Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Nicosia to soak up some delightful Cypriot sun. In between listening to our Hovig and Ivi Adamou playlists, we took a break to review the entry for Cyprus at Junior Eurovision 2017, “I Wanna Be A Star” by Nicole Nicolaou. Do we think Nicole has the star power for a long career in the music industry? Read on to find out.

Cyprus’ Junior Eurovision 2017 song

“I Wanna Be A Star” reviews

Angus: Nicole sings about being a star someday, but as far as I’m concerned she’s already out of this world. “I Wanna Be A Star” is a slice of Mediterranean sunshine and the kind of JESC song that Cyprus does super well year in, year out.

Score: 7.5/10

Deban: Sunny, sassy and full of optimism — “I Wanna Be A Star” takes the kids to the dancefloor, yet remains age-appropriate. This is an all-singing, all-dancing number with a spectacular hand-clapping key change. Nicole will be bringing much-needed sunshine to freezing Tbilisi.

Score: 7/10

Jordi: Nicole Nicolaou’s “I Wanna Be a Star” is ready to give Junior Eurovision 2017 a fun retro and funky feel. This is uptempo and allows for creative, explosive choreography whilst serving good energy. From the very start, it makes you shake your thang – even if you don’t feel like dancing. Who can really resist that cheerful sound? Despite the fact that the melody is really catchy, it also gets a bit repetitive for me. But no matter. Give her some dancers and some hairography moves and get the party started!

Score: 7.5/10

Renske: Nicole is ready to bring some Cypriot summer flavour to the competition. It will be a good alternative to the many ballads in the competition: a moment to stand up and dance. Cyprus has yet to score big with a dance song in Junior Eurovision, but I don’t think this will be an exception.

Score: 7/10

Robyn: The title suggests a junior diva — but the lyrics offer a good twist. “I Wanna Be A Star” is a self-empowerment anthem. It blends a classic disco sound with folky Cypriot flourishes. Nicole comes across as really likeable, just the type of girl to boost the spirits of her peers. It’s a fun jam!

Score: 5/10

William: The sun is out and so is Nicole! This kid-friendly banger has one of the most instantly likeable backing tracks of the entire competition and sets the scene for surf, sand and inspiration as Miss Nicolaou preaches about self-belief and reaching for those stars. There’s nothing wrong with a little ambition and she’s got it in spades. I’m not sure if she’s a natural dancer, but her smile and voice more than make up for that. A nice, bright effort that should come across well on TV.

Score: 7.5/10

Our jury for 2017 consists of 20 jurors, but we only have room for 6 reviews. The remaining 14 scores are listed below.

Antony: 7/10

Antranig: 10/10

Bernardo: 6/10

Chris: 6/10

Cinan: 9/10

Jonathan: 6/10

Josh: 6/10

Jovana: 4/10

Luis: 6.5/10

Marek: 6/10

Mario: 7.5/10

Natalie: 5.5/10

Rezo: 5/10

Sebastian: 7/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 4 and a high of 10.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 6.61/10

READ ALL OUR JESC WIWI JURY RANKINGS AND REVIEWS

FOLLOW OUR JUNIOR EUROVISION COVERAGE

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CJGE
CJGE
6 years ago

This song does give out a positive message of believigg in your dreams, but the intro was a bit long, and the song, imho, was a bit cheesy. The tunes were good though, and the beat was a very catchy one.

7.5/10

CJGE
CJGE
6 years ago
Reply to  CJGE

*believing

SpirK
SpirK
6 years ago

Likeable song, nice verses, danceable and catchy chorus (it is a very mainstream ethno-eurovision-chorus though). Nicole is really likeable and I really like the bridge.
7/10
Prediction: 8th-10th

Tom
Tom
6 years ago

Nicole has all the potential to reach top places this year. She is sweet with strong vocals and a pure junior catchy song.
If her live performance is great, she will rock the stage.
Many countries have forgotten that this is Junior Eurovision and they come up with songs that are anything else but Junior
If we want to hear adult songs we have Eurovision in May.

9.5/10

Ricky
Ricky
6 years ago

I love this song. Top 5 for sure

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

I was about to ask when the Wiwi’ jury will commence??

For me it’s a 7.5/10
The sudden change in tempo at the 2 minute mark is my only huge critique on the song. Also she slurs a few words like ‘ be the here(instead of hero) you really are’ and shtar (star)

esc freak
esc freak
6 years ago

It’s a 6.5/10 for me as well, not the most original beat but catchy melodies.

Erasmus
Erasmus
6 years ago

Hmm.. It’s super catchy and fun, but I can’t get over the fact that it’s quite old-fashioned and mediocre. But still a nice track, not sure about Nicole’s performing abilites, but she’s nice:) 6,5/10.

NickC
NickC
6 years ago

I was possibly the only one last year who thought Cyprus should be in Top 3, with their modern track and out of this world choreography. Never mind….I learned my lesson.

My guess about ‘I wanna be a star’ is that it will do slightly better. It will recent a decent amount of online votes, but possibly not much from juries.

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

Cyprus should score up high, this is the bop of the competition, blending both 2014 and 2016, with a hint of Marija Magdalena and Helena Paparizou in.

It is very trendy, very quirky (the *ding* in the start of the last chorus is genius), it’s a throwback without dragging its feet, bringing the mid-00’s ethnopop to right now. Overall, Cyprus should be very proud of what they have put forward.

9.5/10