The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — is travelling around Austria in the lead up to Wer singt für Österreich 2016 on February 12. Today we travelled to the Wiener Stadthalle and relived last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, before continuing our quest to find a song that could bring us back to Austria. Today’s candidate — Orry Jackson with “Pieces in a Puzzle”. Is Orry the missing piece in the Eurovision 2016 puzzle — or does he just not fit? Read on to find out…
ORRY JACKSON – “PIECES IN A PUZZLE”
https://youtu.be/_mSu-cRtK7E
“PIECES IN A PUZZLE” REVIEWS
Antranig: The repetitive chorus is a disappointment in an otherwise solid entry. A lot of the Austrian entries are trying to pull off a fresh, modern sound and are failing in their efforts but Orry is not one of them — I wouldn’t mind hearing this on the radio anytime, though it certainly needs a better chorus if it is to go anywhere at Eurovision.
Score: 8/10
Bernardo: The production behind the lyrics is very radio friendly and good, the lyrics fail to deliever the instrumental itself. Orry seems like a nice lad, with a smooth voice and the looks. The chorus is a bit repetitive, but “Pieces in a Puzzle” is going to fight for the win. It has some strong beats that can compete with the rest of the acts.
Score: 7.5/10
Chris: Okay, seriously. “Burn“. This is just “Burn”. It’s not even a very good copy of “Burn”, but the fact that it at least rips off a much superior song means that, in essence, there’s a good song in here. Orry’s a pretty good singer, but it just all feels very…”meh” to me. But hey, ask Michele Perniola how covers do at Eurovision.
Score: 6/10
Luis: That chorus killed it all. “Pieces in a Puzzle” is not powerful enough, and that repetitive chorus is the last thing a song like this needs. Even though the production is good, the song doesn’t really build, and some parts seem a mash-up. Also, this sound is soooo 2013. Maybe for Malmö, not for Stockholm.
Score: 4/10
Mikhail: The arrangement of this song slays! These interesting swishes, breathes, whistles — it is really entertaining and captivating. It has something unusual in it, some original sound. It has a very powerful energy, though a little bit repetitive, but still good.
Score: 8/10
Patrick: To be really fair and honest, this is fantastic! Sure, some places could be better, but there is a good song to work with. Orry’s voice is very good, and his stage performance might slay us all. Though I have to say that the music and the sound is too loud and literally swallows his vocals. If they don’t get it fixed, it will be a disaster. In any event – work on it and get your gold!
Score: 6.5/10
Robyn: The production is great, but the song itself sounds like the theme tune from a children’s cartoon, with a strong message about the importance of team work. Something like this would be really fun at JESC, but hearing a grown-up singing it just comes across as rather patronising.
Score: 4.5/10
Sami: “Pieces in a Puzzle” has the best production out of all the songs in Austria’s selection this year. However, the chorus really is the weakest part of the song. It still is very radio friendly, but also it’s not standing out enough which might be a problem if this gets sent to Stockholm.
Score: 7/10
William: My favourite part of making a puzzle is taking it apart at the end. So let’s tear this up. It’s a clichéd, saccharine mess. The lyrics are very Junior Eurovision and the lack of variety only emphasises that fact. The production is fine — I love the thumping dance elements. But ultimately this is too simple and too cheap to do well at Eurovision and — if there is a God — in Austria. I think ORF left out a few letters because O-R-R-Y is soooo O-R-D-I-N-A-R-Y.
Score: 3.5/10
In the Austrian Wiwi Jury we have 15 jurors, but only have room for 9 reviews. The remaining 6 scores are below.
Denise: 6.5/10
Edd: 7/10
Josh: 5.5/10
Judit: 6/10
Sinan: 7.5/10
Steinunn: 7/10
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 3.5 and a high of 8.
I say the Austrian Jackson has a really good song, but what is this, an austrian girl singing French…no likes from me, stick to your own language or proper english, and I don`t like that French song at all.
Russia got a good one, in my top 3 overall
Heroes sounds like a theme song for the cartoon network too…. -_-
Why da f.ck u compare it with “Burn”? Måns was pure copy of “Lovers on the Sun” and no one cares, especially not before Eurovision…
And chorus is repetitive? Guess why! Because it’s chorus…
Orry is my biggest fave to win for Austria and definitely the best one in all national selections.
Not only Russia would win Eurovision with this song, William would LA-LA-LOVE this song if it would participate in MelodiFestivalen. I also think it is funny how Patrick is always very excited about some home entries. This could slay? I think not. Seriously it sounds better than most of the songs in all preselections across Europe, but it is still too meh for me and it would not qualify, because it is neither from Russia nor Scandinavia. My all over Europe Top 3 so far include: Saara Aalto (UMK 2016) – No Fear Zoe (WSFÖ) – Loin d’ici Barei –… Read more »
Russia would win Eurovision with this song….