The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the six acts competing in Czechia’s national final Eurovision Song CZ. Next up is singer-songwriter Pavel Callta with his song “Never Forget”. Did he stick in our memory? Read on to find out!
Pavel Callta – “Never Forget”
“Never Forget” reviews
William: Tender, sweet and totally authentic, “Never Forget” flows from Pavel’s heart as much as his mouth. The pared back production pulls his lovely voice into sharper focus — and it’s a wise move given how lovely it sounds. Carrying a universal message on loss and longing, this tugs on heartstrings and without any unnecessary theatrics. Well done!
Score: 8/10
Chris: “Never Forget” simply takes far too long to get going. It’s fighting an uphill battle from the start, as a result, and you’re just never truly gripped by the song. The chorus lingers for a while, and Pavel sounds perfectly fine, but it’s just falling short of the mark.
Score: 6/10
Mikhail: I’ve been listening to Pavel for a while and I really enjoy his style of music, which is simple, but soulful. I like the lyrics as they carry a deep and a personal message. I really like the way he separates some words in the verses, it’s quite a cool detail. Also, I must mention the xylophone (I think it is), which creates this dreamy atmosphere of the song.
Score: 8/10
Deban: Pavel’s voice pairs nicely with live instruments.The breadth of his vocal range is evident, especially as he shifts between the verses and the chorus. Although it is decidedly middle of the road, and poorly enunciated at times, there is strength in its overall simplicity.
Score: 8/10
Luis: There are some good ideas here, but “Never Forget” doesn’t quite stand out. It’s lovely and delightful, but on the other hand, it feels a bit languid at the beginning and that drags you out of it. On the bright side, there’s Pavel’s voice and his sincerity, as well as the final minute. The added instrumentation there is actually very clever, because it enhances the song and makes it more memorable, but still, it feels as it falls a bit short for Eurovision.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: This is a nice enough song, but if the Czech Republic send it, they’d just be treading exactly the same path of niceness they’ve taken in the past few years. Pavel is a good singer and he can convey the emotion of the song, but there’s just not much happening with the song. Czechia needs to make more of a splash.
Score: 6/10
In our Eurovision Song CZ Wiwi Jury, we have 16 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Antranig: 7/10
Barnabas: 6/10
Bogdan: 8/10
Jonathan: 7/10
Josh: 6/10
Kristin: 8/10
Lukas: 7/10
Natalie: 5/10
Sebastian: 7/10
Steinunn: 4/10
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 8.
Great ballad with an earworm of a chorus. Could score high in combined jury/televote score. Personally, I love it. 9/10
Owh dear, those 2nd verse lyrics are so awkward. 🙁
As I listen to this song, my opinion is “turning to dark, and blind”.
This song is well-recorded, but what should come across as sweet comes across as really awkward. The English phrasing is not natural from the 2nd verse onwards, and this hurts the song. The music and the singer are okay, but owh dear. Awkward. 5/10
I’ll agree with some of you saying it seems Ed Sheeran inspired. It not my favourite song in the selection, but I like it because it’s sweet and I like his voice.
6.5/10
This is just the casual Ed Sheeran wannabe of the selection.
Not far off. This song isn’t trying to break new ground and is as dull as dishwater. Nice enough as background music but not exactly what Pavel should be viewing as the pinnacle of his musical career.
This is just the casual Ed Sheeran wannabe, nothing remarkable about it.
Nice to see some objectivity in your reviews. Thanks. The Mikolas bias in other reviews is toxic.
Will I turn it off when it’s playing? Probably not! Will I actively play it? Definitely never
A very middle of the road entry for me and nothing to remember it by. While it says never forget I keep forgetting.
A 5/10
You guys scored it pretty high I see.
Nie zapomnij was better than this and she only finished 10th! End of discussion