markus riva supernova 2018 1

He’s back! For the fourth year in a row, the Wiwi Jury is reviewing the songs of Latvia’s Supernova. And as ever, in the 2018 edition, that includes Markus Riva!

Markus has participated in Supernova every year since its inception. He’s yet to improve on his first result, when he finished second in 2015 with “Take Me Down”. Is is finally his time with “This Time”? See our jury’s thoughts below:

Markus Riva — “This Time”

“This Time” Reviews

Chris: “This Time” is easily Markus’ best Supernova effort since “Take Me Down”. It certainly feels like he’s a real threat in the contest this year too, albeit perhaps because of the overall lower quality. The chorus lacks a final killer punch, though, and the verses feel a little overwrought. But this is a good, current enough pop song.

Score: 7/10

Robyn: Markus Riva is one of Latvia’s best pop stars and he deserves a shot at Eurovision… but not with this song. It’s a good tune, it’s just not good enough. It’s hard to not compare everything Riva does with 2015 entry “Take Me Down”, but that song had a thrillingly menacing energy that’s missing from the dinky “This Time”. He could do so much better.

Score: 6.5/10

William: Throw on the tank top, grab some tissues and let’s cry together in the club! Markus may be emotionally torn, but he sounds so smooth, sexy and in control — I’m ready. The chorus is big enough to make this memorable but sufficiently reigned in so that it doesn’t lose its touch point with this ultimately tender dance song. Markus is moving from aspiring pop star to proper artist. It’s love.

Score: 9/10

Luis: There’s nothing particularly exciting about this entry. There’s a decent beat and a good pre-chorus, but the rest is just background music and too many lyrics. Seriously, too many lyrics. It even becomes slightly irritating, especially since it starts to repeat in the three minutes. That’s how you turn an easy-on-the-ears tune into a song that feels like it’s 30 minutes-long.

Score: 5/10

Bernardo: I really want Markus Riva to finally succeed in his Eurovision attempt. That’s why I don’t want him to win Supernova with “This Time”. The pre-chorus is — by far — the best part of this composition. The chorus is too wordy and it sounds overly produced. Markus can do better and hopefully he does in the future. Maybe next year!

Score: 6.5/10

Jonathan: Here we go again; fans get excited for Markus Riva to be back at Supernova, then his entry is revealed and it’s another generic pop-song, dashing all our hopes once again. “This Time” is still a good Spotify single. Yet, it still doesn’t feel like Markus is reaching his full potential – there’s nothing overly exciting. Hopefully, when he no doubt returns for a fifth attempt in 2019, he brings us his best.

Score: 7/10

Edgars: No, Markus. Not this time. Maybe next year — if you get some better songwriters. This song sounds just like a hundred other songs (from 2010) and we all know that you could do much better. Stil, Markus is the first one to grab award for a lifetime achievement in Latvia’s Eurovision selection.

Score: 5/10

In our Latvia Wiwi Jury, we have 15 jurors but only room for 7 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Jordi: 6.5/10

Kristin: 6.5/10

Lukas: 8.5/10

Antranig: 9.5/10

Natalie: 8/10

Jovana: 7/10

Steinunn: 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 5 and a high of 9.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.88/10

Markus moves in to the lead with our Jury then! There’s still plenty more songs to go though – do you think he can stay in first? Let us know all your thoughts in our comments section.

Read all our Supernova 2018 Wiwi Jury rankings here

Check out more Latvia Eurovision news here

17 Comments
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Sanda
Sanda
6 years ago

I like Markus as a hottie and this song.Beautiful!I really like the song and I usually like his songs, they sound modern. Acoustic version is simply delicious!9/10

Jeff
Jeff
6 years ago

Pls not this time

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

He deserves a shot at Eurovision, but with a song more special than this one. It’s decent and well sung, but I cannot find anything specific that would make it stick out.

6/10

blondboybc
blondboybc
6 years ago

He’s temporarily first in the jury rankings here…until MADARA’s “Esamiba” is reviewed. The pure class off the lot, tbh. 🙂

mocosuburbian
mocosuburbian
6 years ago

no

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

I actually think this is the best song that Markus has put into Supernova. Not a lot to dislike about it. The lyrics are not that bad, production is good and the song is well-structured. It is as good as anything else in Latvia this year and would be a deserving entry.

Evan
Evan
6 years ago

Somewhere in Vilnius, Monika and Vaidas are shaking their heads….

Jack
Jack
6 years ago

I’m guessing that this will stay in first until MADARA surpasses it.

Marcus (Day One)
Marcus (Day One)
6 years ago

I applaud his drive in always wanting to represent Latvia.
Although his song isn’t great I think it might be Latvias best option because he’d likely revamp the song.
And since Triana Park was so unfairly scored at last year’s eurovision I think a lot of Latvian artist are keeping away from supernova this year.
Shame

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

I like his determination and I want to see him at Eurovision some time.
I really like the song and I usually like his songs, they sound modern. The only problem I have is that they are generic, there’s nothing standing out or differenciate them from other songs.
About this song, we’ve heard sth like that before but I like it.
7/10

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Very generic pop and not the best in the field. Better than his last year’s entry though and has mainstream appeal. Pretty much agree with your scoring of the song here. A 7/10

Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga
6 years ago

This is very generic and chasing a trend that’s already stale. I like Markus as a hottie, but not this song. I guess some wiwi’s are scoring again using their hormones, so that they can hit it with a hot guy during the Eurovision circus (as expected, see how they salivated with Imri last year). This is another 0/10 for me

AB
AB
6 years ago

The notion of deserving a shot at Eurovision gave Malta a terrible result last year.

Jo
Jo
6 years ago

I hope he gets his ESC ticket one day, but not “This Time”. It’s not even strong enough to be called a borderline entry in the contest. If he wins Supernova, it would be a Claudia-Faniello-effect all over again.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

I would give him a 6.5/10…. Don’t think it’s a bad song at all, it’s just not really that good either…

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

Considering how many fans Riva has on Wiwibloggs, I won’t even bother to review this song in detail. But if you need a score, it’s 7/10.

Frifri
Frifri
6 years ago

Robyn! Markus Riva is totally not one of the best Latvian pop stars, most people don’t even know him.