The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the qualifying acts from Lithuania’s Eurovizijos Atranka 2018. Next we listen to Agne Michalenkovaite with “Going On” and Gabrielius Vagelis with “The Distant”. Did these songs make us want to keep our distance? Read on to find out!

Agne Michalenkovaite – “Going On”

“Going On” reviews

Anthony: “Going On” is a slick piece of modern electro-pop and it really brings out Agne’s sweet, elegant vocals. There may be a slight resemblance of Agnete’s “Icebreaker”, but this chorus keeps the song in check without the knee-jerk transformation into an entirely different direction. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Agne keep on going on all the way to the final.

Score: 8.5/10

Luis: It’s a bad sign when what keeps you interested in a song is a possible dress reveal because of the singer’s weird coat. “Going On” is a decent pop cut with some very contemporary beats and a singer who sells it well. However, Agne’s performance feels too correct. The base needs a bit more of punch, and she needs to stop acting like she’s trying too hard to give strength to her performance.

Score: 6.5/10

Lukas: Definitely a big stand out in heat three. Agne’s voice is very strong and she delivers this song with power. The staging looked good and it worked with this song. Finally, another strong modern Scandi-style song but written by Lithuanian team. With more confidence, Agne can do very well this year.

Score: 8.5/10

Renske: “Going On” is modern, but nothing special. The song could really be a Melodifestivalen entry, but would not come further than Andra Chansen. Despite that, Agne is a really strong vocalist and she can easily fill a stage.  Those competencies are difficult to find. With the right song, Agne could easily fly Lithuania’s flag in the future and do well at Eurovision.

Score: 7.5/10

Robyn: I’m going to say it: Lithuania has upped their game this year. The national final has a decent selection of songs that don’t feel like rejects from the bottom drawer of a random Swedish songwriter. “Going On” is an enjoyable slice of modern pop, though at times Agne’s voice sounds a little strained. But a song like this could polish up nicely and could easily be a contender for Lisbon.

Score: 7.5/10

In the Lithuanian Wiwi Jury, we have 13 jurors but only room for 5 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Antranig: 8/10

Barnabas: 6/10

Bernardo: 7/10

Jonathan: 6.5/10

Natalie: 8.5/10

Raphael: 5.5/10

Sebastian: 7.5/1o

William: 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 8.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 7.18/10

Gabrielius Vagelis – “The Distant”

“The Distant” reviews

Anthony: I spoke way too soon after his very first performance of “Feel Myself Free”, before realising its full emotional impact. “The Distant” continues that theme, before the chorus lifts the mood into a mid-tempo number — although “the distant from behind” line might raise a few eyebrows. And dressing up like The Joker with a James Van Der Beek hairdo gets the seal of disapproval.

Score: 7.5/10

Luis: Can someone fire Gabrelius’ stylist? THANK YOU. “The Distant” takes a regular ballad and twists it into something interesting, easy on the ear and powerful without being strident. Gabrelius’ got a great stage presence and he has nothing to do with the moody shy performer we met last year. That’s how you do it.

Score: 7.5/10

Lukas: This has to be the strongest entries from Gabrielius so far. “The Distant” is something more edgy and dark, which goes very well with his gloomy voice. The song has a great build up and a memorable chorus. Maybe there can be even more power near the end but overall this could one of the entries to watch for.

Score: 8/10

Renske: It’s almost unbelievable that this Gabrielius Vagilis is the same Gabrielius Vagilis that sang “Feel Myself Free” last year. His stylist definitely did a good job on him and he is a more appealing character on stage now, although others might disagree with me. It helps to show off his interesting voice and song. Though I don’t think “The Distant” lives up to Gabrielius’ full potential and it will easily get lost on a bigger stage.

Score: 7.5/10

Robyn: I am here for “The Distant”. I am even prepared to accept Gabrielius’ ridiculous pink suit because the song is that good. It delivers lush, moody Baltic electronica and the right kind of drama. There’s a lot of potential here. My only complaint: the backing vocalists need to be reconfigured. They sound shrill and overwhelm the lead vocal, which dampens some of the intensity of the song.

Score: 9/10

In the Lithuanian Wiwi Jury, we have 13 jurors but only room for 5 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Antranig: 5.5/10

Barnabas: 6.5/10

Bernardo: 6/10

Jonathan: 5/10

Natalie: 5.5/10

Raphael: 8/10

Sebastian: 6/10

William: 3/10

 

 

 

 

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 9.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.64/10

See our list of Eurovizijos Atranka 2018 rankings

FOLLOW ALL OUR LITHUANIA EUROVISION NEWS

8 Comments
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AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

“Going On”: Started well but then it lost me.
3/10
“The Distant”: A beautifully sung ballad. However, I feel the performance was weak. On the positive side, this song can have a good staging.
5.5/10

Christian
Christian
6 years ago

Gabrelius reminds me of Thomas Forstner (AT 1989 & 1991) with that suit lol.

Héctor
Héctor
6 years ago

I’m with Robyn about “The Distant”. It has so much potential and Gabrielius has something appealing in his voice. I hope it keeps growing and gets into the final. I want to see more of it, for now I prefer his last year entry “Feel Myself Free”. But this should be a clear contender for representing Lithuania in Lisbon.

blueeyed
blueeyed
6 years ago

Wiliam should get fired from wiwi. He always gives the lowest scores to any Lithuanian entry. He’s biased for some reason.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

William clearly hasn’t taken a liking to lithuanian songs!
Going on : 6.5/10
The distant : 6/10

EscAU
EscAU
6 years ago

is there a livestream for entscheidungsshow tomorrow morning?

Random lithuanian
Random lithuanian
6 years ago

Really? More points to Agne’s cliche and generic song than Gabrielius? But Agree, his style is horrible

Giedr? Izabel? Janušait?
Giedr? Izabel? Janušait?
6 years ago

It is interesting to see that William gave Gabrielius and Twosome the same score. I mean. Interesting. Like those song would have something in common or something.