Yesterday afternoon the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — headed to London where we enjoyed crumpets at Fortnum and Mason and Welsh rarebit at The Wolseley. We then slipped into our sexiest flapper dresses and braces and headed to Café de Paris to review Electro Velvet‘s Eurovision 2015 song “Still in Love with You”. Was it love at first listen? Read on to find out…
The UK’s Eurovision 2015 song
Reviews: Electro Velvet with ‘Still in Love with You’
Padraig: Ì’ve seen “Still In Love With You” live twice. And it’s not as bad as I feared… but then my expectations were extremely low. The fault doesn’t really lie with Bianca or Alex. Their vocals are fine, and their lack of on-stage chemistry can surely be fixed with some acting lessons. The song is the problem. It’s awful. The production is cheap, the lyrics are borderline misogynistic, and the melody is like something created by Don Draper. The UK seem to be stuck in some awful cycle, where everytime they take a step forward they take a huge leap back – Jessica Garlick to Jemini, Jade Ewen to Josh Dubovie, Blue to Englebert. Something’s gotta give.
Score: 2/10
Robyn: After a few years of sending serious pop, the UK are going in the total other direction with something goofy and fun. And I think it works, bringing a joyful energy to the stage. The preview at Eurovision’s Greatest Hits shows there are some good ideas coming along with the staging. The only problem is that despite all the cray-cray, the song itself isn’t especially memorable. I’ve listened to it dozens of times and I still struggle to remember how it goes. But it has the potential to charm viewers. Not everyone will like “Still In Love With You”, but a lot of people will love it.
Score: 7/10
Angus: This was not love at first sight, but I have a growing affection for this song. Other than the distinctly 80s disco opening, the Charleston effects give the song lift and Electro Velvet’s energy is undeniable. “Still In Love With You” is unlikely to win, but it is far from the worst entry this year.
Score: 5/10
Kristin: I am in love with this song! The roaring 20s-electro-fusion is everything that is great about Eurovision. I know the song has caused some controversy…..Okay A LOT of controversy, but whatever….Electro Velvet are in my Top 5 regardless of what happens in Vienna. And Alex simply MUST do the Louis Armstrong impression on stage! All in all….much love and respect from me. Go UK!
Score: 9.5/10
Chris: So we all know that when this song first came out, I immediately slated it. At heart, I still do: the song is, simply put, not good enough for the United Kingdom. It’s a huge step down from last year and I still maintain that on the big stage in Vienna, with only six people allowed on stage, this will fall flat on its face. What I do have to pull back is that, so far, Alex and Bianca have been absolute class acts and really pour all of themselves into this effort. They’ve clearly grown in confidence with each live performance and for their sheer effort alone, I have to raise this one higher than where I thought I’d place it.
Score: 3/10
Bogdan: I find this entry very difficult to judge. Granted, it’s an interesting, postmodern approach to Charleston and the melody is fun and catchy, but the uneven delivery and the ridiculous lyrics are off-putting. Moreover, the chemistry between the two singers is wanting. Staging could save the UK from total embarrassment, but otherwise this is yet another opportunity that was completely missed by the BBC.
Score: 6/10
Deban: This year’s British entry is as disappointing as its performers. It’s cheap, dated, uninspired and forgettable. If the UK wants to do “goofy”, they should compensate listeners by driving it with star power. Alex and Bianca are probably wonderful people, but that’s not the point! Other participants have scored victories in national selections, and/or have earned their stripes through regional chart success. These two are sailing through to the final with zero earnings or any kudos. How? They just happen to know someone who knows someone at The BBC. Totally unacceptable!
Score: 2/10
Liam: I don’t understand this song at all. It jumps from Great Gatsby to electronic and back and forth. It’s like two people fighting over which station to play on the radio. I assure everyone that this will fall on the night. A new low for the United Kingdom at Eurovision. They could have chosen something amazing, they are a musical powerhouse, but alas, the UK got on the wrong train. Apparently they didn’t heed Alex’s own warning…
Score: 0.5/10
Marek: This song is hard to score. There’s no special message — or any message, really. There are only rhymes. Everything is so weird, especially the “skiddy-beep-bop-doo…”. But their voices are flawless and the song is really catchy, so it doesn’t deserve a 1, 2 or 3.
Score: 5/10
Mike: Thank you so, so much United Kingdom. When I saw everyone complaining about the worst song ever taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest I was scared to check this out. But the moment I started listening I couldn’t stop. It is one of the catchiest songs in the contest and I love this retro disco. In this ”year of the ballad” this song can do so well if the running order is to their advantage. It can finish way higher than Eurovision fan fave Molly.
Score: 10/10
William: Bianca & Alex seem like genuinely lovely people. She plays the part of saucepot well and her phone-sex-operator vocals fit nicely with her character. His voice has a unique timbre and few people on this island could rival him in the skee-bop-doo-dap stakes. Sadly not even their charm and talent can elevate this hot mess of a song. After one minute I feel like I’ve been listening to it for three, and there’s little drive or dynamism. They’re called Electro Velvet, but this lacks any discernable spark.
Score: 2/10
Twenty-nine jurors review each song, but we only have room for 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining 19 scores:
Anthony: 6/10
Denise: 2/10
Francheska: 0/10
Josh: 5/10
Judit: 7/10
Luis: 5/10
Mario: 5.5/10
Max: 4.5/10
Mikhail: 9/10
Patrick: 2/10
Ramadan: 2/10
Renske: 5/10
Rezo: 8/10
Sami: 6/10
Sinan: 7/10
Sopon: 6/10
William C: 3.5/10
Zach: 3/10
To reduce potential bias, we drop the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. We removed a low of 0 and a high of 10.
Back to the drawing board.
Sad to say, the U.K. is now even worse off than they were at the beginning of this decade. Time for the BBC to seriously consider, or better yet, ACCEPT, this proposal:
https://twitter.com/ESCGrandPrix
https://www.change.org/p/bbc-guy-freeman-channel-4-create-a-uk-melodifestivalen-eurovision-national-selection-format
Whether it works or not, you can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Time to try something new, and this is just one of those new things.
On first hearing was very disappointed after a year of great hopes last year.
However it is memorable
It is catchy
There’s Definately a hook
There’s potential if use the staging and video walls cleverly it could be made to look huge on the night
I had a dream we got lots of 12 points ! It may be just a dream but who knows
Few predicted Conchita for a win last year and look what happened
0.5?
Somebody enjoys being a b**** a bit too much!
Fun, fun, fun. Original for ESC with lots of tongue in cheek. Easily rememberable and easy to imitate. This could be the dark horse that takes it all. 9/10
I just feel really sorry for the two performers, they’re going to have to take the wrath when we come last, when really Guy Freeman and whoever else was behind choosing this song should be taking the blame.
No se lo que pasara el dia 23 en Viena,pero me parece de los mas divertido y pegadiza de este año.Espero tengan suerte
If people here think that 17th place is a good finish then what chance do we have. Clearly it’s not good enough and Europe didn’t enjoy the song because it didn’t finish well. At least this year’s song sounds decent live.
It seems the UK is hellbent in sabotaging their chances of winning the Eurovision by bringing sillier and sillier songs…sigh, pity, this song could have been much more in a sort of retro way
The video (much better than the song) may be the one thing that keeps the U.K. from finishing below 20th. In my last evaluation, they were 18th on my card.
I will say one good thing about it. Coming after 39 songs on the preview list, of which 32 are full of dodgy English pronunciation, the lyrics and rhythming sound very clever.
Seems like the studio version is way better than live version. They changed the arrangement when they sang it at Greatest Hits party and its nothing like what I saw on the music video. Not sure if early fans of this song will be impressed to see it sang differently on the grand-finals. In ESC, first impressions are important and expectations from online previews must be met! Remember Molly’s performance at ESC? pretty much everyone who became a fan of her song via BBC Red vid were left disappointed by how dull Children of The Universe performance had become. But… Read more »
First time i heard it, i liked it. There are some issues though, so it won’t win. but it stands out from the ballads and screaming women. Latvia is therefore even 10 times worse than Finland. Serbia, Greece, the vastly overrated Russia, The Netherlands with a good singer but too repetative tune that makes her scream as well, and Iceland… Please no female winner this year… Unless they have a beard 😉
One of the better song this year!
The last time the UK went for some sort of retro funkiness it didn’t go well at all (2008)… I don’t know what the BBC was intending to accomplish here, quite frankly. It’s not bad, but as more songs got selected it became pretty clear to me that this one is just going to get lost on the night. They’re both great vocalists, at least.
I cant understand why the country with one of the biggest music industries in the world is not able to send a good entry… and i am not talking about sam smith or ed….just a f**king GOOD SONG!
This is an… interesting choice.
I was a bit baffled when I heard it the first time, like all of you. Catchy, but not enough.
But the I startedseeing all these electroswingtrends and mentions and people talking about it in general. If these continues,theymight be able to pull off something. Their voices work together and are pleasant. I’m curious to see how this fares.
OMG, I posted the comment in the wrong page hahaha
Sorry!
Btw, about the UK’s entry this year: 5/10
I liked only in the first time I heard it.
Let’s not forget that Russia have more than 140 milion people.
And the Il Volo’s video on their channel (IlVoloVevo) have more than 22 milion views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1f6o1HQBvg
@Jordan — Many, many Eurovision fans liked last year’s song. If you say Molly was crap, it seems like you are the one with bad taste. Coming 17th isn’t bad as Fatima has said. It was certainly better than Humperdinck or Scooch or any of the other nonsense the UK has sent.
Jordan, last year’s UK entry WAS reasonably successful. Seventeenth place and 40 points is not so bad these days. If you are saying that EV will do any better I think you’re wrong.
6/10
It really fits the spirit of Eurovision. Happiness and freedom, and I like that.
I am curious for their staging.
The song is a mess.
I’m not a big fan of the song either but I am a big fan of Denise. She’s so cute.
I actually like this song…. I know I’m in the minority…. 7.5/10
@ Oosternuik
Here is my fb if you are interested to send me friend request buddy.. 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/Mario.Gay.Love
@ My dear wiwi buddy Oostenrijk..
Well i got discouraged & it hurt a lot my mood..
But i really love this site & im addicted to WiWiBloggs .. <3 🙂
I still not feel good about yesterday but i will get over it i guess 🙂
Im STILL(In Gay Love With You) here & what that counts <3 🙂
P.S. ~ By the way,give your fb so we can add each other there ok? <3 🙂
Haters gonna hate, I actually love this song and kudos to the BBC for having the guts for trying something different this year! It’s fun, extremely catchy, and it stands out from all the ballads that’s been sent to Vienna. Alex and Bianca have proved they can sing live as well
If everything is done right (staging, live performance and favorable running order draw), this could possibly be the big surprise of this year’s contest when practically everyone thought it would crash and burn a la Jemini or Scooch
And here is last year’s jury: http://wiwibloggs.com/2014/05/03/united-kingdom-jury-reviews-molly/44585/
You can see it’s a lot more positive, yet that doesn’t reflect in the final score for the song. What I’m saying is, this jury don’t have a clue.
Good to see you Mario, I thought you might have got discouraged after all. 😀
I definitely would have been… 😉
This the novelty entry of 2015, but the thing is, in recent years, the trend has been to drift away from novelty to more serious acts. Will it stand out from the crowd? For sure, no doubt about it. Will that make it succesful? I honestly do not think so. Judging by the majority of the first reactions, most people were put out by the song, and then slowly some warmed up to it. The majority of the voting public will only listen to it once, and the BBC isn’t exactly known for it’s staging abilities. Taking all of that… Read more »
“I’m British and want this to do well. But if Molly came 17th then Electro Velvet is bound to finish last.”
Suggesting that last year’s entry was actually good. Shows how out of touch the public are about what makes a good entry. Last year’s entry was bland, repetitive and sang awfully live. It wasn’t a step forward at all and I hated it from the start.
This song is very catchy and I’ve had it on repeat a few times, it’s had a much bigger impact on me than last year so who knows, it could spring a surprise.
I can’t stand this song. Not as bad as Finland, but a poor choice from the UK. If UK were competing in the semis, they wouldn’t have a hope in getting through.
Good to do this for the UK today as it is Happy Girl Birthday.
I also forgot to say I like how the whole song is the chorus in a way.
@ Oostenrijk <3 (( im back pal! 🙂 lets have a party buddy <3 hehe 😉 )) I agree with you amigo…At least the entries of UK are not boring & the same repetitive genre category with other countries that play it safe & do not risk.. UK does like to experiment with the sounds & different type of music.. —————————————————————— Well i try to do not mind about the actual opinion of the juries because its their own personal state of view & does not represent any other eurofan of us.. At least on that field alone it doesn't… Read more »
UK brings some diversity to Eurovision, which is lacking so many genres: Jazz, classical music, ethnic sounds…. at least a few countries like UK bring something different than just generic formular pop.
Thank you for the great music, BBC. I really enjoy it!
Great song! This is going to surprise! Misogynist lyrics? You are having a laugh Padraig…..that is beyond a joke of a statement
@ Fikri
Loool…! 😛 hehehe 😉
Was really let down 4 UK this year…So many potentials to send a really good/great song like it happened last year with Molly’s but they just failed to do that..
Oh…I forgot..
And my actual own grade 4 the entry of UK is 3 /10..
i have the same grade with Zach & Chris from the wiwi jury 🙂
i kinda like this. am i crazy?
So many people talk about how their first reaction to the song was “Is this a joke? This isn’t really UK’s entry, is it?” I was thinking the same thing, and have the tweets to prove it. I LITERALLY thought they were pulling a prank on the fans.) The reaction will be the same for viewers watching the Final. It won’t have time to grow on anyone. Just BOMP beedleaddleuddle, a floor full of dancers (4 of them) Charlestoning while trying to sing “Dayance” over and over, and Bianca and Mick crooning a badly-written “Button Up Your Overcoat” knockoff. The… Read more »
This is officially in my Bottom 3 now. After Molly I thought UK would actually take this seriously again… Guess not.
Im sorry but i just do not feel the (Gay) LOVE on the song of UK…
Its not a bad song but its meh weak and very mediocre…
Boring & bland..
Its from my least liked songs unfortunately in the Diamond Vision..
I have UK 36th / 40 on my own top ranking..
If this song was competing on the SF would not be even qualifier 4 the final 4 me..
And its really pity because last year the entry of UK *Children Of The Universe* was my #1 most favorite song from all in the Vision of Copenhagen..
This is not great but definitely more relevant than the awful entry that the UK sent last year (sorry, it was not a step forward…just another sign of how out of touch the country is with Eurovision). This is another bad choice but at least there is some fun about it. It is a song that grows on you with further listens but most viewers are just going to listen to it once. Trouble!
5/10
Robyn Gallagher: Alright, I just don’t really like the song, and I can see how it ended up last. I don’t think Jemini were bad singers, but they had, in my ears, a terrible, dull and unmelodic song. The horribly off-key performance didn’t help either, but I don’t think that was the sole reason why they failed to score. We’ve had off-key performances both before and after Jemini, and all of them haven’t done badly, right? Nevertheless, I can’t see Electro Velvet giving such a bad performance as Jemini did. They might be nervous, but they’re also rather good singers… Read more »
2.5/10 Like most Eurovision fans, upon first learning that United Kingdom would be represented by this entry, I immediately thought “Well done BBC. You’ve managed to make UK win last place yet again!” I honestly thought that after Molly Smitten-Downes, UK would continue their momentum, but it seems as though they’re about to suffer yet another setback. They try to mesh the 1920s with electronic, delivering nearly nothing but fail. Now cut to today, nearly two months later: I still think that United Kingdom is a contender for last place but it’s not as bad now (it’s still bad though).… Read more »
I agree in particular with what Denise says at the start, that it is embarrassing that this is the UK’s entry. That’s exactly how I felt listening to the previews where the UK is immediately preceded by the great productions which are Italy and Spain. William’s interview snub at Eurovision’s Greatest Hits confirms to me that the BBC people running the UK campaign now don’t really understand what it takes to succeed in the contest these days.
ESC2016LONDON
My country! Unfortunately, I have to agree with everything you say. I thought it was ok, until I saw the live performance! LAST PLACE HERE WE COME!
I don’t hate this song, but I do find it extremely frustrating that it is not reflective of the British music scene whatsoever. It is really flattering that Eurovision fans from other countries genuinely look forward to what the UK might bring as we are a music powerhouse across Europe and around the world, but year after year (with some exceptions) we disappoint.
I give it a 5.5/10 and I reckon it will finish 20th-27th on the night.
I’m totally on board with what’s being commented on in the video. The BBC made this entry come in as a joke, when it was revealed I was like “Is this joke or they’re being totally serious about this?”, seriously the BBC can do MORE than this. They can get any big name in their wide musical industry, they can!!! For God’s sake, they better do an impressive job for 2016.