Wiwi Jury: Latvia’s PeR with “Here We Go”

Today the Wiwi Jury—our in-house panel of music un-professionals—trekked to Riga to soak up the post-Soviet atmosphere and to review “Here We Go” from Grupa PeR. Did Ralfa Eilanda and Edmunda Rasmana charm us with their rapping? Or did we rush to get the first EasyJet flight out of Latvia? Read on to find out.

Bogdan: Definitely not the song I was hoping and expecting to win the Latvian Final. “Here We Go” disappoints on all levels. It’s 2013 and rapping is so 108 years ago. But if you insist on doing it, at least do it well. The trumpets are the only thing that deserve points in this song, and they weren’t even on stage during the NF performance. Rude! As for the out-of-place dubstep… Don’t get me started. I don’t expect this to advance to the Final. If it does, it’ll sink to the bottom of the list.

Score: 2/10

Alexander: Latvia’s entry seems to be largely disliked, but I honestly don’t find it to be that bad. The rapping is a step-up in quality from Austria’s “Woki Mit Deim Popo” last year, and while the chorus is simple and cheesy, it is also quite catchy and fun. As performers, PeR do something that isn’t done nearly enough in Eurovision: they engage the audience. I really have to applaud them for that, despite their really tacky costumes! While I think “Here We Go” will have a tough time qualifying, it’s still a fun entry.

Score: 6/10

Vebooboo: You can showcase your smooth body, but when you cover part of it in a sparkling silver suit, all appeal is lost. That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this song. This is the type of song that a really bad nightclub singer tries to sing to pump up the crowd. But like all people, Eurovision fans need a bit of substance to chew on, and this one is unfortunately just full of air and the country’s name in the background. Here we go…but where to? It ain’t a nightclub Ima be lining up to get into any time soon, sorry.

Score: 4/10

Deban: Back in 2009, my Danish friend, Christian and I were invited to Riga to help compose a song for an up-and-coming pop star. Not much transpired after that incident, but it is a testament to the fact that Latvians take music seriously, and welcome ideas from all over the continent. However, the main drawback here is that when democracy comes into play, quality takes a backseat. “Here We Go” is noisy, but not in a good way. It serves no purpose. Unlike Gaitana’s noise, which served as FIFA’s Eurolub anthem, this track will end up in the underbelly of Europe’s forgettable pop songs. Without a shadow of doubt, this is guaranteed to be Latvia’s 5th non-qualifying entry.

Score: 2/10

HK Dick: It all starts so promisingly. A simple, infectious chorus that would be a great stadium song but then they make the mistake of starting to rap…badly (again proving that most white men can’t rap).  Like the Trackshittaz of 2012, they have boundless energy but rap and Eurovision just don’t mix. If they replace it with endless La La La’s then they would have a much better chance of success.

Score: 6/10

Mr Häggkvist: I like the song. It’s pretty good. But they need to improve their English…I only understand half of the lyrics! But overall it’s a nice song (Maybe the finest Latvian entry since 2005).

Score: 6.5/10

Wiwi: Here we go? No. This is going nowhere. Latvia is a country that I’d love to see do well at Eurovision, but somehow they always manage to get it completely wrong. This is a real shame, especially since Grupa PeR have such nice publicity shots (which we’re using in our poll for Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model). In any case, I’m giving them one point for the lead singer’s abs and one point for the phrase, “I gotta keep pulling myself up.” At least he’s realistic that this song is a disaster.

Score: 2/10

The Wiwi Jury Verdict: 4.07/10

You can listen to all 39 entries on our contestants page. You can also read our reviews of this year’s Eurovision songs on the Wiwi Jury page.