The Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals – is continuing its journey around Lithuania ahead of the fifth Eurovizija show on Saturday. Yesterday, E.G.O. transported us back to the ’90s with “Long Way From Home”. Where will Baiba’s “Mayday” take us? Read on to find out…
Baiba “Mayday”
Reviews: Baiba with “Mayday”
Bernardo: “Mayday” is catchy and fun. But it’s not Eurovision material, it would flop big time. Nevertheless, I have a big smile on my face and I’m dancing to it like a little child. You go Madonna 2.0!
Score: 6.5/10
Robyn: This is a complete mess but I love it. The music sounds strongly influenced by Madonna’s 1983 single “Holiday”, while both the lyrical theme and Baiba’s look seem inspired by Valentina Monetta’s “Social Network Song”. Why? Why would anyone do this? No, I don’t want to know the answer. I just want to revel in the madness. But please keep this as far away from Eurovision as possible.
Score: 5.5/10
Anthony: “Tonight Andrius, I’m going to be Madonna!” Erm Baiba, you’re trying to represent Lithuania. Here’s a hint: if a potential Eurovision song sounds dated, then it is outdated. A 1920s electro swing attempt from the UK backfired, and it’ll be the same for this uninspiring ’80s sounding entry. A single point saved Baiba from an early exit. She’ll need that “Mayday” signal ready for the next round.
Score: 2/10
Steinunn: The ’80s were cool. “Mayday” is not. It sounds like a 2016 version of a mediocre ’80s song sung by a mediocre singer on a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea. Baiba has even adopted some ’80s-style moves. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to send out my own distress signal if I have to listen to this again.
Score: 2.5/10
Antranig: This is so wrong, it’s right! An older woman serving schlager is the biggest turn on I could ask for. It’s completely ridiculous but I’m loving every minute. I feel the urge to go out and get drunk with her before getting up on stage and dancing. If things don’t go her way, she should apply to be the fourth member of Alcazar.
Score: 9.5/10
Mikhail: What the hell is this disco? My parents danced to better songs! The electronic sound is horrible. It belongs in some game like Super Mario. If you lose, you’d be more than happy to throw the stupid Gameboy at the wall because the noise irritates you so much!
Score: 2/10
Liam: I believe an aircraft would issue a distress signal if someone was listening to this in flight. It’s a mess! It might have worked in the ’80s, but not in this era!
Score: 3/10
Angus: This ain’t a Mayday, this is an SOS! It strays too deeply into pastiche ’80s territory to really be taken seriously. The funnest Baiba gets is asking her audience to throw their hands up and wiggling on the stage. Hardly a Madonna-level performance.
Score: 3/10
Luis: The backing vocalists clapping along killed me. Well, the whole song killed me, but that anti-sass was the icing of the cake. But “Mayday” is so bad that I like it. It’s like Madonna singing schlager at a cheap karaoke bar. What else can you ask for?
Score: 6/10
Padraig: I’m all for artists drawing inspiration from past decades, but this is too much. “Mayday” sounds like it’s passing off Madonna’s “Holiday” — a song that’s 33 years old! There are no modern flourishes to redeem it and even Baiba’s performance looks like something from another era. The queen of pop ditched this genre years ago, it’s time for her Lithuanian tribute to do the same.
Score: 3/10
Our jury consists of 16 people, but we only have room for 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining 6 scores.
Josh: 6/10
Patrick: 8/10
Sinan: 4.5/10
Denise: 4/10
Judit: 6/10
Edd: 7.5/10
WIWI JURY AVERAGE: 4.82/10
To reduce potential bias, we drop the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. We removed a low of 2 and a high of 9.5.
SEE OUR CURRENT LITHUANIA 2016 REVIEWS AND RANKINGS.
Photos: Vytenio Radžiuno (LRT.lt)
I really love the sound of this. Outdated or not, the song stands out and is a breath of fresh air compared to many of the other, all to familiar, Mans Zelmerlof wannabes, tired powerballads and bland pop songs. It’s a catchy, uptempo, happy and, honestly, naive 80’s style song that with a younger, sorry Baiba, artist could be a real radio hit. I would love to see this in the line up in Stockholm and really think it could be the underdog the competition needs.
9/10 points in my book
So I can’t say I’m all too familiar with Madonna songs (well, not intricately at least), but even I was getting the “influence” that that this song had taken from her. Now, whilst Madonna’s recent attempts at songs have been appalling (gurl, you may be Madonna but your songs aren’t good anymore #SorrNotSorry), this song is giving me pure fun, it’s not perfect, and it’s cheesy as all sin, but I love it. I’m getting Cyndi Lauper on a kid’s TV show vibes here – and I don’t hate it.
Score: 8/10
Everyone who didn’t recognize the specific Madonna ripoff – er, I mean influence (right down to the hairdo) is hereby disqualified from reviewing any more songs.
And everyone in Lithuania who thought this was a good idea should be disqualified from participating in future editions of Eurovizija. Baiba dear, find new management.