Over the past few weeks, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has been busy rating the five songs shortlisted for Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz. Each number has a distinct indie feel, but which, if any, is mainstream enough to take Georgia back to the Eurovision final?
Our jury for this edition consisted of 14 jurors who hail from Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Morocco, Russia, Iceland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States and Georgia. Each juror assessed each song independently, and awarded it a score from 0 to 10. Before calculating the Wiwi Jury verdict, we dropped the highest and lowest scores to reduce potential bias and outliers.
1.”MIDNIGHT GOLD”
The best: (Luis, 9/10) ”I’d buy this as a Blur song from the 90s. And Blur is my favourite band, and 90s Brit-pop is my favourite genre, so I’m totally loving this. It needs a good revamp, but it’s only a matter of polishing some sounds, not making major changes, because “Midnight Gold” can be the song for Stockholm. Yes Georgia, you’ve won me with this.”
The worst: (Antranig, 2/10) ”One of the songs in the Georgian final least likely to make me want to cry myself to sleep. That said, it is completely terrible. At best, it is noise pollution — at worst, it’s like jabbing a needle in your ear. The world’s bat population might enjoy this as most of the noises can probably be picked up best with echolocation. Sadly, I am not a bat.”
SCORE: 6.58/10
2.”WEAGREE”
The best: (William, 8/10) ”I do not use recreational drugs. But I imagine that if I did, this song might provide the soundtrack to my morning-after — it’s confused, hazy and most definitely gives me the impression that Nika is coming down from a high. Thankfully he manages to find his way home with this one, reaching a rather nice climax around 2:30. It’s contemplative, atmospheric and, in a weird way, stirring. His vocals are on-point and, compared to the other entries, this sounds 100% authentic to him and his Lolitaz.”
The worst: (Antranig, 0/10) ”Less than a second in I’m already feeling heavily sedated and under the influence of some poorly made hallucinogen. Sadly my hallucinations are of stumbling out of dark alley after one too many drinks rather than lollipops and rainbows. This joins an elite group of songs along with the likes of John Karayiannis that I simply could not finish.”
SCORE: 6.33/10
”PAIN IN MY HEART”
The best: (Zakaria, 7/10) ”I’ll only say this once: they need a stylist. Apart from that, ‘Pain in My Heart’ is a decent song but very repetitive and plain. The song sounds more B-side than lead single…I’d still be happy to listen to it during their promos though.”
The worst: (Antranig, 3/10) ”I really don’t like anything that this band has to offer, but ‘Pain in My Heart’ is definitely the best they have. Having said that, I don’t like this song either. It’s mundane and even though the ending gets exciting, it just falls flat on its face rather than living up to their potential. I hope Georgia chooses this song, but I’m not impressed either way.”
SCORE: 5.71/10
”SUGAR AND MILK”
The best: (Renske, 8/10) ”Of all songs in the Georgian national final, ‘Sugar and Milk’ definitely has the most energy. This song can easily stick out between two other upbeat songs when it comes to Eurovision. It has my attention from the first second to the last: final-worthy, if you ask me.”
The worst: (Antranig, 1/10) ”As terrible as it is — especially in terms of the lyrics — I’d set this as an alarm to wake me up in the morning because it’s loud, annoying and obnoxious. That’s basically everything you need in an alarm. Other than that, I have no reason to listen to it ever again. My only question — where is the snooze button?”
SCORE: 5.71/10
5.”WRIGHT OR WRONG”
The best: (Kristin, 9/10) ”I like this song a lot, though some might say it’s weaker than the others. But I’m digging the raw garage band sound, and the squealing guitar. I’d like to see this advance to Stockholm. It’s so vastly different from anything Georgia has ever sent to Eurovision (yes, I’m counting their 2014 entry). Positive vibes all the way from me.”
The worst: (Robyn, 5/10) ”If your friend’s band came up with a song like this, you’d be like, ‘Dude, that’s really good!’ But there’s a big difference between playing this song at a local student bar and on stage at the Globe Arena. It’s not a bad song, but it just isn’t good enough for Eurovision. I want something more captivating and less student band.”
This happens in other jury’s. Antranig can’t deal with reviewing music if it’s in a genre he doesn’t like. He has narrow tastes in music
At this moment I am generally assured and convinced, that “Sunlight” from Ireland and “Heartbeat” from Latvia are craps.
Eugene, you’re contradicting yourself. Moaning about “at least send something original”, yet “Weagree” is different to 99% of the songs I’ve ever heard at Eurovision.
It seems if certain sections of the fanbase have their way every song in Stockholm will be diva ballads and schlager Scandipop. How incredibly dull. Remember, these are the same people who said the Common Linnets wouldn’t get through to the final and that it “was a terrible song totally unsuited to Eurovision”.
Hope they pick Weagree and it gets through to the final? Why? Because it’s different.
For me at this moment last two songs are better than three previous songs. But this need not be true. But it may be true.
I’d be really happy with “Midnight Gold”. Please Georgia!
Antranig really hates Georgia’s entry, 4/5 with the worst score and the least favourite from wiwi jury it’s the only one to reach more than a 5… XD
I love the way Antraing hates nearly all of them????
Can I marry the whole GPB for choosing this band? <3
Very good selection for Georgia, well done.
The five of them are pretty bad. Potentially my last place with whatever they choose.