Wiwi Jury: Austria’s Folkshilfe with “Who You Are”

The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — continues its journey through Austria ahead of the Wer Singt Für Österreich 2015 final this Friday. Austrian cuisine – many people love it. A perfect day in Vienna, eating the famous Sacher torte – perfect to review Folkshilfe with their song “Who You Are“. How did our jury react? Would this be the perfect representative for the host country? Read on to find out.

FOLKSHILFE – “WHO YOU ARE”

Deban: Reggae-inspired folk number combining ingenuity, whilst bearing an ease in delivery. There’s a playfulness to this song which reads as “authentic”. It’s light without being silly. In a context where delegates have presented ballads, eurodance and bubblegum pop, “Who You Are” puts a brave foot forward.

Score: 9/10

Max: If Austria don’t want to win again then why not do what Ukraine did back in 2005 and send a band like Greenjolly that you know the European public will hate. I think every copy and this song should be put into a dark room, locked up with chains and left for a million years. It’s shouty, messy and basically a disaster. Not a fan. Not even coming close to being a fan. I like the accordion though, channelling Verka a bit there.

Score: 1/10

Chris: Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I really do not like this one. The lead singer is far too offputting and this just feels like a throwaway entry compared with the others. It’s entirely unremarkable and it feels like something you’d hear opening a third-rate festival’s side stage.

Score: 3/10

Anthony: Dragging Julie Frost, co-writer of Lena’s “Satellite”, to help with the song seemed to have done the trick for Folkshlife. Well, sort of. The folk elements didn’t quite connect together though. Latvia’s ElektroFolk still managed to pull off the folk genre best on this year’s national finals season.

Score: 6/10

Robyn: Do they use the S-word in this song? It sounds like it, and if so that would need to be changed to comply with the EBU rules about swearing. It’s a silly song, but it’s pretty catchy and has a nice enough message. The harmonies are sweet, but I don’t think everyone is going to get Folkshilfe’s humour.

Score: 6/10

Denise: Is this one song or two different songs added in one?   The chorus  – altough it seems like it  only has one sentence – is memorable and it is the best part of the song. The rest is really bad and they look a bit awkward on stage. And the accordion, I can’t name one song with an accordion in it that I like.

Song: 4/10

Mikhail: The chorus and the refrain are just two absolutely different uncorrelated songs. The former is not that bad, it has a nice tune, but the latter is awkward. It doesn’t sound good at all. These strange sounds coming out of lead singer… My first reaction was: who are you? Leave me! Let me listen to Czech song again!

Score: 3/10

Judit: My First thought was: No, something like in 2012 again? The blonde guy scared the hell out of me and somehow I Just don’t understand what their goal is. A winner country won’t send them as a competitor. Hopefully Austria will choose wisely.

Score: 3/10

Parick: The Boys from Folkshilfe have a strong recall value. I had a flahsback to the Trackshittaz, which is bad as we can remember the last of 42 places in 2012. The chorus is strong but the rest is a total disaster. It would be sooo embarrassing to send this when we are the host-country.

Score: 0/10

WIWI JURY AVERAGE: 3.88/10

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