Last night the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — flew to Belgrade and visited the river island Ada Ciganlija. After enjoying drinks on the sunny beach, we pulled up some deckchairs and reviewed Serbia’s Eurovision 2015 act Bojana Stamenov. Did “Beauty Never Lies” inspire us to celebrate? Or did we find little to love? Read on to find out…
Serbia’s Eurovision 2015 song
Reviews: Bojana Stamenov with ‘Beauty Never Lies’
William: Continuing Conchita’s theme of inclusivity and perseverance, Bojana brings us a feel-good anthem filled with soul and ethnic edge. You can’t fault her voice, nor can you help but get goosebumps at 2:00 when she cranks it up. This is already on loop in my house.
Score: 8/10
Deban: Bojana Stamenov, who reminds me of Beth Ditto, is a welcome addition to the 60th anniversary edition. She brings a positive message to the contest. The original — the Serbian language “Ceo svet je moj” — had a great melody. “Beauty Never Lies” takes that melody and gives it universality through language. It’s powerful, emotional, infectious and uplifting. This song could be tweaked better, but even as it is now, it remains a strong effort.
Score: 8/10
Francheska: This is simply perfection! The use of percussion and backing vocals is so cool, Bojana’s voice is so powerful, and this is such a great self-love song! I love songs that are all about celebrating beauty for oneself, and not because it’s a specific standard or for someone else (*cough “All About that Base” cough*). The genre change at the end is so cool as well, and I am just completely in love. The music video is cool and supportive, and I’m simply in awe of this beautiful entry! I wish it were in Serbian, as it is such a lovely language, but I’m totally ok with this in English! Bojana just became my queen for Eurovision this year!
Score: 10/10
Angus: The bridge in “Beauty Never Lies” feels like desperate CPR to resuscitate an otherwise dead song. The energy flatlines until the ’90s beats crash into life, and as impressive as Bojana’s vocal gymnastics are, it feels like very much a case of too little, too late.
Score: 3/10
Robyn: “Beauty Never Lies” is like a mix of the diversity message of “Rise Like a Phoenix”, the booty-appreciation anthem “All About that Bass” and a modern EDM banger. It mostly works, though sometimes it feels a bit too serious, like there’s not much fun in the business of honest beauty, and I find myself struggling to connect with the song. But Bojana has an almighty voice and will surely prove to be an amazing young diva on stage.
Score: 6/10
Padraig: This year’s contest is in dire need of a feel-good, sasstastic, dance anthem. Sadly this isn’t it. The track feels like a manipulative effort to zone in on the Eurovision spirit of diversity and acceptance – she’s different, so are you, vote for her song…. NO! Cheap and cheesy, pass the barf-bag. Caveat: I’ll probably end up dancing to this come May, but only for want of something better.
Score: 5/10
Bogdan: I don’t mind the language change for once, because of the universal message. Bojana is a great singer, but the song, especially the dance part, is dated and could have used a more modern approach. However, in a year with so many ballads, it will help Bojana stand out and this might get Serbia back to the final. I have to admit though that I tend to skip it when it comes on. It’s just not my style of music.
Score: 6/10
First impression of “Ceo svet je moj”
Chris: I’m a sucker for a big diva no matter what (hey, Esma!), which is probably why I’m still enjoying “Beauty Never Lies”. I definitely preferred “Ceo svet je moj”, but I think what’s important is that the majority of Europe will only ever have heard “Beauty Never Lies” for the first time in the semi-finals. Without the comparison to make, I still think that “Beauty Never Lies” works as a song in its own right and that Bojana’s live performance will really push the song further too. It’s a bit contrived, but I still see it succeeding.
Score: 8/10
Sinan: OH MY GOODNESS! What an amazing song from Serbia! I think the Serbian language for this song was better, but I generally don’t care about the text. Regardless, it slays in English too. There is so much power in this song, and I think Bojana will deliver a great live performance in Vienna. I just love it.
Score: 10/10
Luis: If there was a definition for “wasting a great voice with a crappy song” in the dictionary, Bojana Stamenov’s face would appear as the first entry. To begin with, ditching Serbian for English was a bad decision. It is not always necessary to make Europe understand the lyrics, especially if your lyrics aren’t absolutely amazing or don’t make sense (hey there, Tijana). I’m afraid “Beauty Never Lies” will not put Serbia back on the Eurovision Olympus, even though Bojana’s vocals deserve it.
Score: 2/10
Our jury consists of 29 people, but we only have room for 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining 19 scores.
Anthony: 6.5/10
Denise: 5/10
Josh: 6/10
Judit: 5/10
Kristin: 7.5/10
Liam: 5.5/10
Marek: 9/10
Mario: 5/10
Max: 3/10
Mike: 6/10
Mikhail: 5.5/10
Patrick: 5.5/10
Ramadan: 1/10
Renske: 6.5/10
Rezo: 4.5/10
Sami: 7/10
Sopon: 9.5/10
William C: 1/10
Zach: 8/10
To reduce potential bias, we drop the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. We removed a low of 1 and a high of 10.
For me it’s disastrous. Thank god there’s still Slovenia, which is seriously written to be sung in English, and Montenegro, which would’ve made sense even when in English, but is still using Montenegrin. For some reasons, I have Slovenia and Montenegro at my very top, exactly the same as last year. Honestly, Balkan ballads sound crappy in English. Both Serbia and Macedonia have had their entries ruined. Also Bojana’s English lyrics isn’t even related to the original lyrics (nor is it related to any other lyrics version), and the phrase “Beauty Never Lies” itself is dumb. Yes, I agree with… Read more »
Whoop whoop
Love this song
The video that accompanies it is inspired shame it won’t get an airing in Vienna
Or will it!?
If this isn’t in the final i will be very surprised and we may be heading to Serbia in 2016!!!
I loved this when it was Ceo svet je moj. Bojana is great, her song was great, and the language was great. But it just all fell when they changed it to English. 10/10 to 4/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCxNWhzMbSw
New video of the song 😉
6 is too low for this song. It’s beautiful in any language. Yes the Serbian was much better but the lyrics in English are glam.
You are insane! These high marks, even for a ESC fan are pathetic.
But that’s my opinion – the regular ESC fan taste is broken beyond repair.
There is no denying she has a great voice, but the song is so cheesy and dated. It’s a borderline qualifier but I wouldn’t pass it to the final
No matter what language it’s sung in, it still remains AWESOME!! 🙂
9.5/10
2/10 for me
Very cheap and as everyone says she is impressive live, but in the live performance she did not sound so amazing tbh. The studio version in English sound very cheap and the entire song is calculated I agree…. So let’s see how it goes for them on the actual night, in my book not a qualifier….
http://www.adal2015.hu
Being in Serbian made the song stand out a bit, it was a little exotic and fresh. Now it’s just another dull song… In my personal ranking, she’s #13 in SF1 and I don’t see it qualifying. If they clear the semi-final, it’ll be thanks to the Balkan bloc voting, not thanks to the quality of the song.
mee: 3,5/10
Unimpressive and underwhelming. It is a real waste of a beautiful voice. The lyrics are meh and the music is trite, yet the singer has an amazing voice which is not used even to a 10% of its ability here
One can see my view of this year’s songs here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllqBkm8jVk ! I would be very grateful if you can support me by seeing my video!
– Bojana has a wonderful voice, but I believe that she deserved a better song. I really enjoyed it in Serbian but it gives me the rubbish feeling in English.
I could not care less about language change or not.
It does not matter at all in my book.
Sure I would like all entries in original native tongue but I must realise that those days are over. I miss the orchestra and conductor-:(
Cheap beats? Maybe. But just wait until our little sparrow belts off the roof in Vienna. She will take you all by storm.
I have high hopes for her. Please do not let me down because if you are unable to deliver live : Bye little lady
I expect a DIVA live moment from you
Nope, not cool at all, agree with Angus.
I just love the serbian entry! <3
My dear butterfly Bojana is such sweetheart <3 🙂
Serbia's *Beauty Never Lies* is currently my 7th most liked on the 1st semifinal & my 14th favorite among the 40.. <3 🙂
Hopefully Bojana will manage to charm the europeans & get her ticket 4 the big final <3 🙂
Im wishing her my warm good luck..! <3 🙂
We all know that Ramadan from Albania will gave 1/10 to Serbia.
4,7/10
It was one of my favourites in Serbian, but then they decided to break a tradition and changed it to English. The lyrics are awful and the music is really cheap, it is likeable though and it has a nice melody. I like her voice itself, but the backingvocals more. I hope they keep the dancers.
In Serbian: Kinda nice, sure finalist, contender for a spot in the Top 15
In English: A TRASH! A COMPLETE AND HUGEEE TRASH! Im sorry but I can’t see this song in the final, yes it may qualify but if we see this song in the final day, the UK can be really happy because it won’t be longer the last place.
And i feel really bad for her because she has got a GREAT voice, but a really trashy song.
The character of this song is like “Let it Go” + “Crisalide” with both of them put on steroids. Not sure what to think . . .
Probably one of the worst songs this year. Can’t see this qualifying at all.
What started as a half decent song ruined by cheezy english lyrics. 3/10
Worst language change ever
In serbian: Top 10 Contender. Cool, great flow
In english: The Hell? Lyrics are borderline dumb, they don’t fit or fill the verses as well as the Serbian. And just plain bad! Why didn’t they do like the Spanish or French and base the lyrics from the Serb version? Would’ve been tolerable.
This is bad on so many levels. Lazy, cliched lyrics, 90’s style dance accompaniment (not in a fun way like Moldova either) and a singer shouting more than singing for most of the time. If it was not for Iceland being so annoying, this would be the worst song of the year for me.
1/10
Its a good song and its nice to see Serbia back..but…my fault lies with the Wiwi jury yet again…the song is ranked way too compared to other. 4.5-5/10 it will struggle to qualify.
Year after year I get shocked by the marks on various websites dedicated to Eurovision. But as always the final results will be different.
Serbia has the worst entry among the Ex Yugoslav countries this year.
I guess people have different tastes.
Eurovision doesn’t need pop trash but high-quality pop songs. And Serbia doesn’t have that this year.
2.5/10
The change from Serbian to English language almost completely destroyed the song for me. It may have a message, but I’ve heard it so many times in other songs. Sad to say but this is one of three songs in the first semi final that I do NOT want to qualify. It might though because of her vocals, which is the only positive about this entry.
I’ve posted nothing but negative comments today, I don’t want to be like this 🙁 , but oh well, c’est la vie. I liked the song in serbian, it wasn’t my favourite, but I liked it. English, for some reason, has destroyed it for me. I’m always in support of national languages in Eurovision, but never has a language change made me hate a song so much. I’m even a little bit scared of how irrationally I hate it now lol. Bojana is an amazing singer though, that’s undeniable. Sad to say this is in my bottom five alonside Finland,… Read more »
@Jamaraqueer More like Right singer, wrong song and wrong language.
I had high hopes for Bojana when I first heard her amazing voice, but ended up with this horrible song. She deserves a much better song with a voice like that.
Damn! I didn’t listen the entire song until now, and the last minute is so blatantly 90s and good I refuse to think it’s an accident. It’s a gamble, it’s bold, and I love it! We need this shit in the final.
This is exactly the euro-pop crap that eurovision fans always seem to love. The song is dire, and the lyrics are so cheesy I think I may have become lactose intolerant. Whilst Bojana’s amazing voice just about keeps this song together, she could have been a top contender with a much better song. 2.5/10
I love her vocals, and the first couple of minutes sound okay, but somebody please call Swedish House Mafia to save the disastrous dance instrumental… Moje 3’s song suffered from the same cheap synth sound and Bojana frankly deserves way better.
RIGHT SONG. RIGHT SINGER. WRONG LANGUAGE!!!
Serbia picked the right singer but the wrong song. The song just feels so calculated and would’ve been much better performed in Serbian. Parts of the song are absolutely great but others arent as good. A mediocre effort at most from Serbia this year.
4/10