Earlier today, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — gathered in Valletta to discuss the contestants participating in Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016 (MESC). Today we look at Stefan Galea with his entry “Light Up My Life”. Does Stefan’s song light us up — or just leave us feeling dead to the world? Read on to find out…
STEFAN GALEA – “LIGHT UP MY LIFE”
“LIGHT UP MY LIFE” REVIEWS
Deban: While “Light Up My Life” doesn’t exactly set me ablaze, it starts a fire. I like its upbeat offering, and the formulaic scandi-pop production elements. It’s pacey, catchy and keeps me moving. Stefan sounds like an accomplished former boy-band lead that has now gone solo with a bang!
Score: 7.5/10
Josh: I’m very much on the fence with Stefan’s entry into MESC this year. Admittedly, I do find the beat of the song very catchy and that’s always a good thing. He’s also perhaps the only male entrant with a semi-decent song? I feel like the song is perhaps a little too generic to stand out not only in Malta, but in the whole Eurovision Song Contest. It’s inoffensive and I’ll listen to it but I don’t think it lights up my life in a way that I want it to.
Score: 5.5/10
Luis: Mixed feelings on this one. Stefan’s voice has a quite interesting texture, especially in the low notes, but his song seems to have escaped from MESC 2012. Malta’s young idol has potential to shake the Eurovision stage with a big hit, but I’m afraid it’s not going to be this year. “Light Up My Life” lacks an impressive moment, and in the end it comes across as a generic, linear, forgettable song. Nice effort to bring in Ylva and Linda as songwriters, but unfortunately all that glitters is not gold, and all music produced in Sweden isn’t necessarily a hit.
Score: 5/10
Renske: This one can be put on the list of songs that are okay, but just too average for Eurovision. The song itself is good, but strange. I think that the song would be better if it was sung by a female voice, because it doesn’t fit Stefan or a man’s voice at all, if you ask me. Better luck next time!
Score: 7/10
Robyn: “Light Up My Life” is a good song but it’s not a great song. While all the components of the song are decent quality, the finished product just ain’t got no soul. It’s nothing that hasn’t been done before and there are plenty of other songs at MESC that stand out more.
Score: 5/10
William: The traffic stah-ah-ops and my heart goes boo-boo-boom…but only for the first minute. Despite all the promise and some great production, I get bored of this pretty quickly. But thank you for making my head bob, even if only briefly.
Score: 5/10
In the Maltese Wiwi Jury we have 18 jurors but only have room for six reviews. The remaining twelve scores are below.
Anthony: 7.5/10
Antranig: 7.5/10
Bernardo: 5.5/10
Cristian: 6/10
Denise: 4/10
George: 6.5/10
Maria: 5.5/10
Mario: 3.5/10
Patrick: 7/10
Ramadan: 5.5/10
Rezo: 4/10
Zakaria: 3/10
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 3 and a high of 7.5.
I really hope that he does a ballad next year because if you listen to his cover of say something it would leave you blown away! maybe that’s what will help get him on the international eurovision stage soon
I agree with Axel Ryans. The song is very catchy and he can definetly sing. But the song is too typical Eurovision and might not fare well.
I actually like this it’s in my top alongside Brooke, Christabelle, Jessika, and franklin
He can definitely sing and pull off a good vocal performance, I do think it’s catchy but it is indeed typical eurovision. It might get to the final but maybe it won’t score high.