Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals – landed in Latvia and headed to the Freedom Monument. After checking out the Cat House on behalf of wiwibloggs’ official cat Barnaby, we settled down to listen to Latvia’s Aminata Savadogo and her entry “Love Injected”. Did her love revive our souls? Read on to find out…
Latvia’s Eurovision 2015 song
Reviews: Aminata with ‘Love Injected’
William: Aminata knows who she is and she ain’t changing for nobody. Rather than forcing herself to fit with Eurovision, she’s pushing the contest forward with her distinct, other-worldy sound. “Love Injected” showcases power and restraint in equal measure, and Aminata is so avant-garde she makes Margaret Berger seem pedestrian. The chorus explodes like a nuclear bomb, and her Amazon-inspired dance moves could disarm the most aggressive tribesman. Take note, Europe. A star is born.
Score: 10/10
Zach: I’m still trying to process the unbelievable fact that LATVIA actually picked the best song in their selection for once, and that their song is one of the best in the contest. Aminata has arguably the most unique entry of the year, and I’d go as far to say the most modern as well, no matter how much Belgium’s Lorde wannabe wants that distinction. Her vocals suit the song perfectly, the chorus is powerful despite being incredibly minimalist, and I think keeping the simple staging seen in the Supernova final will help it immensely in Vienna. It will certainly stand out among the sea of ballads we have this year, and dare I say it, bring Latvia back to the final as well. I can’t believe I finally like a Latvian entry! It’s been so long!
Score: 9.5/10
Bogdan: Mesmerizing. The same can be said for her performance at the Latvian national selection. She needn’t change anything, because everything from her moves (combined with the flattering camera angles) to her vocals is flawless. Maybe just focus a little bit on diction — there are some words that I can’t quite make out without straining my ears. Other than that, “Love Injected” is perfection and, unlike most songs in competition, it sounds very 2015. Congratulations Latvia, you picked a good one this year.
Score: 9.5/10
Deban: After several years of missing out on the final, Latvia bounces back in 2015 with Aminata Savadogo — an avant-garde diva who SLAYS the pack! All the elements here sizzle at the right temperature, providing a high level of sophistication that isn’t often synonymous with Riga. “Love Injected” abandons all gimmicks, instead pushing the boat of pop offerings way beyond its usual moorings. In summary, this is perfection. Top 5 finish deserved.
Score: 9.5/10
Angus: Aminata’s lover might revive her soul, and she has definitely revived my faith in Latvia as a participant in the Eurovision Song Contest. ‘Love Injected’ is dark and dirty electro-pop through and through. Totally dazzling.
Score: 9/10
Judit: In my opinion it’s a horrible song. I don’t like her voice, and this song is going nowhere. She may be a nice person, but this competition is not about personalities. If I had a choice, she wouldn’t be in the grand final.
Score: 0/10
Liam: Latvia has injected me with love for this song! That voice is incredible! This delight from Latvia? I love everything about this song, from the modern twist to the outstanding vocals. The music video is amazing, the perfect mix of steam and drama to create a hot sensation. This is my favourite of Eurovision 2015, and although I have already (sadly) accepted that she will not win, I am hoping for an easy qualification and a Top 10 placing.
Score: 10/10
Padraig: Now I love me a minimalistic ice queen *hi Margaret Berger*, but something doesn’t quite click with Aminata. After years of Latvian tripe, everyone seems to be tripping over themselves to blindly heap praise on her and “Love Injected”. This song is flawed y’all! The closing verses could do with a serious injection of actual, oh I don’t know, LYRICS! I’m perfectly happy for my dance faves to be dominated by “la la”s and “o o”s, but for something as painfully alternative and cutting-edge as this I expect more. That said, it deserves to make the final, and provides a refreshing shake-up to the dreaded “Eurovision formula”.
Score: 6.5/10
Robyn: The delicate, stripped back style of the song is unusual for Eurovision, but that epic pop chorus comes along at the right time and saves everything – much like the chorus of “Suus” from 2012. The big issue I have with “Love Injected” – the ending is really weak. It dissolves into repeated “oh oh oh oh” and loses the powerful focus it’s held up to that point. Rather than ending with a bang, the song feels like it has run out of ideas.
Score: 6/10
Chris: Praise the lord! Latvia have turned up to the contest for the first time in years. “Love Injected” is very different compared with most Eurovision songs and it will certainly split voters. Aminata is gorgeous and owns the spotlight and she certainly has me on board. I hope they find better backing vocalists than they had in the national final though – Aminata’s voice needs protecting at points and those screeching cats didn’t cut it.
Score: 9/10
Sinan: Ladies and gentleman: Presenting a very different and very cool song from Latvia! I love the song. I love the voice. I love the total package. As we have already heard during the live promo tour, she can deliver live and will do so in Vienna.
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: 7/10
Kristin: 5/10
Luis: 10/10
Marek: 9/10
Mario: 6.5/10
Max: 3.5/10
Mike: 5/10
Mikhail: 9.5/10
Patrick: 7/10
Ramadan: 10/10
Renske: 7/10
Rezo: 8/10
Sami: 3/10
Sopon: 10/10
William C: 10/10
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.
Underrated
Just wait it
Fasten your seatbelt
She can SING
My god
Seen her live twice
WOW
RESPECT from me
I think she is a very soulful lady with an interesting voice
At times a bit Bjork and other parts of the song a bit Loreen esq with the a a a ah
I think it deserves to be in the final
I’ve been away from this site for a couple of days, and didn’t know that she JUST RELEASED a music video!
I’m currently evaluating the videos for the 3rd and last time, and have yet to get to the 2nd round. If her video is close to what I imagine it to be, given how good the music is, then it is highly likely that she will get back on my qualifiers’ list. She got knocked off in my 2nd evaluation.
D’OHH!!
The singing, very good. The music, excellent. But the lyrics, all over the place, and the ending, I must say is unnecessary. A toss-up (leaning toward non-qualifier) in my 3rd and final analysis, especially without a music video. Nevertheless, this is waaaaay better than the last 2 that Latvia sent.
I disagree – the ending ‘oh’ ‘ah’s actually ADD to the song, it’s so powerful.
This whole song is powerful. Please reach the finals.
Wow! This is a truly personal and powerful performance. Someone has called it “Avant-garde”, I am not sure if that is the word I would use, but it is truly something different. I am impressed and I hope it does very well
I love this song. My favorite Eurovision song ever. And that ‘oh-oh’ in the end is my favorite part. And official music video is something too good for Latvia, can’t believe that latvians can do something like that. Usually they go in the forest and walk around trees in their videos or dance in dirty house.
It’s a song to love or to hate. That’s good for televote and better than an ok-ish song no-one bothers. Expert juries should vote this in their upper half, so I think Latvia will qualify. In the final she might struggle. Anyway I love the song.
10/10
This is a song to watch out! Dark, mystical and… contagious. WIld card of 2015.
I’m quite surprised this scored that high tbh. She has AMAZING vocals, and the song is good, I quite like it. But it’s not particularly special tbh…
Overrated. This is a good entry for Latvia but it still going to need a lot of luck in order to make the final. The chorus is impressive the first time you hear it but she does not display a lot of control over her voice and it becomes shouty. What’s more, there is not much else to the song. The verses are a complete waste of time and are not performed particularly well.
6.5/10
Wow! Thank you Latvia for offering one of the best songs in this years contest. It brings diversity, and on my book, it doesn’t bore. The final “ah’s” give me chills. She is a fantastic vocalist and after many years of not really trying ( I can say that 2007 might’ve been the last time they really tried, although I love “Beautiful Song” and “Cake To Bake” they are in a way joke songs). It’s my second favorite, only losing to Norway, but both of them are touching perfection. Europe, don’t even dare not sending Latvia to the final for… Read more »
Incredible song and my favorite this year. How courageous of the Latvians to select such a unique song, well done. Aminata has my vote and my appreciation.
I do fear this is one of those songs that are too good for Eurovision, as it’s more sophisticated than the average eurotrash, and so far the judges seem to eliminate any song that is more challenging than your usual schlagger or power ballad. Just ask Who See & Nina Žiži? or Cleo & Donatan.
Still I hope Aminata makes it, she deserves itand it would be a dreary final without her.
I like this,if she sings really great she can pull a Rona Nishliu .
Aminata is avant-garde? Haha wiwibloggs is making me laugh
Overrated as HELL, my ears go bleed from this song, it’s awful and I agree for 100% with Judit
i am not sure about this song. I am in a love/hate situation
10/10
Aminata’s voice is by far the best in the competition and helps set the dark atmosphere of the song. If this doesn’t qualify, I don’t think Latvia ever will. My second favorite, slightly behind Estonia
@ Eugene ESC UK, since when OGAE voting affects the results at the ESC?!
OGAE voting is just like betting – 50-50 chances to fail or to succeed. These scores tell nothing about the chances at the ESC.
i think this is the type of song people either love or hate. im definitely not a fan, but i see why people might like it.
I have respect for the fact that this is the best song Latvia has ever sent, but I just cannot make myself like it, I have tried, but her voice(like Malta, Iceland, Lithuania and Czech Republic) just really grates on my ears, it will qualify it seems to have the support of fans, but I definitely think their are better songs in the competition and I fear a better song may lose out in the horribly close semi final. But it is way better than Pirates of the Sea, thats for sure. Good luck Riga! 6/10
This is my absolute #1. I love every single thing about this entry. I wish I could intellectualize this a bit, but I can’t. This song just does it for me in every which way.
Somebody wrote she will bring a dancer (or that guy from her video) to Vienna. Is that true?!
I don’t think she really needs anyone with her on the stage. I just hope Latvians will not destroy their performance, Aminata was great at the national final and I think they should keep it that way.
My favourite this year. 12/10.
I remember ranking her 7th in the SF2 and 16th in the final, but now that I listen to it again… Wow, good song! Good luck Latvia!
@G dubstep? Are you sure you’re listening to the right song? There is absolutely no dubstep in this song.
I can’t enjoy this song, she screams too much and the random dubstep disturbs me. It’s just not something I like listening to and I don’t even have it on my Eurovision 2015 playlist, and I’m sorry but I hope this doesnt go through to the final
4/10
I’m not a fan of this song to be honest. The chorus sounds like she’s screaming so much that perhaps its a metaphor that she doesn’t actually want love to revive her soul.
I’ve always hoped Latvia would come around with something good for once! I’m intrigued by some of the jurors who were negative about the weakness of the ending. I agree that in the studio version it peeters out boringly, but Aminata has performed this at least 3 times live now, and I assume that is how she’ll be performing it on the night. With every live performance she’s done she has cut off the repeat of the ‘oh-oh’ section, and changed the very end. The backing singers cut off leaving her on her holding her own for a second before… Read more »
i’m so happy, that i’m not the only one who thinks that this song is amazing. <3
Oh I forgot the usual score, sorry for spamming
7/10
I think that if this song was sung by another country, it wouldn’t be that popular. I still like it though. Very original and modern.
simply perfection! 10/10 this is really the dark horse of the year
I don’t get why everyone loves this, sure the chorus is just her screaming. I am not a fan of it but I expect it to qualify for final
One of my favorites, it is just so modern and diffrent 😀
My favourite song this year by a mile!!!!! Latvia has been revived…. Their songs should be at the same quality as Love Injected, not like Here We Go or Cake to Bake…. 10/10 <3
Compare this to “Cake to Bake”, “Here we go” and that highly deluded “Beautiful Song”, this is a winner by comparison.
Kudos Latvia. You actually didn’t Feck up.
Before I read the jury’s review I wanna say this is a remarkable song and I really want it to qualify and do well in the final. Maybe it won’t happen because, yes, it may be a little too alternative for the ESC audience. But… that chorus is everything. It’s majestic, it’s atmospheric and it’s uplifting. And Aminata is a true diva. Of course a lot will depend on the staging, and I was a little disappointed when I learnt she is going to bring a hunk to Viena. Girl, you need no hunks in Viena. You just need yourself,… Read more »
9/10 There is indeed Love Injected into me for this song! The best entry that Latvia has sent in a long time, arguably all-time. This song is just so sombre, dark and mysterious and her vocals are absolute killer. I also admire that she wrote this song herself, so she is one to look out for. The staging and choreography at the national final was so simple yet so effective. Thank goodness they fixed the cat-screeching backing vocals from the national finals. I just had to have it in my playlist, so this is somewhere in my Top 7 (along… Read more »
Without a doubt my favourite song this year. Fantastic song, phenomenal voice, dark and atmospheric staging- I love it! It’s probably a bit too alternate to appeal to enough people to get top 10, although I desperately hope she does. Almost certain she will qualify.
10/10
It must be coincidence that Aminata’s name sounds like an extension of Amina who dazzled everyone and almost won back in 1991 with “Le dernier qui a parlé”. They are so ethereal and other-wordly, each in her own way…