jury discussed San Marino’s entry for Eurovision 2017 — “Spirit of the Night” from Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson. Did we enjoy this ghostly visit or were we holding out for an exorcism? Read on to find out!

Valentina Monetta & Jimmie Wilson – “Spirit of the Night”

About Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson

Valentina Monetta has become one of the most popular participants of Eurovision in the last decade. A trained jazz singer, she first represented the tiny nation in 2012 with “The Social Network Song”, which saw her drop the hilarious lyrics, “do you want to be more than just a friend, do you wanna play cyber sex again.” She came back one year later with the fan favourite “Crisalide”, where she clutched a now iconic IKEA lamp on stage. In 2014, on her third straight attempt, she finally reached the final with “Maybe”.

Jimmie Wilson was born in Detroit and he began his career in Hollywood. After that, he moved to Germany and took part in the third season of Polish TV show Must Be the Music. He also played the former US President Barack Obama in Hope! – Das Obama Musical. Their song “Spirit of the Night” is written by veteran Eurovision maestro Ralph Siegel.

“Spirit of the Night” reviews

Antranig: Trashy, dated and messy — and not to mention perfect. The song has many flaws but this is my guilty pleasure. Valentina Monetta has conjured up her fourth amazing Eurovision entry and it might just be her best one yet. If San Marino were able to finish 12th in the semi with Serhat, this could certainly qualify, especially in a much weaker contest than that of 2016. Will they get through? Maybe.

Score: 8/10

William: The spirit of the night is filled with sleaze and cheap rhythms, and apparently it swirls hardest when blowing through the 70s discotheque — completely oblivious to the fact it’s 2017. At times the lyrics sound predatory — “Hey, are you the one to take my pain?” — and as the song progresses it sounds more frantic than structured. This would require epic staging to advance to the final and, given San Marino’s track record, that’s unlikely. However, Valentina is incredibly likeable and both of these artists can sing. For that they can be proud.

Score: 3.5/10

Robyn: If San Marino wants to be the disco queen of Eurovision, I am all for that. “Spirit of the Night” might not be the coolest or most current dance track in the line-up this year, but its retro disco style is highly enjoyable. It feels like a logical follow-up to “I Didn’t Know” and the dynamic disco duo of Valentina and Jimmie will bring a bit of elegance to the dance floor.

Score: 6.5/10

Bogdan: From the songwriting to the singing style (Jimmie’s in particular) and the cringe-inducing lyrics, the Sammarinese team seems to have found a time machine and travelled to a gay bar in the early 90s. Once there, they took the most typical Europop song, gave it a terrible key change, and pushed it all the way into the future, to 2017. Valentina Monetta is the only asset this song has, and it’s not enough.

Score: 2/10

Chris: A whole host of unnecessary key changes shoved in to a dated pop song: it can only be Ralph Siegel. After a year with new faces and composers, San Marino have gone back to what they know best, even bringing Valentina along for the ride. But what for? There’s nothing special about “Spirit of the Night”, even as much as Valentina and Jimmie try to admirably sell it. Whilst it’s arguably “fun”, there are other songs that do that much better this year — and should be ahead of this in the qualification stakes.

Score: 3.5/10

Deban: I have experienced in person the breath of musical skill and talent that Ralph Siegel and Valentina Monetta possess. Whilst Jimmie Wilson may be a newcomer to the Eurovision world, he has earned his stripes as a musical theatre star and a live performer. That said, this powerhouse trio have missed the mark. “Spirit of the Night” is music by numbers and does not take 2017 into account. It’s comforting, but at the same time, totally misplaced.

Score: 4/10

Padraig: “Spirit of the Night” is quite possibly Ralph Siegel’s worst Eurovision effort. It’s most definitely the weakest from Valentina. The song is cheap, disposable trash from a bygone era, and its disco beats are completely unsuited for a duet between a jazz singer and a musical theatre wannabe. And as for the chemistry between the pair, Serhat and his hat had more.

Score: 2/10

Buy the Valentina & Jimmie Eurovision t-shirt

Josh: Good on Valentina for giving Eurovision a fourth crack, and the change to a upbeat disco track with a male duet partner is a welcome change of pace! Whilst the song is upbeat and fun, it’s very dated and oozes cheesiness at every level. Jimmie’s vocal compliments Valentina’s very well. It’ll make for a fun moment in the semi-final, but this isn’t looking like final material.

Score: 3.5/10

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

Anastas: 5/10

Andy: 3/10

Angus: 3.5/10

Anthony: 5/10

Antony: 6/10

Bernardo: 5.5/10

Dayana: 5/10

Edd: 4.5/10

Erdi: 5/10

Forrest: 2.5/10

George:  6.5/10

Jacob: 7/10

Jason: 6/10

Jordi: 5/10 

Jovana: 5/10

Kristin: 7/10

Luis: 5/10

Marek: 7.5/10

Matt: 8/10

Mikhail: 2/10

Natalie: 5.5/10

Patrick: 2/10

Renske: 6.5/10

Rezo: 3/10

Sami: 8/10

Sinan: 8.5/10

Stanislav: 7.5/10

Steinunn: 6/10

Tobias: 1/10

Zakaria: 5/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 8.5.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 5.01/10

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

See our current Eurovision 2017 reviews and rankings

80 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
real@winner
real@winner
6 years ago

Why for the love of god do Eurovision fans always have to justify horrible songs with “guilty pleasure”? No, it’s not, it’s simply terrible. 0/10, not a tenth of a point more.

Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago

This is too underproduced and freaking uninspiring to get me even to ‘guilty pleasure’ area. Pity for Wilson, he could slay with better stuff.

Lukewarm
Lukewarm
6 years ago

I understand San Marino is a small country, but come on. This uninspiring Eurodisco just spells failure for the fourth time. Even Serhat was better. 02 Norway | 04 United Kingdom | *06 Albania* | 08 Bulgaria | 11 Serbia | 12 Sweden 14 Denmark | *15 Moldova* | 16 Poland | 18 Latvia | 19 Cyprus | 20 Iceland 23 Greece | 24 Czechia | 25 Armenia | 26 Netherlands | 27 Belarus | *29 Finland* 33 Montenegro | 34 Israel | 35 Georgia | 36 Germany | 37 Malta | 38 Spain *40 San Marino* | 41 Romania… Read more »

Bella Astrid
Bella Astrid
6 years ago

I’m probably the worst person to leave my personal opinion for anything because I like nearly all the songs! 😀 Honestly, there’s only 2 songs that I don’t like and even those two I tolerate and almost like (I would just be VERY upset if they won).
While this is definitely not a winner, I enjoy the song and it doesn’t feel dated to me. Then again I listen to practically every genre from nearly every music era so everything feels current to me if I enjoy it! 😀
Anyway, I would give this song a score of 3/10.

cheesecake
cheesecake
6 years ago

5.01, now I’ve seen it all.
3.5 at best, for me.

Magpie
Magpie
6 years ago

Sorry Wiwibloggs but 5.01 is way too low. I mean c’mon you gave 10th place (or 6.88) to The Social Network Song in 2012.

Racal
Racal
6 years ago

“And this piece is just repeating old seventies stuff that only pleases old disgusting people like l’oiseau, Racal and other loosers”

Actually if you scroll down, you’ll see my own comment about San Marino reading: “The song is not good (obviously). (…) It’s 38th in my ranking”. 😉

You really have a big problem with people not liking the songs that you like, don’t you? Does this justify aggressivity and insults in your mind? Have a nice day!

Cemil
Cemil
6 years ago
Reply to  Racal

Of course, you prefer having camp-queen-diva Valentina in the final than real artists like Ilinca and Alex

Racal
Racal
6 years ago
Reply to  Cemil

I never said that. I don’t prefer anything and may the best win on May 13: if the best is Romania or San Marino, then so be it and good luck to them (and unlike you, I never called any song a “piece of sh*t, not even the Romanian song).

In any case, you said I was a “looser”, why do you care about what I prefer? 😉 Have a good day.

L'oiseau
6 years ago

@William Lee Adams I really enjoy the very professional work you are doing. For me you are the best source of up-to-date information on the ESC. It would be great if you could sort out in the future the moderation of the comments and the use of false nicknames As someone is using my nickname to express horrible comments (my suspicion is this @Theo person) I have no other choice than to change my nickname and not use this one anymore. So any messages you see from now on with this nickname are from a different person… (My original picture… Read more »

L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Thank you very much for that Robyn. 🙂

Andra
Andra
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

*Dramatic violin playing in the backhround*

liron
liron
6 years ago

@Theo You should apolagize here for writing insulting lies about San Marino singers and than you should apolagize for writing racisit discusting things about gays, black pepole and Gypsys ..if you will not apologize immidietlly dont exspect any one here talk with you. Also, stop crying like a baby about the Romanian song , you acting like a dumb person..I like this song but the rest should aloud to have different opinion..I’m from israel and many here write awful things about israel song..that’s there right to do so.by your racist way of thinking you give a bad name to your… Read more »

Tom V
Tom V
6 years ago

It’s dated. Really dated. However Valentina and Jimmie are both great performers, I’ve enjoyed seeing their live performances at the pre-parties. The song has grown on me.. a decent 6/10 for me 🙂

Voxtaylor
Voxtaylor
6 years ago

That last bit was really beautifully put, wow! ^^

Tom
Tom
6 years ago

Actually quite like this one. Not Valentina’s best entry, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a surprise qualifier given Valentina’s popularity and the fact that they’re in the weaker semi-final. I’m guessing 9th-13th in the Semi-Final, and 21st-24th if it makes the Final
Score: 5.5

L'oiseau
6 years ago

And I might add ageist… ooofff.. thank you so much for that.

Dida
Dida
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Oooh, your poor thing

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

Thank you Robyn. 🙂

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

How does Ralph Siegel continue to make a living?

Ja
Ja
6 years ago
Reply to  Briekimchi

I doubt he still has to make a living. The Dschinghis Khan royalties alone quite possibly allow for his San Marinese endeavours.

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

This song is listenable, but once the VALENTINAAAAA shock died, so did this song’s chances. I like how “Rhythm Of The Night”-esque it is and the two voices work surprisingly well, but it doesn’t hold for repeated listens, at points sounding cheap and with beats heard everywhere else. I was hopeful, but now… at least Valentina will lighten the scenario up like she always has done.
4/10

Pastora Soler haha!
Pastora Soler haha!
6 years ago

We all know that the song is not good but most of us love Valentina – and his partner is nice

I’m gonna vote for them

Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

This is a horrible song, and I can’t even appreciate the effort because they aren’t even trying! Valentina deserves better.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago

No. Valentina and Jimmie ARE trying. Ralph Siegel is the one who is NOT trying! And yes, Valentina and Jimmie deserve much better. They should have hired Thomas G:son or the Deb sisters to write their duet. This one reminds me of A Touch of Class’s “Around The World (La-La-La-La-La)” from 2000, or some songs I’ve heard from Dance Dance Revolution’s machines from 1998 to 2003.

Tom
Tom
6 years ago

Love this so much. Hope they make it to Saturday! It’s the 2017 version of the Netherlands’ immaculate 1996 entry ‘De Eerste Keer’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9ZwWM1Bfas

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago
Reply to  Tom

No. Maxine and Franklin’s song was perfect for its era. This song is not. Some retro tunes work, and some don’t. Unfortunately, Ralph Siegel’s latest don’t. He should take a cue from Bruno Mars and his producers on how to make retro work for today’s age.

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

Here we go with the nasty comments (WARNING: very mean comments below).

Richard
Richard
6 years ago

It’s no secret that I adore Valentina, and I nearly wet myself when I heard she was back for a fourth time. I can’t begrudge Jimmie a place at her side, he seems charming and despite the fact that this is a cheesy disco throwback and really not the amazing tune I’d have chosen for my gorgeous Valentina, it carries me along quite happily.

HubertZnajomski
6 years ago

The worst opinions and comments I’ve ever read

Erasmus
Erasmus
6 years ago

Not a bad song, but I just don’t enjoy that 80’s or 90′ vibe. They are great performers I give them that, but the song is just not my cup of tea, I love how catchy it is tho. For me: 4,5.

liron
liron
6 years ago

I’m so going to vote for San Marino after what this idiot@Theo wrote..let’s all vote for them.Theo you are an idiot, primitive and ugly person.

Racal
Racal
6 years ago
Reply to  liron

I thought the exact same after reading these awful comments: my vote goes to San Marino and Jimmy now. 😉 Let’s get them to the final.

L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  liron

I agree. I read them yesterday. How can there be people writing this stuff… Thank God wiwi erased them. I am not such a fan of San Marino’s songs but Valentina and Jimmie are true artists and will get some votes from too.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago

At the moment, this song barely rates higher than what I gave Serhat’s song last year. Given San Marino’s record with songs like these (think 2012 and 2016), this will not qualify; and if what some people are saying is true, this might be SMR’s swan song.

L'oiseau
6 years ago

: I am aware that possibly you can do nothing about that. But I just want to let you and other wiwi followers know that there are people using my nickname and spamming all the wiwi comments pages and publishing offensive stuff. Cheers

Kirby
Kirby
6 years ago

1) Valentina is talented, tremendously adorable and has a great voice, so -for once and all- give her a contemporary writer (that would really feel what today’s music is like). Then she’ll rock it.
2) Spirit of the Night reminds me of a cheap mid-80s commercial song such as When the Rain Begins to Fall by Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora

Racal
Racal
6 years ago

The song is not good (obviously), but I’m starting to think there’s something funny in seeing Valentina come back again and again. She may start getting sympathy votes from the fans, who knows?

It’s 38th in my ranking, but I wouldn’t mind seeing this in the final if it happens to qualify (I don’t think it will though).

Ron
Ron
6 years ago

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS HER 4TH EUROVISION APPEARANCE IN 5 YEARS. LIKE…WHAT…THE…F. Pretty soon we’ll start making a top 42-43 just based off of her entries.

Ian
Ian
6 years ago

I hope this gets to the final, this is terrible in the most perfect way.

L'oiseau
6 years ago

I didn’t dig Valentina that much the first time she appeared. But I am admiring her perseverance and talent to reinvent herself every time. So welcome back, Valentina. And I do like Jimmie’s voice and presence. He seems to be super professional. Of course, this again has the Ralph Siegel seal. It has some catchy elements but it gets too complicated and formula-like. I like disco songs, but this is not the real thing. But I can endure it. For me it would a plain 5/10

M_K
M_K
6 years ago

Personal rating: So this is Ralph Siegel’s idea of contemporary music. There is so much wrong about this entry that I don’t even know where to get started. – Jimmie and Velentina have chemistry, but their voices don’t do anything for each other. Jimmie’s voice is obviously trained for musical theatre, which doesn’t work at all with the song. – The lyrics don’t fit two people who are in their thirties/forties (once you’ve reached that age and you want to randomly hook up with a stranger in a disco restroom, you just do it – you don’t sing a song… Read more »

Aaran
Aaran
6 years ago

So this scored higher than Germany, Georgia, Malta and Slovenia… Ok? This is my dead last imo.

VALENTINA'S FAN
VALENTINA'S FAN
6 years ago

It Might be outdated but Good!

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

After an undefined instrumental introduction, the song starts with three disco chords: G-min6, F6, E-flat6 – all of these have the 6th of the chord in the bass line, which is standard for disco. The vocal entries though are more like accompanied recitative – which can usually be found in musical theatre or opera. The couple have a brief “conversation” and then start singing together in harmony, leading to a bridge with a couple of leading chords. Then we get the Chorus, sung by both singers a 6th apart from each other. The Chorus firmly establishes the key in G… Read more »

Hada
Hada
6 years ago

@antranig I think this is actually a strong year, with a number or great, interesting songs. It’s just that they’re dwarfed by the mammoth that is Occidentali’s Karma (and increasingly, Amar Pelos Dois).

About San Marino, I hope one day we can see Valentina with a great song that can win, or at least finish high. This is not it.

Leo M
Leo M
6 years ago

I love it. It may be dated and cheesy but it is a feel good and catchy song. It probably won’t qualify, but I would not rule it out completely.

beccaboo1212
6 years ago
Reply to  Leo M

If San Marino has good staging, then it may actually get back to the final. 🙂

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

VALENTINA IS BACK!!! That’s all that matters! And just for her sake, I wouldn’t be angry if this reaches the final. Otherwise, this song is really weak. And I mean REALLY weak. It’s cliche, repetitive and poor in lyrics. However, Valentina and Jimmie have great voices and great energy on stage. It’s almost so bad it’s good, but almost. It never goes overboard with the camp, which ultimately makes it more forgettable than it should be for a song as campy as this. 9 – UK, POL, BLR, NOR 8 – MAL, LAT 7 – ROM, DEN, BUL, NET, ICE,… Read more »

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Indeed. Thanks Colin; we’re on the same page here as well. 🙂

HBau
HBau
6 years ago

What I want it to deserve: 8/10

What it actually deserves: 2.5/10

What I am giving it: 5/5/10

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

Okay, I love Valentina, but this song does nothing for me. It’s totally outdated.

4/10

Möhrant
Möhrant
6 years ago

I am surprised to see this one score so low. I personally really enjoy the song. I suppose people are right when they say it’s dated, but it’s still upbeat and a fun entry. Especially performing after Ireland’s ballad in the semi final, this one will be a welcome dance number and it will stick out for that (especially when the last dance song is Macedonia going on third). I think it’s actually got a decent chance to qualify.

anonymous91
anonymous91
6 years ago
Reply to  Möhrant

no, San Marino isn’t popular with juries, in fact they are hated by juries a lot, i wouldn’t be surprised if they got 0 points from juries

Digital Style
Digital Style
6 years ago

WTH? This is getting shockingly low reviews in my opinion. Yeah, it’s trashy and yeah, it’s camp, but this song is the definition of ESC. It’s classic Valentina with this new superman of a dude Jimmie and it works. I suspect a shock qualification.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago
Reply to  Digital Style

The definition of ESC? Maybe 15 or 20 years ago. The real definition today was thrown under the bus at several national qualifiers during this past winter. I suspect that Valentina will be the reason this song qualifies, IF it qualifies. Then again, I think the only way this song qualifies is if San Marino announces beforehand that this might be their last appearance; or, they announce that they will start doing what Switzerland did in recent past; that is, invite all-comers; which is what SMR could have done this year and should do from this point on.

ESCFan
ESCFan
6 years ago

and you rated Malta 4.25 :s

Colin
Colin
6 years ago
Reply to  ESCFan

Malta being down-tempo is already half-doomed on Wiwibloggs, but I really like it. Malta is my 14th.

ESCFan
ESCFan
6 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Yep you’re right. Thank you, Colin 🙂

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
6 years ago
Reply to  Colin

At the MESC, Claudia was my #3 pick (with Janice #1 and Franklin #2). For this contest, after my first evaluation, Claudia is #18 overall on my card. For Valentina and Jimmie, they were next-to-last for this semi alone. This song reminds me of a 1980 duet by Teddy Pendergrass and Stephanie Mills (on his album ‘TP’), called “Take Me In Your Arms Tonight”.

Graph
Graph
6 years ago
Reply to  ESCFan

These bizzare rankings among the fan community are part of the reason Eurovision still struggles to be viewed as a serious song contest.

ESCFan
ESCFan
6 years ago
Reply to  Graph

I don’t mean to compare songs.TBH I am the most atypical eurovision fan haha.

Graph
Graph
6 years ago
Reply to  ESCFan

ESCFan, I wasn’t referring to you. I had some pf the wiwi jury’s rankings this year in mind. I am also an atypical fan 🙂

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

I love Valentina!

But the song… is dated as hell! I feel like I’m living in the 70’s when I hear it!
It’s a good song, you want to dance and that’s it! The next minute you forget it!

Not to mention the “spirit of the night” lyric repeated a million times! It’s like they couldn’t find different lyrics and just said “Never mind, we’ll add “spirit of the night” again and again!

I’ll give it a 3!

Eve
Eve
6 years ago

No. Just no. This is on my last place, don’t like anything here. 3 is just for Valentina’s effort and Jimmie’s nice voice.
3/10

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

4/10

Tomas Patrick Davitt
Tomas Patrick Davitt
6 years ago

Lol @ Bogdan and Padraig’s reviews

anonymous91
anonymous91
6 years ago

Deban a 4/10

how does this song when they sing spirit of the night 3000x times, get a higher score by him than Yodel It i don’t get that

i find this song listenable, but i rather wanted Jimmie alone instead of annoying Valentina i give this song a 3.5/10