Eurovision’s Greatest Hits: Wiwi Jury reviews Johnny Logan with “What’s Another Year”

Eurovision’s Greatest Hits takes place in London on 31 March. The one-off concert will see a host of past Eurovision stars take to the stage to mark 60 years of the contest. While the show itself will be purely celebratory, we’ve decided to add a little competition to proceedings by ranking and reviewing all 19 Eurovision entries sung by the 15 confirmed acts. Today the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — are back in the Hague 1980, to witness Johnny Logan’s first victory for Ireland with “What’s Another Year”. Is it a case of what’s another song? Read on to find out…

https://youtu.be/vccwzuttIQY

Sopon: Johnny Logan’s song is very fitting for the decade, but would just be written off now. I can see where some of the timeless flavour comes from, but personally, I’m just bored to death.

Score: 4/10

Judit: Mr. Eurovision always delivers something emotional. When I listen to this, I just want to give him a hug. I prefer “Hold Me Now”, but “What’s Another Year” is also good and a memorable winner. Can’t understand the haters.

Score: 8.5/10

Josh: I understand that Johnny Logan pioneered Ireland’s success in the 80s and 90s, but this song is so incredibly boring! At least “Hold Me Now” had a memorable melody, whereas this just sounds so drab. Blah.

Score: 4/10

Kristín: Johnny made Europe tremble with this heartfelt performance. This was also the beginning of his journey to ruling the Eurovision Kingdom….oh Johnny, its been 35 years. What’s another year indeed?

Score: 8/10

Ramadan: I really like this and can see why it won Eurovision. Johnny performed it well and the song is very good. Easily one of the best Irish winners.

Score: 10/10

Liam: Nothing compared to “Hold Me Now”, but still a deserving winner in my eyes.

Score: 6/10

Mikhail: Johnny is a great performer. He always expresses deep emotions and you can feel his sadness. But this ballad is not that strong. It’s like a rocking ship in a calm sea that lacks waves. Nevertheless, it’s touching.

Score: 5/10

Padraig: Some of the criticism of this is way harsh. Sure it lacks the bombast and drama of “Hold Me Now” or his songs for Linda Martin, but this has soul y’all! Poor Johnny is feeling miserable and alone, waiting for a lover that never comes. Now that’s frustrating! You gotta feel his pain. The song’s only real crime is inspiring Anmary’s wretched “Beautiful Song” in 2012.

Score: 7/10

Chris: A time when Eurovision was seriously falling behind the times, “What’s Another Year” is a prime example of the juries getting the result wrong. Whilst it’s certainly a good song for the field that it was in, there were much better options (Maggie MacNeal’s “Amsterdam” springs to mind) and it has dated horribly since then too. Johnny is charming as ever, but he certainly nailed the Eurovision formula with his second winner and not his first.

Score: 5/10

Sami: Am I really the only one who thinks this is better than “Hold Me Now”? Once again I have to say that Johnny is a great performer, but “What’s Another Year” is also much more touching than his other winner, and I just prefer this overall. It’s my favourite song from 1980 and totally deserved to win.

Score: 9/10

All 17 members of our jury rate each song. However, we don’t have room to share written reviews from everyone. Here are the remaining seven scores.

Angus: 5/10

Anthony: 8/10

Denise: 6.5/10

James: 7/10

Patrick: 9/10

Robyn: 6/10

William: 6/10

The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 4 and a high of 10.

THE WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.67/10

SEE THE LATEST EUROVISION’S GREATEST HITS REVIEWS AND RANKINGS

YOU CAN READ ALL OF OUR 60TH ANNIVERSARY NEWS HERE.