The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the acts from Moldova’s O melodie pentru Europa 2018. Next we listen to Tolik, who is entering an R&B ballad called “Broken glass”, and Viorela, with her violin-packed entry “The gates of love”. Are we feeling the love or would we rather leave them at the gates?

Tolik – “Broken glass”

Antranig: Most of the song may be an uninspiring, unoriginal ballad but the musical composition finds an interesting flavour throughout the chorus. While it may not make the song anything to write home about, it becomes enjoyable by Moldovan standards. This could use a lot of work lyrically and it won’t move mountains at Eurovision but it’s a passable entry.

Score: 6/10

Bogdan: Not a bad song. It would sound better if it weren’t sung by Tolik, with his questionable English and bland voice. With a real R&B voice, “Broken Glass” would be a gem, but as it stands it sounds like a typical X Factor audition – competent, but devoid of emotion. Oh, and the backing vocals need to be replaced immediately.

Score: 4/10

Kristin: This is truly a beautiful ballad. The English pronunciation was somewhat good, though far from perfect. But that doesn’t hurt the song at all, as “Broken glass” is a well-written tune with good vocals and a lovely melody. I doubt that this is the winning song for Moldova, but I definitely would not mind it going to Lisbon.

Score: 8/10

Luis: When the backing vocalists are better than the singer, there’s a big problem. While there’s nothing unpleasant about this entry, there’s nothing outstanding neither. Tolik’s voice is not strong enough to uplift this and his backing vocalist overshadows him. Also, it’s a very safe and very plain ballad. Just like we go to Eesti Laul for ultra-modern hipster bands, we come to O melodie pentru Europa for craziness, not for okayish mid-tempos.

Score: 5/10

Robyn: “Broken Glass” is well written, but it has a dated sound, the sort of song that was current in the pop charts about five years ago. The only thing that really stands out is how it sounds like he’s singing “we like broken glass”. And that 2010-era lyrical stutter in the chorus sounds like it belongs in a museum. But let’s be honest — this is not the kind of song that does well at Eurovision. Semi-final two is going to be a bloodbath and a song like this would be the first to fall.

Score: 5/10

In the Moldovan Wiwi Jury, we have 10 jurors but only room for 5 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Aline: 6/10

Barnabas: 6.5/10

Bernardo: 5/10

Jonathan: 4.5/10

Lukas: 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 8.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 5.38/10

Viorela – “The gates of love”

Antranig: Viorela has a beautiful and delicate voice, capable of taking an audience on a journey. Which makes it quite unfortunate that her song flatlines in second gear from start to finish. There is some hope for Viorela — I could see this entry becoming a decent one with a strong revamp. But listening to it right now, I just hope Viorela comes back with a better song next year.

Score: 5/10

Bogdan: I don’t know who’s in more pain — the singer who’s denied entry at the gates of love, or me, who has to listen to her wail. I had to turn it off when the key change kicked in. This is a bad effort all-around.

Score: 1/10

Kristin: When the strings started playing in the beginning, I thought I was in for something more, but the song never seems to go anywhere. It just stays at the same pace throughout. It’s such a shame because Viorela has a lovely voice, which is completely wasted on a rather weak entry.

Score: 5/10

Luis: An entry with such poor production is just discouraging. I honestly can’t tell if Viorela has a beautiful voice or if she just wails for three minutes. It’s almost irritating, with both the violin and her voice fighting for who can reach the highest tone. But worst of all, the song is plain, lame and it never gets your attention.

Score: 2.5/10

Robyn: “The gates of love” sounds like a performance from a high school talent show, where a singer and violinist are randomly paired because their music teacher thinks it would be a good idea. The song sounds underdeveloped and is in dire need of a stronger backing track and some bassier backing vocals to counter Viorela’s high tones. As it is, there’s not much to enjoy.

Score: 4/10

In the Moldovan Wiwi Jury, we have 10 jurors but only room for 5 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below: 

Aline: 4/10

Barnabas: 5.5/10 

Bernardo: 2/10

Jonathan: 3/10

Lukas: 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 1 and a high of 5.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 3.81/10

See our list of O melodie pentru Europa 2018’s rankings here

READ MORE MOLDOVA NEWS HERE

19 Comments
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AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

“Broken glass”: That’s quite nice, but weak I think. 5/10
“The gates of love”: I like the instrumentation. However, I feel her voice is too high for a long time. 5/10

Pandaman
Pandaman
6 years ago

Angry Greeks and Greek fanbois attack on the comment section! Aaaargh, POST QUICKER, yarr harr!

Axel
Axel
6 years ago

Come on wiwibloggs! There’s been so much drama in Greece in the last few days about the cancellation of their NF and you wrote absolutely nothing about it. Now it’s official: The Greek entry is out, and you still haven’t reported it. Is it more important for you to spend time reviewing a crappy Moldovan NF song that no one cares about rather than a country’s official entry that will actually be on the Lisbon stage in May? You guys really need to sort your priorities!

yodel
yodel
6 years ago

i am suprised that you guys are so slow, usually you post very quickly. hope you do a reaction video and everything is fine.

Cameron
Cameron
6 years ago

You guys are so slow. Do a post AND video on Greece

AzeriChico
AzeriChico
6 years ago
Reply to  Cameron

What s wrong with you? They are doing their job, give them some time. ._.

Cameron
Cameron
6 years ago
Reply to  AzeriChico

It was announced quite some time ago now and wiwibloggs usuallly update you straight after it happens and I swear that there’s something like 30 of them so at least one of them can do the post quicker. Surely!

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

Jesus, you’re all so annoying. Give them some time!!!

Dani
Dani
6 years ago

Quite slow for not yet posting about Greek entry, not even on other social media platforms. Do you guys relalise that we have now 10 songs, soon to be 11?

Jack
Jack
6 years ago

Give them time about greece, bloody hell they will do it

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

Confirmed by Yianna herself. Why is nobody posting about this? Incidentally, Greece continues the all-good-songs trend that Belarus is probably gonna spoil – I’d call it my 5th-favorite of the ten(!!) acts we’ve heard so far. 33 to go!

nik
nik
6 years ago

why you havent posted anything about greece? Hope you are making a reaction video about the song

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
6 years ago

So when are you guys gonna report about all the major things happening in greece?

jojo
jojo
6 years ago

Guys it’s official Yianna Terzi is the greek representative for ESC 2018 . I hope you will make a reaction video for the song because it is actually good . Thank you.

chup
chup
6 years ago

“Oneiro mou” for Greece. Really interested on how people will react

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
6 years ago

Finally Terzi with Oneiro Mou will represent Greece to Lisbon! With out a Greek Final!

esc1234
esc1234
6 years ago

it is announced that oneiro mou will represent Greece.

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

Uh, slightly related: if the Greek Eurovision site is to be believed, the national final is cancelled and they’ve found their entry: Yianna Terzi with “Oneiro Mou.” This hasn’t been reported by any of the other sites and I first heard about it on Wikipedia so it’s a little sketchy, but considering what we’ve already heard, I wouldn’t be too surprised. Good song, too.
http://infegreece.gr/i-gianna-terzi-kai-to-oneiro-mou-stin-lisavona/

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

Broken Glass – dramatic, pretty decent – 6.5/10

Gates of Love – pleasant, but a bit bland – 5/10