Double trouble: Brothers Ivan and Gabriel hail from Locarno, Switzerland

Each week the Wiwi Jury—our team of music unprofessionals—reviews two to three Eurovision entries. Today we turn to Switzerland’s Sinplus. Check out our short takes below and then let us know what you think! Love, Wiwi

Wiwi: I’m slightly biased to like Sinplus—that’s brothers Ivan and Gabriel Broggini—because they gave Wiwi an awesome interview. But placing that aside, I love this song. It sounds like something you’d hear outside of the Eurovision arena—like, on a radio—and it gets me moving the moment the electro-guitar backing comes in. The boys need to work on their enunciation (it should be dream and not zrim or drim or whatever the hell they’re saying). But it’s got the feel-good factor and Wiwi can’t help but listen again and again.

Score: 8/10

Vebooboo: The Swiss sure do love their British indie pop, and I’m so pleased to see this song make it to Baku. First of all, the brothers are cutey-patootey. Secondly, they can actually sing. And finally, the lyrics are so uplifting…even if it’s sometimes difficult to understand exactly what they’re saying! Sinplus is pretty much ‘unbreakable’ in terms of their chances of making the Final. The Lovebugs got screwed over in 2009, but I sincerely hope that won’t happen again this year in Baku. Their on-stage performance will make or break the song. Hopefully they’ll do something memorable like Danish rockers A Friend in London did last year.

Score: 8/10

Meows: This is one of those awkward Eurovision songs that sound like it’s meant to be taken seriously. As such, we may try and judge the song based on its supposed artistic merits. But unfortunately when that happens, this song breaks to pieces…The lyrics are dull and shallow with lines such as, “Today is all allowed, a good vibe is in the crowd.” Um, lines like that should only be heard on the dance floor and written by the likes of Akon and T-Pain. And since when did the Swiss start speaking bad English in that weird Neanderthal slur? Perhaps the only thing that gives the song some qualifying potential is its crowd pleasing mainstream pop rock sound. There really isn’t much else going for it!

Score: 5/10

Deban: It is clear from the recent Swiss submissions that they are not out to bag the ESC crown. However, it has to be said that their 2012 entry is a respectable one. Think Bloc Party meets Suede. Sinplus are a singing brother duo who have churned out a great indie-rock track for Baku. Though not a winning number, it is highly admirable that songs like this are successful enough to win national selections, and get the opportunity to showcase at ESC. “Unbreakable” is a staunch reminder that the ESC contest isn’t just a pop fest. It has many facets, and this is the song that’ll please many alternative fans. As well as saving the ESC in general from a pop backlash, Sinplus provide great eye candy with a great anthem encouraging us all to follow our wildest dreams.

Score: 8.5/10

The Wiwi Jury Verdict: 7.4/10

You can view all of the Wiwi Jury reviews by clicking here.

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fira
10 years ago

i love sinplus and their songs.you are always in my heart

Neil
Neil
11 years ago

Lyrics are repetitive , simplistic, and don’t say much even if you ignore this trend.

Christian
11 years ago

It is a great song. I hope it will be perform but as usual I think the ones that I like will be eliminated and we could end up going to Moscow or Baku again

francisco
francisco
11 years ago

It is a sweet song and i really like its “Indie” air, it has been influenced by such different things as “my morning jacket” and “The Rasmus”, i could even hear bits of “Travis” in it. I don’t think it will be a winner but a great deal of effort has been put into it, and it shows.

Zolan
Zolan
11 years ago

It’s like they picked the interesting bits from several 90s-00s pop-rock songs and fused them into a seamless whole unchanged. That’s fine – I liked them the first time around, and have no objection to a well packaged retrospective. On the other hand, they don’t inject anything new to surprise me, rather like rappers who loop classic motifs sampled from other recordings to supply all the juice to otherwise undistinguished banter. Clearly they have some skill, and I’m happy to get into the spirit, but they need something more to make an impression. It’s not in the song, so it’ll… Read more »

Christian
12 years ago

Deban I agree on this
It is a great song and I can’t wait to see how it will perform
At last a song they can be proud even if it again will be buried and not even get into the final

Richard
12 years ago

WIth Lys Assia seeming destined to get the Swiss Eurovision nod for 2012 with her lovely but twee song it was a surprise to me when the land of clocks selected a current hour song rather than a second hand melody. I rather liked Unbreakable on first hearing and the new version has made it even more listener friendly. Lots of comments being made about their pronounciation of certain English words but it’s almost part of the charm of this song and it didn’t really hamper Lena… We all know that in Baku we will be singing along with Strim… Read more »

Nathan
Nathan
12 years ago

Veeboo’s “cutey-patootey” is a great way to describe these brother. Deban brings up a very good point that ESC isnt just a pop fest and an entry like this will ignite more interest from people – not just the teenage girls and gay community!
I hate how the song ends, it’s so abrupt.