Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Minsk to frolic in the forests whilst screaming “HEY! HEY! HEYAYAYAOH!” After our voices were completely lost, we settled down with a glass of kvass and reviewed the entry for Belarus at Junior Eurovision 2017, “I Am The One” by Helena Meraai. Will the host country for the contest in 2018 have a winning song to match? Read on to find out…

Belarus’ Junior Eurovision 2017 song

“I am the One” reviews

Bernardo: “I am the One” is the darkest entry of the year and probably one of the best produced tracks of the year. Helena conveys the drama that the song requires perfectly and despite losing a bit of power in the live version, the stage presence is captivating enough to keep listeners engaged from start to finish. And we didn’t even talk about Helena’s vocal range. You rock, girl!

Score: 8.5/10

Jordi: Helena’s “I Am the One” is vibrant in every single way. If she could enter the Eurovision Song Contest, she’d take Belarus straight to the final. This is exciting while mixing mystery and a contemporary feeling really well. Plus the melody is mesmerisingly captivating. But the whole project sounds quite a bit too mature for a kids’ competition. Is that a risky move? To be honest, she has everything to stand out: it’s different, meaningful and feels Belarussian. She just needs the right staging – making it more kid-friendly – and BOOM! Strong contender.

Score: 9/10

Josh: Ladies and Gentlemen, Belarus have produced the JESC goods once again! “I am the One” is exuberant in its maturity and ethnicity. With a great drum and bass foundation, this entry is well produced and allows Helena to shine with her amazing vocal performance. Is this the most kid-friendly entry this year? No. But does this have what it takes to bring the trophy back to Minsk? I say YES!

Score: 8.5/10

Luis: Clearly, Belarus was not happy with Georgia surpassing them in the number of victories and they are so in it to win it! Helena brings an ode to self-confidence with slick production, strong beats and a powerful voice. There’s not a single fault on Helena’s behalf: she perfectly sells an amazingly crafted product. However, this type of mature song has had bad luck throughout the years at JESC, so it’s risky to call it a winner already.

Score: 8/10

Robyn: “I am the One” is a surprisingly sophisticated piece of cool modern pop. This could easily be an entry in ESC, but Helena adds her own teen style. She brings a kind of Belarusian Ariana Grande style, with a touch of Eastern mystery mixed with R&B pop vocals. I’m not sure if this is a potential JESC winner, but it’ll definitely be on my playlist.

Score: 8.5/10

William: She sings that she’s a comet burning in space — and all of Tbilisi is about to feel the heat. Helena’s contemporary number pulsates and quakes, and its drum and bass chorus takes us to the club and back. Visually she gives this a sophisticated, mystical treatment, suggesting something very promising for the JESC stage. Kiddie voters may not be moved, but I know I am!

Score: 9/10

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

Angus: 7.5/10

Antony: 10/10

Antranig: 10/10

Chris: 8/10

Cinan: 7/10

Deban: 9/10

Jonathan: 10/10

Jovana: 10/10

Marek: 10/10

Mario: 9.5/10

Natalie: 9/10

Renske: 8/10

Rezo: 10/10

Sebastian: 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 7 and a high of 10.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 9.03/10

EAD ALL OUR JESC WIWI JURY RANKINGS AND REVIEWS

FOLLOW OUR JUNIOR EUROVISION COVERAGE

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Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago

Relative of Zhivaya Voda has got fine production and almost ingenious build-up with well emerged atmo. But then there comes chorus where her vocals ruins it for me, both by pace and tembre. She’s also got specific way of pronounciation that sounds as if she has spoken English for too long. It comes up as attached on purpose and distracts, I’ve heard this sorta habit only from russian r’n’b wannabes. Yet there’re some questionable wordplay choices that rather end up as mistaken than witty. The only saviour cherry here is beautiful bridge which also closes the track, doing a combo… Read more »

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago

Very good song, indeed. I do get the appeal. Not a kiddy’s song, for sure… Seems to be a great performance. Would have wished, though, that Belarus waited one year and submitted it for the grown ups, and preferably in Belarus. She would nail it. Helena, we wait for you!

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Oops… sorry, a letter was missing in my email address 🙂

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

Not as strong a song as Water of Life and I wonder how they are going to stage this? I get the hype but there are definitely more likely contenders.

meh
meh
6 years ago

This song is so overrated but I prefer it over Russia’s song so if it’s really between those two, I choose Belarus.

allexo
allexo
6 years ago

ladies and gents… behold the stage of jesc 2017 , well so far. copy and paste this link now.
comment image

Radiologistology
Radiologistology
6 years ago

Basic if you understand Russian, it’s also VERY messy. 4/10

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
6 years ago

Best JESC song ever…

10/10

Anna
Anna
6 years ago

The words are so meaningless if you understand Russian. That’s why I am not impressed.

Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

I don’t really see all the appeal. She serves cute tumblr visuals and that’s it for me. The song is overproduced and noisy.

Soph
Soph
6 years ago

My 10 year old sister will probably vote for this. But that’s because her name is Helena too.

West
West
6 years ago

The song is good (even though it strongly resembles Water of Life), but I wasn’t wowed by her live performance – but she had plenty of time to work on that, so I’m not that worried about her. I think she’ll do well.

beccaboo1212
6 years ago

I have 100% hope Belarus will win this year, that way the country’s experience in hosting next year’s contest will be even better! You can do it, Helena! You’re the one! 😀

Score: 10/10

Tuxbert
Tuxbert
6 years ago

Belarus has such a great song this year. Although Sasha Minyonok will forever remain my favourite.