Earlier this week the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — headed to Tbilisi where we admired the Byzantine, Russian and Middle Eastern influences on Georgian architecture. After gorging on khachapuri — a traditional Georgian dish of leavened bread filled with cheese — we sharpened our knives and sat down to review Nina Sublatti‘s Eurovision 2015 song “Warrior”. Did Nina impress us with her fighting spirit? Or were we left saying WTF? Read on to find out…
Georgia’s Eurovision 2015 song
Reviews: Nina Sublatti with ‘Warrior’
Bogdan: In the open conflict with her Maltese rival, Nina definitely won the revamp battle. Her song now sounds like a declaration of war, and I love it! Moreover, all her live performances since the national final have been on point both vocally and attitude-wise (despite some pronounciation issues), and I am hoping that the staging and choreography in Vienna will amplify the spellbinding effect of the song. Colour me oximated, warrior queen!
Score: 9/10
Padraig: I’ve done a complete U-turn with Nina’s “Warrior”. For a long time its popularity baffled me, and as far as I was concerned the battle was already lost. But then something clicked, and I realised that this is actually bloody brilliant! Innovation, thrills, drama, excitement – Georgia have them all in bucket-loads. I’m expecting some serious theatrics in Vienna, because this is war!
Score: 7/10
Robyn: “Fighter! Oximated!” Nina asserts as the song begins. Wait, “oximated”? It turns out it’s a scientific term used in organic chemistry – to react with or convert into an oxime. It’s purely a technical term, with no metaphoric or poetic use in English. I have no idea what message Nina is trying to get across with this, but it perfectly fits in with the bold, dramatic and mad world of “Warrior”. This song is totally stucked in my mind and I love it.
Score: 7/10
William: If I ran into this Gothic diva in a dark alley, I’d give her all my money as long as she promised to sing to me. She’s got soulful vocals that work well with this song about female empowerment. Part Janis Joplin and part Elvira, she had me hooked within seconds. At the national final I hated the bridge — she sounded like a cat giving birth. But her thoughtful revamp has turned that kitty into a tiger who roars with the best of them.
Score: 9/10
Angus: ‘Warrior’ feels like the rallying cry to Georgians after the disastrous fate of The Shin in Copenhagen. Aggressive, intimidating and a little confusing, ‘Warrior’ kind of steamrolls you whether you like it or not. The editorial visuals have me in love, but lyrically this could be a lot stronger.
Score: 6.5/10
Chris: Definitely overhyped and overloved by its staunchest of supporters, “Warrior” is not a Eurovision winner no matter what any pre-contest polls may tell us. That being said, the song took a huge step forward in its reworking and with a perfect draw, Georgia will surely be in the final. She will do well to make sure she doesn’t alienate too many fans in the run up the contest, lest it come back to haunt her.
Score: 7.5/10
Deban: By far the best effort from Georgia in recent years, I’m in love with Nina Sublatti’s Gothic energy. She brings strong vocals and a fierce stage presence. Her music video, which deserves a short film award, gives a good indication that Team Georgia are taking staging and artistic direction very seriously this year. “Warrior” is haunting pop at its best! However, is there room for two warrior princesses at the 60th anniversary? Bring on the battle.
Score: 7/10
Mikhail: From the first listen this song has been “stucked in my mind“. It is powerful, energetic, and has some mystic energy. And what an amazing job Georgians did with the revamp! When I hear the very beginning, I think that the whole Mongol army is running at me! This is stunning! It captures you and you cannot take your ears/eyes off it. This warrior will slay in Vienna! Go Nina!
Score: 10/10
Patrick: If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all. I really don’t understand why people like this – it’s an ok song maybe but for me it’s nothing special. She may exude personal strength, but I don’t feel the strength in her voice, song or message. It’s dark but it’s too much. I really don’t like the song and she puts me off as a person. I’m not feeling Georgia once again.
Score: 2/10
Sinan: Strong, different, painfully cool — this is fierce. Nina sings great live and I think she will do very well in Vienna. The video is just an accessory for the song, but it makes the whole package even more amazing. Slay kween!
Score: 10/10
Our jury consists of 29 people, but we only have room for 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining 19 scores.
Anthony: 7.5/10
Denise: 7.5/10
Francheska: 8.5/10
Josh: 6.5/10
Judit: 5/10
Kristin: 5/10
Liam: 10/10
Luis: 9.5/10
Marek: 9/10
Mario: 3.5/10
Max: 6/10
Mike: 7/10
Ramadan: 10/10
Renske: 10/10
Rezo: 10/10
Sami: 6/10
Sopon: 7/10
William C: 7.5/10
Zach: 9/10
To reduce potential bias, we drop the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. We removed a low of 2 and a high of 10.
????????, ????!
So much energy – very James Bondesque. But do we want two songs in the same niche winning two years in a row? 7/10
I think this warrior wins the Warrior battle. But I don’t see it winning the bigger battle for the 60th crown!
Powerful yes
Tuneful yes
But not the winner
who that girl?
World class Nina Sublatti the Eurovision Diva. Tbilisi 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I Don’t Care I LOVE IT!!!
Wow! This is a super-energetic number and the music oozes power. The lyrics are sort on unintelligible and the imagery is sort of cryptic but who cares, this is a visceral performance!
I hear a lot of people criticizing the lyrics. I would have liked to do the same, but I can’t even understand what she’s saying. Even when she’s saying “warrior” (or at least I assume she is), all I hear is “I’m a wire”. This girl is obviously incapable of speaking English, which means that she probably doesn’t understand what she’s saying. She should definitely have sung in Georgian (or any other language that she actually masters), that would have been cool. Definitely less ridiculous than this.
@WTF: The original music was ferocious enough, and I had no problem with it. The revamped version made it even more menacing, as a warrior should be. With her singing last in the 1st round, she should qualify.
@Briekemichi: There are quite a few songs I would have no problem with if it won. This is one of them. Nina sits 19th on my card after my 2nd evaluation, and I’m about to review them all one last time.
The original version was unbearable but the revamp brought it to qualifier status. Doesn’t compare to their better entries (2007, 2011) tho.
I actually had a dream where this won Eurovision. I do not think that is really going to happen but there is something special about this song. The acoustic version blew me away and I really can not decide which version would do better. With the right staging, this version could destroy it on the night.
8.5/10
6 / 10
I agree with Patrick’s objections, although I think this is mild compared to the really creepy songs of Eurovision (like Germany 2011 and France 2013).
8,4/10
Very different, which really fits Georgia. Will get a nice place and will be deserved.
@Jerome: I went looking for that word the sooner I first heard this song. Very rarely used, I must assume. In my evaluations, I couldn’t really ascertain the relevance of “oximate” to the lyrics, and docked her for it. Nevertheless, in my 2nd evaluation of all 40 songs, she finished in the middle of the pack.
I’m not surprised with the reviews for both “Warrior” songs. One artist and her song (this one) actually sound like she’s on the warpath, the other doesn’t.
I don’t know what to think about this song. I kinda liked it when I heard it for the first time, but later on I found it little bit annoying.
But we’ll see.
Speaking of Maltese and Georgian Warriors this year, I think I like Maltese Warrior slightly more, but none is my favourite. Who knows what will happen in Vienna.
I used to be very dismissive of this song, but the revamp has captivated me and I have grown to love it. I like that it has a very modern sound and a message of feminism, but it is indeed quite lyrically poor and nonesensical.
Also, just to clarify, Nina wrote the song al by herself, G:son just worked on the revamp.
By far the worst entry of the two “warriors”. Hopefully the juries will notice how grammatically incorrect those goddamn lyrics are and keep her from qualifying or make her a borderline one.
@Jamaraqueer
“Janis Joplin was a killer live performer, who didn’t care what the world thought.” That could be said about countless artists. Why Janis Joplin? Why not Lady Gaga? Why not Katy Perry? The comparison just seems arbitrary to me, pal.
And here comes the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2015 – Nina Sublatti from Georgia !!! Love and support from Greece!
Definitely the better of the Warrior’s. She looks amazing, she sings (and not shouts), the video is good. As a whole, its a good package. Certainly my favorite Georgian entry since their debut entry in 2007. Almost certain qualifier and possible top 10. Dont think it will win, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it does. All comes down to staging I guess. 9/10
my absoloute favourite this year, i think it will be a dark horse and it’s also miles better than malta
1 word: CAPTIVATING.
Nina is truly amazing! It was previously in my Top 3 but now I’d rank it about 6th or 7th. Nonetheless, a truly spectacular entry!
If she gets first half then it would be a good opener
Nina is an Amazing singer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really World Class.
but Italy must WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Long live Operatic songs
Definitely prefer the Maltese one ;). Obviously it will do well because she’s pretty and the instrumentals good, but the actual lyrics themselves? Crap. When it’s judged by the real juries, I think it will score better with the men than the women..
I love all good Georgian entries, 2010 is my favourite.
Hopefully, this will tell those people who keep saying that Georgia is getting spam votes from Nina’s fans that it is actually a good song and others like it.
8.5/10
so, i like this song. nina is artist, energy drama emocion so fantastic. yes georgia semi final leader. 10/10 from austria. its my scores
PATRIC YOU ARE IDIOT. NINA IS THE BEST ARTIST ESC 2015 ITS AMAZING SINGER AMAZING VOCALIST AMAZING STYLE. 10/10 FROM FRANCE
This is a good act, though it’s lost its inital appeal as time has gone on. But anything would have been a step up from The Shin and Mariko
Janis Joplin just died for the second time.
Horrible. Last place on my list!!!!!
Wuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh bleughhhhhhhhh.BIG ZERO!
I love all but one (2010) of Georgia’s pre-2012 entries, but they took three steps backward in 2012, 2013, and 2014. This year, they’ve really returned to form. Georgia are back in my top ten for the first time in much too long, and I wouldn’t rule Nina out to do very, very well in Vienna. I have eight songs that I hold are in a different league from the others, and this is one of them.
Definitely the better of the two Warriors, however it’s just missing a little something for me. Solid vocals, solid song, lacking progression maybe, but the power of the song overrides that problem. Just a little bit less that what I would consider a good song, it’s still ok.
6.5/10
7/10 Such a far cry from the absolute travesty that Georgia sent last year. That build-up from the start just draws me in and that suspenseful tone throughout keeps me interested. Nina Sublatti reminds me of Amy Lee from Evanescence, whose songs I absolutely love, which is also a good thing. There’s just a couple of little things that sort of bring this song down a bit for me and they’re both lyric related. “Oximated”?? What is that?! I tried searching that word, first thing I got was “to convert into an oxime”. Seriously? I don’t know how it relates… Read more »
Janis Joplin was a killer live performer, who didn’t care what the world thought. That’s quintessential Nina!!! Not all comparisons have to be musical, Erik.
How is she at all like Janis Joplin?
Georgia is definitely passing with this closing the semi – Nina proves why she won Georgian Idol with this song. Slay!
9/10
Its sounds like Russlanas song 2004
This song has a very, very weak chorus, imho. For me it’s a miss.
Is it different? Yes. Does different mean good? No – at least not in this case. I don’t agree with the review that this is the best Georgian entry. It sure is a step forward from the 2014 and 2012 disasters, but best Georgian entry was 2009!. As for this song, it’s just average. Don’t really like her accent either 6.9/10