Earlier this afternoon the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Sofia, the host city for Junior Eurovision 2015. After a whole day of shopping at Central Sofia Market Hall and eating our body weight in Shopska salad, we were charged and ready to review Gabriela Yordanova & Ivan Stoyanov‘s song “Colour of Hope”. Did we leave hopeful that Bulgaria can match its stellar 2014 showing? Or has their hope run out? Read on to find out…
BULGARIA’S JUNIOR EUROVISION 2015 SONG
‘COLOUR OF HOPE’ REVIEWS – BULGARIA AT JESC 2015
Diego: It’s always hard to live up to expectations when you’re the host country, but Bulgarians can be proud of their JESC entry this year. These two kids meld their voices in a standout melody. Sweet, cheerful and certainly “colorful”, this duo feels what they’re singing and sing what they feel. It’s just lovely.
Score: 8/10
Luis: Bulgaria has made a very wise choice. “The Colour of Hope” is intimate and mature, but at the same time it’s dreamy and inviting. Most importantly, Gabriela and Ivan’s voices blend very well. If they can master the harmonies and add some chemistry to the live performance, they can really hope for great things!
Score: 8.5/10
Sinan: Okay, it’s my country’s entry. Do you know how I feel when I’m listening to this? So relaxed and loving every part of my life and thinking of beautiful things from when I was a child. The lyrics are just great. I’m so happy that they included Ivan — it’s a welcome bonus! I’m 100% sure they will deliver an amazing performance on 21 November in Sofia!
Score: 10/10
Robyn: Both Gabriela and Ivan are very talented singers, each with their own strengths. But the song itself doesn’t seem the best choice to highlight their individual gifts. It has an old-fashioned Eurovision feel. I wish they’d had the opportunity to sing something more current.
Score: 6/10
William: Colour me hopeful! JESC needs an emotional boy-girl duet, and Bulgaria is serving it with good vocals to boot. These little kids bring big drama and the song will no doubt improve when we hear it live. Some will say the song is old-fashioned and dated. I think that’s a function of the production. When the kids sing live they will add texture and power to make this modern and memorable. Colour me hopeful!
Score: 8/10
Deban: Bulgaria’s effort could double up nicely as the JESC theme tune. This is a song that I can hear repeatedly, and still #discover new meaning in it. It’s anthemic, uplifting and serves as a beacon of hope for a new generation of singers.
Score: 7.5/10
Angus: Gabriela’s kimono game is crazy strong in the official video and her vocal soars for days. Ivan’s voice is soulful and adds weight, but I am not 100% convinced the tones sync up in a performance that powers ahead. This may not be “Planet of the Children” 2.0 but “The Colour of Hope” is the right side of utter cheese fest to win hearts and minds.
Score: 7/10
Our jury consists of 21 people, but we only have room for 7 written reviews. Here are the remaining 14 scores.
Antranig: 6.5/10
Bernardo: 6.5/10
Edd: 7.5/10
George: 8/10
Jason: 8/10
Josh: 7/10
Liam: 10/10
Marek: 8/10
Mario: 6/10
Renske: 7.5/10
Rezo: 6/10
Sopon: 5/10
William C: 7.5/10
Zakaria: 7.5/10
The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 5 and a high of 10.
This has actually moved to #2 on my list. Gabriela shines in the new video and there is genuine chemistry between the kids. There is certain sofistication and layering in Gabriela’s performance, which is rare in singers her age. She can definitely project emotion and through the National Selection process I have seen her change personality with each song with the ease of a pro. I read today on the JESC webpage that she has been playing violin since age 4. I am definitely not a snob, but there is class in her performance that totally appeals to me. In… Read more »
Although it’s not quite my style, I this is a very nice song that has a meaningful inspiration behind it, and the melody is very pleasant and mature.
My least favourite song this year! Not memorable at all and will be lost on the night! While they both have nice voices the song is dull with the instrumental being simply blandest