With two days to go before the final of Malta Eurovision Song Contest, excitement is reaching the highest levels. Our Wiwi Jury can barely contain themselves, y’all! Our team of music unprofessionals still has a job to do though, reviewing the last few songs of the contest.
After making her debut last year, Rhiannon returns for a second attempt at MESC. She finished a respectable 11th in 2017, but will be hoping to go much further with “Beyond Blue Horizons”.
Rhiannon — “Beyond Blue Horizons”
“Beyond Blue Horizons” Reviews:
Angus: The soul train has pulled into the station! Unfortunately it doesn’t move on beyond it – throughout you yearn for a “One Night Only” disco drop that never arrives. Rhiannon’s vocal firepower isn’t in question, but without the right song in her hands as a weapon, it’s wasted. Malta learned the peril of relying on vocal in last year’s semi-final and “Beyond Blue Horizons” risks making history repeat itself.
Score: 4/10
Antranig: Amazing vocals, strong composition, great lyrics… but ultimately a really forgettable song. “Beyond Blue Horizons” doesn’t do Rhiannon’s talents any justice. She has the potential to do extremely well at Eurovision, but not with this song. There is a bit of similarity here to Malta’s 2017 entry with another extremely talented vocalist but that didn’t work out too well and neither would this.
Score: 4.5/10
Robyn: “Beyond Blue Horizons” sounds like a forgotten soul track that’s just one step away from being remixed into something amazing. It’s a nice enough song, but it feels like it’s missing so much oomph and power. But if the song’s creators are happy with the minimalist arrangement that shows off Rhiannon’s voice, perhaps that’s enough.
Score: 5/10
Natalie: Rhiannon’s voice really comes into its own here. And what a voice! But will a song where there are about ten notes in a syllable inspire the minds of voters? There’s a lovely sentiment, a really rousing song that’s mostly acapella and very open is a great idea. Especially with so many layers of power. I just doubt it’s a recipe for victory with so much competition out there.
Score: 4.5/10
William: Rhiannon has a beautiful gospel voice. And while the song definitely showcases her power, it lacks the production and melody to capture your imagination and hold your interest. Everything surrounding her voice is sparse, which makes her sound very, very loud. I don’t know what’s beyond the blue horizon, but I’m guessing it’s rather noisy.
Score: 4.5/10
Chris: There’s perhaps nothing more frustrating about “Beyond Blue Horizons” than the fact it never delivers a powerful final note. It feels like the entire song is meant to build to a point that never comes. It’s just a nice soul song, but one that feels entirely pedestrian for a contest. It’d be perfect for a lazy Sunday morning, but not a Saturday night contest.
Score: 5/10
In our Malta Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Deban: 6/10
Jonathan: 6/10
Luis: 4/10
Barnabas: 5.5/10
Sebastian: 5/10
Bernardo: 6/10
Rezo: 3/10
Josh: 4/10
Jordi: 6.5/10
Lukas: 6/10
Patrick: 7/10
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 3 and a high of 7.
WIWI JURY VERDICT: 5.1/10
Does Rhiannon take you far and beyond any horizons? Let us know your thoughts about the song and its chances in the comments section below!
Beautiful voice and nice intro. But I can’t say I like it. It’s boring.
4/10
I can’t believe THE single best song in MESC 2018 is getting so much dislike – It’s a unique song and I don’t find myself waiting for a big boom – I find myself getting into the hopeful message and inspired by the soulfulness – truly moved by it. Deserves to go to Eurovision.
Vocally, Rhiannon is SO much better than last year but the song has so little to it that she ends up over-compensating and the result is that parts of the song are beyond her and are sang very nasally. She is totally being held back by this song and there is nothing that any singer could do with this as it is entirely flat.
Three minutes of unlistenable screaming. One of the worst things I’ve ever endured in my life.
It’s one of the rare songs on MESC without cringeworthy lyrics. Props for that. However, it’s quite sleepy. It’s not a power ballad which builds-up. It’s not an atmospheric down-tempo with strong instrumental variations. It’s just kind of boring. Not among the worst ones on MESC, but a good candidate for the last place in the semi regardless.
5/10
She has a gorgeous voice and an impressive vocal technique. I also like the choruses that accompany her. But the song itself is not exceptional, the music never takes off despite all her vocal efforts, you wonder when it’s really going to start … And in fact it never starts.
A fantastic voice that’s wasted on a song filled with holes caused by an ill-considered production. This one’s in need of a re-vamp. 4/10
No…..I don’t like this song. I ended up listening blue horizon by sophia nophyr from Denmark 2016 instead of this. A 4/10.