Wiwi Jury: Moldova’s Andrei Ionita & Onofrei, Che-MD, Nadia Mosneagu and Felicia Dunaf

After watching Moldova‘s live auditions on 19 December, we had a month to take in the 24 selected semi-finalists of O melodie pentru Europa 2016. Ahead of the live shows that will kick off on 23 February, Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — has listened to the entries and has weighed in on their quality. Is broadcaster TRM going to impress this year and deliver a new lautar? Or will it need our mercy? Let’s find out!

1. Andrei Ionita & Onofrei – “Lie”

Luis: When rap sounds like when my father yelled at me as a teen after arriving home later than I was allowed, there’s not much more to comment. “Lie” is absolutely horrible even if Onoffrei (that’s the one that sings) has a good voice, with some resemblances with Mihai Traistariu, and he showcases it well inside this holy crap.

Score: 0/10

Mikhail: Is this Moldovan Lenin trying to persuade everyone to start a revolution?  Omg, it sounds horrible. It’s not even talking (I’m not saying anything about singing). By the way, I liked the first guy. He was singing something interesting, some folk shamanic style, though it sounded a little bit weird. But when the second guy interrupted the first one, I had to stop this mess.

Score: 0.5/10

Antranig: The first ten seconds of “Lie” are rather enjoyable, giving me high hopes for the rest of it. Unfortunately those hopes are never fulfilled because the song gets absolutely nowhere. By the end of it, I’m just hoping that they won’t make it out of the semi-finals.

Score: 0/10

Patrick: You know the feeling, listening to the first seconds of the song, thinking “Oh, that might be nice” and then bam… somebody starts screaming and makes everything to a big disaster. This is probably the worst song I’ve heard in a national selection ever. How can a country who sent Aliona Moon and Olia Tira a few years ago, end up with this?

Score: 0/10

William: Moldova is known for many things, but this song will never be one of them. The rapper sounds like he suffers from auditory hallucinations and is struggling to control them. By comparison the guy shrieking “Lie” actually sounds melodic — and that says a lot since he is partly tone deaf.

Score: 1/10

In the Moldovan Wiwi Jury we have 14 Jurors, but only space for 5 reviews. The remaining scores are below:

Deban: 1/10

Denise: 1/10

Cristian: 1/10

Edd: 2.5/10

Anthony: 2/10

Kristin: 5/10

Robyn: 2.5/10

Bernardo:  1/10

Bogdan: 0/10 

The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 0 and a high of 5.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 1.04

2. Che-MD – “Voda e cu noi”

Luis: I enjoy the energy in this song, but the melody is too much messy. It reminds me a bit of “Identitet“, but if it had been composed in the ’90s with a child’s electric piano. There’s too much to polish in this song and performance, and I’d be happy if they get a decent revamp, but unfortunately, I can’t see this faring higher than Adrian Lulgjuraj and Bledar Sejko. (And that was a hurtful DNQ, may I remind you.)

Score: 5/10

Mikhail: It was a sign from above! They shouldn’t have sung the song further! He is not even singing! How can you call this a song? It sounds like ogres beating each other. Just no!

Score: 1.5/10

Antranig: This song is mostly glorified noise pollution but when the pan flute comes in, it becomes a majestic masterpiece. Unfortunately I need more of that pan flute to actually enjoy this and see it as a contender.

Score: 5.5/10

Patrick: Dracula went to Moldova because Romania didn’t want him? Seems likely because this is another sign that Moldova doesn’t want to win. I’m not saying they would send this to Sweden, but you never know. This is just sad. Please don’t suck out my blood — just leave.

Score: 0/10

William: Um, is it just me or do the opening bars sound like a rip of “Hora din Moldova”? The folksy vibe is great, but adding in rock elements is just wrong. The entire group sounds like they need to enrol in anger management classes. Grating and beyond annoying, this song needs to go.

Score: 2/10

In the Moldovan Wiwi Jury we have 14 Jurors, but only space for 5 reviews. The remaining scores are below:

Deban: 1/10

Denise: 2/10

Cristian: 4/10

Edd: 7.5/10

Anthony: 3/10

Kristin: 6/10

Robyn: 7.5/10

Bernardo: 2/10

Bogdan: 7/10

The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 0 and a high of 7.5.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 3.89

3. Nadia Mosneagu – “Memories”

Luis: Nadia is a very good vocalist, but her song is too much drama to handle. She made me want to sob, and not because of her performance, but because of the lullaby she is singing. All these ’90s style ballads that flood the Eastern countries’ national finals are all so lame. It’s as if it was mandatory for people to send something like this every year and let me tell you: it is not. Especially if your song is boring.

Score: 3/10

Mikhail: Hello ’90s! And her voice makes me feel like the sound quality is also from there. She is howling like my dog does, when everyone left home and he’s lonely. The quality of this song is on the level “singing in the shower”.

Score: 1.5/10

Antranig: A song called “Memories” gets me excited after what Nikki Kavanagh did last year. Nadia conveys the emotions of this song superbly through her performance and her vocals pack a mighty punch. Unfortunately the song itself does not blow me away. This is one performer I’d love to see return with a better song!

Score: 6/10

Patrick: I’m a person who likes drama in songs but I don’t want to drown in it. I like the lyrics even though they aren’t special but when she starts the operatic screaming with all the pain she feels, I lost all my hope and just gave up. This made me feel so bad.. I can feel her pain.

Score: 1.5/10

William: She’s got a lovely voice, but lady needs to sort out her pronunciation. The production is very dated and karaoke, but at least that distracts me from her wailing and, from 1:45, her operatic shrieks. This does nothing for me, but I appreciate her effort: it takes a lot of work to ooze this much pain.

Score: 3/10

In the Moldovan Wiwi Jury we have 14 Jurors, but only space for 5 reviews. The remaining scores are below:

Deban: 3/10

Denise: 2/10

Cristian: 5/10

Edd: 1/10

Anthony: 5/10

Kristin: 3/10

Robyn: 1.5/10

Bernardo: 2/10

Bogdan: 3/10

The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 1 and a high of 6.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 2.79

4. Felicia Dunaf – “You And Me”

Luis: That flute song gives this regular ’90s ballad-gone-mid tempo a bit of interest. It sounds like Oriental, like extracted form a Chinese restaurant’s background music. Still, the cliché lyrics don’t help, and this wouldn’t fare any well in Stockholm. It’s too much middle of the road to handle, and it’s a pity, because Felicia’s voice is quite good.

Score: 4/10

Mikhail: After the previous three songs, this feels like heaven, but it’s not. Not at all. Generic cheap song, a singer with an annoying voice that is better suited karaoke. There is absolutely nothing to catch your attention.

Score: 3/10

Antranig: Felicia is a singer with plenty of potential and “You And Me” could work very well at Eurovision with a bit of a revamp. However I think this falls just outside the range of viable contenders to win the ticket to Stockholm.

Score: 7.5/10

Patrick: I can see what the composer tried to do: Mixing Moldovan traditional sounds with up-beat sounds and extra dramatic lyrics. Did it work? Yes! Is it good? No! She has potential for sure but she is trapped in a coffin with this song deep deep under the earth. This selection makes me sad. Give me some wine, please.

Score: 3/10

William: In the city lights she shines so bright? Must be because of the lampposts, because the shimmer ain’t coming from this song. Felicia gives off good energy when the drums come in, but at times the poor lass sounds exhausted — I recommend sit-ups and daily breathing exercises. But at least she’s giving us something from the late ’90s as opposed to the ’80s, giving her a leg-up on the competition.

Score: 4/10

In the Moldovan Wiwi Jury we have 14 Jurors, but only space for 5 reviews. The remaining scores are below:

Deban: 2.5/10

Denise: 5/10

Cristian: 6/10

Edd: 6.5/10

Anthony: 9/10

Kristin: 5/10

Robyn: 7/10

Bernardo: 6.5/10

Bogdan: 1/10

The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 1 and a high of 9.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 5.00

Do you agree with Wiwi Jury? What do you think about these songs? Which one is your favourite? By the way, don’t forget you can still vote in our Moldova 2016 poll!

FOR OUR LIST OF MOLDOVA 2016 RANKINGS, CLICK HERE

FOR MORE MOLDOVA EUROVISION NEWS, CLICK HERE