We are getting close to Estonia’s national selection for Eurovision Eesti Laul 2016, which kicks off on February 13. In recent weeks the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has been listening to and reviewing all of the songs. Next up are La La Ladies with their song “Unikaalne”. They’re bringing up some energy, sugar, sweets and lady power. Did we buy it? Read about it below!
LA LA LADIES — “UNIKAALNE”
“UNIKAALNE” REVIEWS
Angus: BANG BANG into the room! You know you want it. This ’50s jazz-banger is breezy fun, dodging Moje 3 style, screeching and honing in on classic harmonies. It is perhaps a little lightweight in a field of heavy, serious contenders but that might be just the niche it needs to surprise in Estonia.
Score: 8.5/10
Bogdan: If they pull it off vocally as flawlessly as they do it on the recorded track, La La Ladies (what an unfortunate name though) have a chance of making the final, but I don’t see this dated and utterly forgettable song representing Estonia this year. It would be a pity, with so many more contemporary and memorable songs in competition.
Score: 6/10
Patrick: Why? I’m annoyed… Why? Why? Why? Why? Message for you: nobody likes rip-offs and annoying sounds!
Score: 1/10
Kristin: Oh Jeez!! The minute this song started, I was annoyed. Newsflash! Beyoncé, Kelly and the one who’s not Kelly, already did this years ago – and they did it better! I’m gonna pass. I get some serious “SunTribe” vibes here, and that ain’t good!
Score: 3/10
Cristian: If these girls win the selection, the Eesti Laul will be a total failure. “Unikaalne” is a silly sugary amateur mess.
Score: 4/10
Luis: This has potential to be a killer tune, but it needs major work. Mainly, in the absolute lack of strength and power the song and the girls have. Maybe it’s too demure for my taste, but at Eurovision you need atomic bombs, and not petards.
Score: 5/10
Renske: This song is outdated, it brings back Las Ketchup from ten years ago: dull, cheesy girl group pop. Though, the vocals on the track sound impressive, it lacks charisma.
Score: 6/10
George: “Unikaalne” is a really nice song. The voices combine perfectly and the result is beautiful and definitely capable of doing well at Eurovision. Let’s hope the live performance will be equally good.
Score: 7.5/10
Sinan: I really do like that song! At the beginning, I was like, wow honey! The song sounds like it is written for a musical movie — and I love those movies! I do not know whether it will be chosen to represent Estonia at the Eurovision, but I think it will take a good place in the national final!
Score: 8/10
Zakaria: In a field of very dark and slow ballads in Eesti Laul, this piece comes like a breath of fresh air. The girls are giving a very strong vocal performance and their harmonies are perfect. If they can pull it live, I think they might do well.
Score: 8/10
“UNIKAALNE” SCORES
Mikhail: 4.5/10
Robyn: 6/10
Josh: 6/10
Deban: 5/10
Bernardo: 6.5/10
Antranig: 6.5/10
Anthony: 7/10
Denise: 6.5/10
William: 4/10
Dayana: 5.5/10
The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 1 and a high of 8.5.
Estonia has a great final. This pales in comparison.
I feel like this is one of those songs where it was made in a certain way in order to be enhanced by staging. I could see this being real fun at the contest, it’s giving me a little urge to dance – but that’s where my issue lies. I should be feeling the need to swing and jive with sentient object in the close vaccinity, but I don’t. It doesn’t really have any kick, which is especially upsetting when the build up hypes me up for one. I do like it overall though.
Score: 8/10
I love this song! Estonia has been sending such sad songs lately and if we send Jüri and his sad song it’ll make it seem like we’re depressed af (which we are but they don’t need to know that :D) this song is fun, energetic, catchy, and SUNG IN ESTONIAN, if 2016 will be a ballad year this could really stand out in esc. I might be a little biased since I’m Estonian and I know not many people are huge fans of this song but i honestly want it to win EL, although i don’t really think it will… Read more »
Kind of like Girls Generation, but in that brilliantly menacing crazy moon language called Estonian. It’s fun. Pretty much every pre-selection this year has at least one “throwback” song and there’s got to be one where it breaks through. It’s bubbly and it’s aggressively charming. I’m not crazy about this, but if they deliver a killer performance, they might win me over.
It’s a lot of fun and if they can bring the energy and vocals on the night I really have no problem with the song making the EL final. Yes it shouldn’t be the winner but it’s still a great song to dance to which EL kind of lacks this year. Also Tanja is behind it and she’s seems so sweet, so I kinda don’t want to see them do badly.
Honestly, Eesti Laul has so many great songs, but it doesn’t have anything which is as *fun* as this. It doesn’t try to be anything that it isn’t, just to perfect the art of girlpop. It’s fantastic; I hope Estonia sends one of the more serious entries but I love that this is in the mix and that we can still have fun at the more… quality-focused national selections for Eurovision if there’s a song that deserves it despite being naff. 8/10
Jüri Pootsmann will win Eesti Laul.