Bonjour, mes amis! The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has dusted off our berets and returned to France to review the qualifying acts in the brand new national final Destination Eurovision. First up is Louka with his song “Mamma Mia”, co-written by French music star Maître Gims. Did “Mamma Mia” make us want to go again? Read on to find out!

Louka – “Mamma Mia”

“Mamma Mia” reviews

Jonathan: Considering this was the song written by Maître Gims, it’s easy to have rather high expectations. Unfortunately, they weren’t completely met. Gims’ influences are in the song, and the studio version is not bad. But it’s clear Louka’s live vocals don’t match those of the other first semi-final qualifiers. His live performance, in general, was not particularly captivating, which left the song feeling rather one-note and monotonous. It’s telling that even the judges were talking during the song rather than focusing on the performer.

Score: 6/10

Antranig: “Mamma Mia” has a catchy hook — I’ll definitely be humming the eh eh eh part all day. The song as a whole is really enjoyable and would come alive on the Eurovision stage with some grand staging. However, I can’t see this delivering a great result for France. For a country in the process of a Eurovision revival, they will probably be looking elsewhere.

Score: 7/10

Chris: Easily one of the most listenable entries, “Mamma Mia” has everything necessary to be a crossover radio hit. The live version proves the issue. Nerves may have got to Louka ahead of his first performance — but you’d expect those to get worse in a live setting, not better. As the notes go flat, so does the chorus. So much potential, but Louka will really need to up his game to hit it.

Score: 6.5/10

Luis: Louka is more or less Emmy Liyana’s antonym. While in Emmy’s case the song is what matters the least because she is the bomb, here Louka seems lost for the three minutes and it’s the catchy hook what keeps you there. This is not necessarily bad (think of Blanche in Kyiv), however it’s not the best thing either. He’s promising, but Eurovision needs bold statements, not promises.

Score: 6.5/10

Josh: “Mamma Mia” indeed! The song was so promising in the snippet but for whatever reason, I thought the snippet was the bridge leading into something powerful and instead it turned out to be the chorus. Louka is the kind of guy I would stand and twirl my hair for whilst talking to him – he’s incredibly handsome. But “Mamma Mia” lacks power, energy and charisma and that makes it hard to enjoy.

Score: 6/10

Robyn: “Mamma Mia” is a decent modern French pop song but its minimalist production style leaves little room for mistakes. When Louka hit a few bum notes in the semi-final, that really stood out. But there’s a lot to work with and many ways to improve things. Based on the semi-final performance, “Mamma Mia” not right for Eurovision, but it’s not time to write off Louka at the national final just yet.

Score: 6.5/10

In our Destination Eurovision Wiwi Jury, we have 15 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Bernardo: 7/10

Bogdan: 4/10

Deban: 7.5/10

Jovana: 7/10

Kristin: 7/10

Lukas: 6.5/10

Natalie: 5.5/10

Steinunn: 5.5/10

William: 5.5/10

 

 

 

 

 

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 4 and a high of 7.5.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 6.35/10

See our list of Destination Eurovision 2018 rankings

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26 Comments
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Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago

While I do like the hook in chorus, later it comes too repetitive. Generally positive to it, I prefer other more, yet it wasn’t good live in both vocals and stage presence.

Yossarian
Yossarian
6 years ago

Repetitive song, average live performance… Sorry, not feeling this.

Azotman
Azotman
6 years ago

Bonsoir Lisboa,
C’est vrai qu’il a un Louka tomber par terre (ok, je sors). La chanson est bien seulement l’interprétation est faible comparé aux autres qualifiés. Je n’y crois pas trop. On verra bien. Mamma mia…

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

A purely lyrical and melodic song set to five repeating chords rooted in B-flat minor. One musical idea. That’s all, folks. 🙂 Okay, fine, the melodic hooks are expertly written and the lyrics switch from French to Italian. I just personally can’t stand songs that musically go round in circles and don’t develop (like some modern chart music nowadays). Give me a surprise saxophone – or anything to get me away from “eh, eh eh, eh eh.” My personal feelings aside, the production is on point, and even Louka’s lack of live charisma saw this through to a very competitive… Read more »

Dew
Dew
6 years ago

The studio version is soooooo good! It’s a top 5 material in Eurovision if he can slay this live. However, it’s not gonna happen.

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

There were so many good songs in the national selection this year! I can’t find a single song I didn’t like. I kinda like all of them. From “it’s really good” to “it’s excellent”. About Louka: Great snippet, dissapointing live performance. I have to say “Mamma Mia” wasn’t my top favourite, but it’s fresh, catchy and with a nice chorus that stucks in your mind. His performance was a let down and I still believe Noee should have qualified. Nevertheless, he can improve until the final but I don’t believe it’s what France needs this year. I will definitely put… Read more »

James
James
6 years ago

On the strength of the song alone, I’ll give “Mamma Mia” a solid 7/10. Had Louka performed well vocally live during his semifinal, I would have given it an 8.

At this point, I don’t think Louka will win his selection but if he manages to redeem himself and performer better than what he did before then I’ll be a happy camper.

Pasadena
Pasadena
6 years ago

I’ve had it on repeat since its Spotify release a week ago. Unfortunately the live version is far from as good as the studio version. He would need to improve both vocals and choreography.

AndersP
AndersP
6 years ago

It’s a solid song that feels like it’s lacking a wow moment, some kind of drop in the beat, or something to amp up the base. Louka’s voice is nice enough, but his tone is a little thin and breathy. A song like this suits a voice like Maître Gims because it’s so full and rich, here the two don’t match up. He’ll have had two weeks to work on the performance, so maybe there’ll be an improvement. 5/10 – potential but needs work

ORE92
ORE92
6 years ago

This was my favourite. I was heartbroken when I saw how poor his live vocals were.

No more beggars for pity votes 3 years in a row No Mercy
No more beggars for pity votes 3 years in a row No Mercy
6 years ago

Anybody but Mercy. Enough is enough. After Jamala deportation, and Salvador lamentation, I don’t want another lazy song that has only the purpose to make people cry. These themes will never end (my uncle died, my cat has cancer, my father is alcoholic…when it will end?).
Do we have to see year after year people sharing their drama?
Where are THE ENTERTAINERS?

NickC
NickC
6 years ago

You basically admitted that it has the best chances to win Eurovision 🙂

By the way it is number 2 in itunes France. Igit is number 19. Igit will do very well in televote next week, but Mercy will win.

Mercy beaucoup
Mercy beaucoup
6 years ago

It’s not a sad song. It celebrates life, what’s wrong with this ?
I hope my country will vote for them massively !
Madame Monsieur FOR THE WIN.

NickC
NickC
6 years ago
Reply to  Mercy beaucoup

Je suis d’accord! La meilleur chanson de la France depuis 1977!

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

Sooooo…..Basically every song that has any proper meaning to it is, shouldn’t win Eurovision? That’s what I’m getting out of your comment. The meanings of Mercy, 1944 and Amer pelos dois don’t really have that much in common. Mercy: About a refugee kid, 1944: Some Russian/Ukrainian political conflict stuff, Amer pelos dois: Unconditional love, but the beloved person doesn’t feel the same. I don’t kow what made you think, that these songs have enough in common to recognize a pattern. Also: Almost nobody could understand the lyrics that were sung, because every song out of these three are in a… Read more »

Stephanie
6 years ago

There’s room for all kinds of music at Eurovision, it doesn’t always have to be radio-friendly pop songs and club bangers!

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

I like every single song of this selection and Louka is no exception. I’d give him a solid 7/10, but he’s still my least favourite to win.

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

A slice of French pop perfection done less than perfect. While the live was lukewarm, the song itself is very dangerous. It’s easily the catchiest of the 8, easy to follow, the italian makes it really interesting, the quick part is lovely. Out there, is may lose a bit of its novelty and staying power, but I’m happy this is in the final, for it has a lot of hit potential

8/10

Safiya
Safiya
6 years ago

It’s a nice song, quite catchy and it’s very radio friendly. The performance was not the greatest, but I guess he can improve it. However, I don’t think it’s a good choice for Eurovision.

NickC
NickC
6 years ago

It may even have won one of the other national finals, but in a sea of exceptional entries (of destination eurovision) it stands out in the wrong way. Weakest of all 8 entries.

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

Sure, this is probably the least full package song in France, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad by a longshot. French NF is just THAT good! Louka needs to polish his performance and it will be all right. He is not nearly as bad as people make it up to be. He is just surrounded by top notch vocals. If he auditioned in Romania, everyone would be saying he’s a great singer. 7.5/10 with a possibility of getting more.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Louka does stand out for all the wrong reasons when stacked up against the quality that is Destination Eurovision. Personally-speaking, I think he should just be grateful to be in the grand final considering how good some of the non-qualifiers were. It should really be as far as he goes though…France have much better options!

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
6 years ago

7,5//10 because of the bad vocals and great song

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

This song is just meh! Only made the final because they had to have four qualifiers and this just scrapped through.

It should finish last in the final.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Studio version great…live version : falls flat on the face and still stays expressionless

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

A 6/10