The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — is back in Romania, where it is reviewing the 12 semi-finalists of Selectia Nationala 2016. They are now about to meet the other Mihai of the competition: Mihai Bajinariu, with his song “Never Too Late”. Will our jury agree with him? Or will they say “never”? Let’s find out!
Mihai Bajinaru – “Never Too Late”
“Never Too Late” reviews
Antranig: “Never Too Late” is a decent song but it does not work well with Mr Bajinaru’s vocals. I think this song needs a powerful female vocalist, either to sing it alone or join him in a duet. I enjoyed the chorus at first, but the second time the chorus came around, it felt repetitive and annoying.
Score: 4/10
Bogdan: Sometimes I wonder if these dusty songwriters and singers, who send this type of song to Romania and Moldova’s national selections in particular, ever watch Eurovision. Because I think they don’t, or if they do, they don’t like what they’re hearing. Otherwise they wouldn’t send such old-fashioned tracks that reek of 1986. Yes, sometimes it is too late. Three decades too late, in fact.
Score: 1/10
Deban: If/when you’re able to get over Bajinaru’s voice and his style of singing, you’ll find a decent melody lurking beneath. “Never Too Late” has a few golden moments, but you won’t hear them on the first listen. This song needs time, and if you have the patience for it, there’s much to be liked.
Score: 6.5/10
Luis: Adding random synthethizer sounds to an old-fashioned song doesn’t automatically make it current. “Never Too Late” is a boring tune and Mihai Bajinaru sings it with a lot of pretentiousness. If Romania wants to know what it feels like staying in the semifinals, this is their song.
Score: 1/10
Robyn: There’s a slow-building start, which suggests the song is going to evolve into something amazing, but it never happens. The song picks up some more textures and intensity, but it’s not a good sign when the ending of the song is only moderately more interesting than the very dull start. “Never Too Late” needs the sonic equivalent of black coffee, not herbal tea.
Score: 2/10
William: I just tasted vomit. This is so sentimental and bland. For the first time since the late 80s, I can hear Glenn Medeiros — and I’m pretty sure that I hear his producer, too.
Score: 2/10
In the Romanian Wiwi Jury we have 12 Jurors, but only space for 6 reviews. The remaining scores are below:
Dayana: 2.5/10
Denise: 2/10
Edd: 0/10
Patrick: 7/10
Ramadan: 1/10
Sami: 6.5/10
The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 0 and a high of 7.
Wiwi Jury Score: 2.85/10
The sole semi-final of Selectia Nationala 2016 will take place on 4 March in Baia Mare. An expert jury will select four songs to advance to the final, while televoters will save two more acts. The winner will be chosen by 100% televote on 6 March.
Do you agree with Wiwi Jury? What do you think about Mihai Bajinaru’s song? By the way, don’t forget you can still vote in our Romania 2016 poll!
