The Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals – is continuing its journey around Lithuania ahead of the fifth Eurovizija show tonight. Previously, we hung out with Milda Martinkenaite and listened to her charming entry “If Tomorrow Never Comes”. Now we turn our attention to Aiste Pilvelyte with “You Bet”. She topped her heat, but does she impress us? Read on to find out…

Aiste Pilvelyte “You Bet”

Reviews: Aiste Pilvelyte with “You Bet”

Antranig: If Elitsa Todorova and Ani Lorak had a Lithuanian love child, it would be Aiste Pilvelyte. This woman is extremely talented. The song doesn’t blow me away but I’m completely mesmerised by Aiste’s vocals — possibly the best I’ve ever heard. If they could find the right song for her, she could potentially win Eurovision one day.

Score: 7/10

Bernardo: The instrumental sounds like it was recorded using the toy piano I had as a three-year-old. I learned how to play “Happy Birthday” on it. Well, it is not Aiste’s birthday and if it was, I would tell her not to sing this. I get it’s powerful and memorable, but not in a good way.

Score: 2/10

Robyn: This sounds like an attempt to replicate the dynamics of “Suus” — a big dramatic song with long notes to show off the singer’s voice. Except Rona Nishliu did more with her bigger range and “Suus” showed a lot of restraint between those memorable long loud bits. And what kind of song wastes the big money-shot note on the word “it”? I fear this song will do well in the national final purely based on its showboating.

Score: 2.5/10

Aiste Pilvelyte - You Bet

Anthony: Aiste was top of the class in her heat and now I know why. Despite having to perform with a throat infection during the heat, she was fierce and absolutely slayed! “You Bet” is one of those entries where it’s actually better when it’s performed live and makes a real impact. An in-form Aiste could easily hit those high notes and if there’s to be a dark horse among this year’s competition, this is the one to watch out for.

Score: 7/10

Steinunn: I’m not sure how I feel about “I Bet”. The song is kind of ok, her singing is kind of ok… but there’s a problem. I don’t understand a word Aiste is singing. And I just don’t like that when it’s in a language I’m supposed to understand! At least Aiste gives me a little bit of emotion throughout the performance. I’m guessing it’s a powerful love song or some kind of super girl-power declaration. I’m confused. I don’t like being confused.

Score: 5/10

Mikhail: Well “You Bet” is certainly powerful. No doubt about that! The song seems nice, but at the same time there is something wrong. It feels like there are three songs instead of one and they are all squashed together. Nevertheless, it’s a nice listen and it definitely stands out in this selection.

Score: 5.5/10

Liam: Aiste is barely understandable in this “Suus” remake. She lacks the power of Rona Nishliu, and relies heavily on her backing vocalists. Three minutes I could have lived without.

Score: 4.5/10

Aiste Pilvelyte You Bet Lithuania 2016

Angus: There are some big notes here but they don’t compel me and neither does the hollow shell of a song stitched together around them. This has let the voice lead the song which is disappointing. It seems like a mistake.

Score: 1.5/10

Luis: “Rafael Artesero”. No. A big NO! No, no, never. Never forget Lucía Pérez. Seeing that name in the opening card put me on disaster alert. The melody pauses, it restarts, Aiste shouts, then it pauses again, then there’s some over dramatic violins, then more shouts. “You Bet” is completely incoherent. Presenting a melting pot of pretentious sounds and long notes to Eurovision is not a good idea.

Score: 1/10

Padraig: Ani Lorak’s sister from another mister (and mother) doesn’t impress me much. Aiste can bellow and wail as much as she likes, but she may as well be singing gibberish. Her diction is atrocious. Of course, “You Bet” is no great shakes either. As with so much of her competition, it’s formulaic and predictable. Personally, I’d bin this entry, but Mariah Carey has done very well for herself with similar vocal histrionics so there’s every likelihood that Aiste will be with us until the bitter end.

Score: 2.5/10

Our jury consists of 16 people, but we only have room for 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining 6 scores.

Josh: 3/10

Patrick: 8/10

Sinan: 6/10

Denise: 3/10

Judit: 2/10

Edd: 8/10

WIWI JURY AVERAGE: 4.25/10

To reduce potential bias, we drop the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. We removed a low of 1 and a high of 8.

SEE OUR CURRENT LITHUANIA 2016 REVIEWS AND RANKINGS.

Photos: Vytenio Radžiuno (LRT.lt)

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Laura
Laura
8 years ago

some juries of this web look very narrow-minded and too stereotyped. This song is amazing, different, and powerful and it is a pleasure to listen to it. I fully agree with the members of the PROFESSIONAL jury in Lithuania as they praise it every week and Aiste is an amazing singer. You say a copy from Suus? do you really followed Aiste’s songs in the past before Suus? most of her songs are full of looooong notes or you have not listen to Melancholia, or Troy on fire, or The long note in Emotional Crisis? come on guys

Sparrow
Sparrow
8 years ago

I didn’t say that it was the answer to all the worlds problems but I see the potential in this song. Yes it needs a lot of work and let’s be honest, it’s Lithuania so they’re not going to put in the effort but the potential is there.

Sparrow
Sparrow
8 years ago

Latvia and Serbia 2015
Sweden, Spain and Ukraine 2014
Ukraine 2013
All examples of revamped/ tweaked songs making the top 10.
Best example is Ukraine 2014. Major re vamp, lyrics and all. In the original form she wouldn’t have made the left side of the board.

Sparrow
Sparrow
8 years ago

First off if you’re gonna sing a big ballad, slap on a damn gown.
But I don’t think the song is as bad as you’re all making it out to be.
Yes, the arrangement is messy and yes, quite a few of those lyrics need to be changed but she gave 100% to that performance. If they revamp it then we have a strong contender on out hands.

MarioMario
8 years ago

If the Devil composed a song, it would sound like this.

Donna
Donna
8 years ago

Aiste seemed to have only gotten herself together for the song towards the end of it, the rest is an absolute mess. The lyrics and her voice have great potential but I really think “You Bet” needs a full revamp on its instrumentation – maybe she needs to hit up with the likes of Thomas G:Son if she wants her song to sound better because that guy did an excellent job in revamping “Warrior” that sounded like it had less substance instrumentally before he placed his magic on it.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
8 years ago

What an absolute mess.