Riga calling! Supernova 2018, Latvia’s national selection, gets underway on February 3. That means it’s almost time for our annual check-in with the good old Riga Beaver — and our Wiwi Jury couldn’t be more excited!
Our team of music unprofessionals kicks off their tour of Latvia’s entries with Liene Greifane. Liene’s a regular face on Latvian TV music shows, having started her career on “Fabrikas Muzikalais Teatris” over 13 years ago.
Since then she’s had big hits with songs like “Rits ir talu vel” and “We Own the Night”. She enters Supernova 2018 with “Walk the Talk”. Are we walking with her? Read on to find out…
Liene Greifane — “Walk the Talk”
“Walk the Talk” Reviews
Chris: There’s some kind of promise in “Walk the Talk”. There’s a female empowerment vibe going on, but there’s no real power to Liene’s performance. She’s not the boss in this song, she’s just middle management. Couple that lack of “oomph” with a repetitive song and you find yourself losing interest by the second chorus.
Score: 5/10
Robyn: “Walk the Talk” is the sort of song that used to end up in Malta’s national final. It’s sassy, full of attitude, but at the same time, there’s something strangely formulaic about it. The production is quite messy at times, with too many samples and layers battling to be heard over each other. There are some good ideas in there, but the end result is too unfocused.
Score: 4/10
Edgars: Yes! Send this song to the Grand Finale immediately…because it’s almost so bad that I can’t get it out of my head. “I wanna be, who I really wanna be” is up there as the best lyric of this year’s Supernova. I’ll even get a tattoo of it if this song somehow makes it to the Supernova Top 4.
Score: 6.5/10
Jordi: Bang, bang, into the room…! Liene’s ready to “Walk the Talk” — but I’m not so sure if she’s ready to slay the Supernova walk. The song is pure fiesta. It’s ideal for catwalking down the road and stomping in some high heels. With good staging and a classy attitude, she should have no problems in hitting the Supernova final. But for Eurovision, it’s nothing new.
Score: 6.5/10
Bernardo:Â “Walk the Talk” has striking similarities to “Bang Bang”. Jessie, Ari and Nicky won’t be happy about it. But they’ll probably never know, since this ain’t winning the national final. Liene’s voice is very pleasant to listen to, so it’s a shame it’s being used in a rip-off like this.
Score: 4/10
Kristin:Â Sassy Liene is bringing the girl power here and does so quite well. However, this melody has been heard so, so many times before, and it is easily forgettable after the final note. But is the song bad? No, not at all. But Supernova 2018 is packed with big songs this year, so Liene might be fighting a losing battle.
Score:Â 5.5/10
Natalie: You can’t blame Liene for being proud and willing to shout out loud who she wants to be. But there’s a fine line between singing and shouting, and she seems to lean more to the latter. Combined with the all-over-the-place backing instruments, it’s not a good recipe. It’s just very unlikable.
Score: 2/10
In our Latvia Wiwi Jury, we have 14 jurors but only room for 7 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Antranig: 9/10
Jonathan: 5.5/10
Jovana: 7/10
Luis: 2.5/10
Lukas: 7.5/10
Steinunn: 4.5/10
William:Â 4.5/10
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 2 and a high of 9.
WIWI JURY VERDICT: 5.25/10
What do you think of Liene’s song? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below.
I can clearly hear out that it’s written by Swedes.
This sounds like cheap version of Carrie Underwood’s “Before he cheats”. It’s actually not that bad, lacks in better production, but also not a winner.
She is a good singer and has powerful voice but the song is dull….sorry….
LIENE GREIFANE IS THE BEST SINGER IN THE WORLD LIENE WIN SUPERNOVA 2018 AND WIN EUROVISION SONG CONTEST IN LISBON
Close to being just noise to me. Unpleasant to listen to. Surprised that it made the cut.
This song is a hot mess
This is a catchy song but not a winner. I enjoy it, yet I feel like it doesn’t build.
7/10
Nothing new just okay, but I do remember it easily. Agnese Stengrevics is the best in this selection, this is just a 5/10
It’s up-beat, it has an attitude and the staging can elevate this performance. I’d like to see this in Eurovision. However, I feel like you lose interest as the song progresses.
It has to stand out, so I’m waiting for the semi!
7/10
Latvia have only one good song. Send “Esamiba”.
Indeed,no competition for Esambia!!!
I also agree. Esamiba is a 10/10 song with no real competition in there. Several other songs are nice, but Esamiba is by far the best.
Yep yep!
It’s catchy and uplifting. It does have the elements of a typical uptempo ESC song, but I like it. It’s among the better ones in Latvia. 7/10 for me.
Its soo BAD
The song is one of the weaker ones in what might be one of the most quality-stacked Latvian national selections in history. Truthfully, this song is weak even compared to most other national selections. I rate it 3/10
i can’t wait for the reviews of esamiba 🙂
It’s execution is a bit childish I feel. A 5/10.
This is a song that has a lot of fun with itself, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Uplifting and self-empowering, it is well-produced for what it is. It brings back memories of a song I once wrote, which I still enjoy playing to this day. The repeated notes, the ee-oh-ee-oh’s and the blues cadences will rub some people up the wrong way, but I think it’s catchy in a cheerful way. It’s on my playlist. 🙂 6/10