Wiwi Jury Romania: Cristina Vasiu with “Nowhere”

In preparation for Selectia Nationala 2015, Romania’s selection that will take place on Sunday, the Wiwi Jury is reviewing each song and act. Next up is Cristina Vasiu and her song “Nowhere”. Did this take us on a journey? Or did it leave us nowhere? Read on to find out.

David: She has a good voice, but it’s overpowered by the instrumentals a lot of the time. It’s too heavy-handed and as such you’re listening to it, not being carried by it. I didn’t mind listening to it, but I have no desire to hear it again.

Score: 8/10

Deban: “Nowhere” doesn’t exactly take me somewhere. Why? There are major flaws with the arrangement. However, Cristina Varsiu still manages to shine with her impressive vocal power and range.

Score: 6/10

Francheska: The beginning had me hooked! Very dramatic, very Ellie Goulding-meets-existentialism. Then the guitar happened and the whole thing got slow again. The pre-chorus has such amazing potential for a club hit, but its given a very light-hearted treatment. If you’re going to have such powerful and simple verses, you cannot leave us hanging! How anticlimactic! However, the revamp in the last couple of choruses show some amazing potential. Very electronica-Sanna Nielssen, but it may need a revamp.

Score: 6/10

Iñaki: If only the song had a little bit more rhythm. At first it seems a perfect dance theme, but finally it never explodes and the beat is too slow, it just drowns the song. Furthermore, while a beautiful guitar plays throughout the song, the amount of added noise in the arrangements entangles all the thing.

Score: 5/10

Josh: What a surprise. Another electro-pop ballad. PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! The beginning of the song sounded so promising, and as I was waiting for a heavy dance beat, I was met with an anticlimactic Sia knock-off. And an anticlimax is never enjoyable for anyone.

Score: 4/10

Kristín: Cristina is going “Nowhere” and unfortunately, neither is her song. This is a beyond average pop song, which desperately wants to be some sort of an anthem. For what, I’m not quite sure, but I’m sure it’s for a worthy cause. Get back to me if y’all find out.

Score: 3/10

Louis: Good song but I couldn’t even sing you a part of it straight after listening. I’m not sure if this is because it was an average song or the background noise was too overpowering and distracting. Overall, I wouldn’t be jumping out of my seat if this came on.

Score: 4.5/10

Luis: Guess some of my mates have already done this joke, but here I go: this song doesn’t go Nowhere. No, seriously, this is not bad at all, but I’m not really into this kind of “minimal” instrumentation: it just fits some very special songs and I’m afraid Cristina’s is not one of them. She has a nice voice, though.

Score: 5/10

Max: This sounds SO Swedish. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Maybe it’s the electro vibes reminiscent of some of Melodifestivalen’s latest entries but it has something that I really like. It sounds dark, mysterious and full of life. She may think she’s going nowhere but this song might certainly be going somewhere, and that somewhere could have lots of snowy mountains and a bearded lady.

Score: 7.5/10

Patrick: The song itself is really not bad at all. The melody is great and the voice sounds promising – I hope she will deliver like that live as well! It’s probably stuck in time, not really 2015 but strong enough to do well in Romania. If we talk about Eurovision, it probably wouldn’t do well.

Score: 7/10

Robyn: For all the strong-woman ballads in the ESC this year, it’s a change to have an anthem of dependence. “I’m going nowhere without you,” Cristina asserts, somewhat depressingly. The song is self has a bold sound with plenty of variety, but I don’t want to hear a miserable lover singing of relationship turmoil.

Score: 5/10

Sami: At first I thought there was some EDM banger coming, but sadly it turned out to be something else. Her voice is interesting, but I wonder if it will be sound that good live. This could do well in Eurovision with good vocals and I can already imagine great lightshow to this.

Score: 7/10

Sopon: Cristina has a catchy song, but she has even worse English pronunciation than Alyona Lanskaya! That aside, I love the song, it’s like a moody Katy Perry song that would do well here. I think this could make an impact in Vienna if it goes.

Score: 8.5/10

The highest and lowest scores have been removed before calculating the final scores to avoid bias. We have removed a high of 8.5 and a low of 3.

The Wiwi Jury Verdict: 5.9/10

You can read all of our reviews and rankings for Selectia Nationala 2015 by clicking here. You can also keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team from wiwibloggs.com on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.