Over the past few weeks, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has been rating all of the songs participating in Supernova 2016, Latvia’s national selection, to determine our favourite entry. People fought. Friendships were made and lost. And now that we have our finalists, we can announce who our favourite is…

Our jury for this edition consists of 14 jurors who hail from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria,  New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Russia, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece and the United Kingdom. We are truly international, y’all. 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.

You can scroll down to see the final rankings along with the average score and some of our comments. Click on the song title to read full reviews.

Supernova 2016: Wiwi Jury Results

1. Justs – “Heartbeat”

The best: SO. MUCH. YES. Aminata Savadogo was one of my favourites from 2015 so I’m absolutely ecstatic that she’s back in Supernova 2016 penning “Heartbeat” for Justs. This doesn’t stray too far away from “Love Injected”, but is still different enough to make it original. Justs has a great voice and with the right staging, we could see Latvia back in the top 10 in 2016. (Josh, 10/10)

The worst: I’m not wetting myself over this like the majority of Eurovision fandom, but I can appreciate its merits. Modern, edgy, Swedish — it has all the qualities of Aminata’s “Love Injected,” which makes sense since she wrote it. His gritty, smoky vocals kick ass in that chorus. But this ultimately leaves me kind of cold. It’s more mood music than main event. (William, 6/10)

Score: 8.37/10

2. MyRadiantU – “We Will Be Stars”

The best: There’s only one song in Latvia I fell in love with on the first listen, right from the very first note — this one! MyRadianuU is an intriguing, if not bizarre, band name and they’re serving up an amazing song. The harmonies work perfectly here and the music blends electronic beats with a subtle melody very well. It makes me want to close my eyes and sway along. (Antranig, 10/10)

The worst: Every time I try listening to this song, other things grab my attention (basketball players, memory foam pillows, chewing gum). I keep coming back to “We Will Be Stars”, but again something else more interesting grabs my attention. That’s the trouble: it’s a very pleasant song sung by two lovely singers, but it’s so dull. There are indeed so many more interesting things than this song. (Robyn, 5/10)

Score: 6.8/10

3. Marta Ritova – “Not From This World”

The best: I think this is the biggest disappointment for me this year in Latvia. I loved her 2013 NF song “I am who I am” and I thought maybe this will be the same quality… but no. In the end it’s a boring song. She has a nice voice, no doubts, but this is not comparable to any other song. (Patrick, 5/10)

The worst: Well, there’s three minutes of my life I’ll never get back. “Not From This World” is like an everlasting gobstopper – it feels like it takes forever to end and it sucks the entire time. So incredibly boring. (Josh, 2/10)

Score: 4.47/10

4. Catalepsia – “Damnation”

The best: This is definitely the type of song to completely polarise Eurovision fans. Personally, I am all over it — this is one of the three best songs in Latvia and it’s such a refreshing change to listen to this after a dozen generic electro-pop songs. This would not appeal to many Eurovision fans but there’s a certain niche that would get right behind it. (Antranig, 9/10)

The worst: Is there much to say? This is a genre we usually have in the German Selection, but hey Latvia kind of likes it. I don’t. Basically it’s poor rock delivered with an annoying voice. (Patrick, 1/10)

Score: 3.87/10

FOR THE ALL THE SUPERNOVA REVIEWS AND RANKINGS, CLICK HERE

KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST LATVIA EUROVISION NEWS

17 Comments
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Caledonian
Caledonian
8 years ago

So happy for Justs

Alex
Alex
8 years ago

Fellow Justs supporters, you’d better vote NOW! 🙂

YoungsterJoey
YoungsterJoey
8 years ago

Hoping Justs maintains the easy win! But one never knows if last minute plots will push Catalepsia.

Unfortunately, last year’s Supernova was SO much better. All 4 songs were good to listen to (even if I didn’t necessarily want Elektrofolk’s 2015 song to win, Team Aminata). This year’s final four seems…eh. Except Justs. Justs is brilliant.

Although I’m put off by William using “Swedish” to describe the song. Is it that every pop/techno-ish song relates to Sweden? No. Don’t think so.

Thales
Thales
8 years ago

Heartbeat is a good song, and if Justs can sing live as he sing in studio, he is a great singer. But the lyrics are just… meh. Everyday we have one “new” song with that kind of lyric. Really amature. The song itself reminds me of “Hideaway” from Kiesza. “We Will Be Stars” is good, but isn’t a song that could win Eurovision. Nothing new for me again, since I already listen to indie pop/electro songs a lot. “Not From This World” is such a boring song that I couldn’t listen it all. Would be nice if Latvia send “Damnation”… Read more »

oli
oli
8 years ago

Justs can give Latva their second victory. It would be a huge mistake if they don’t select him tonight

Tina_LV
Tina_LV
8 years ago

Yep, I think today it will end up like:
1. Justs
2. Catalepsia
3. MyRadiantU
4. Marta Ritova
But please, even if the winner seems obvious – please vote for him. Don’t just assume he will win anyways. Thank you! x

Alison
Alison
8 years ago

Justs will go straight to my number one if he wins! I’ve been listening to Hearbeat so much over the past few weeks that I keep forgetting he hasn’t actually won yet! Come on Latvia, don’t let me down!

Ginta
Ginta
8 years ago

You can vote for Justs online worldwide–> http://supernova.lsm.lv/balsojums
Link will be active after all performances! 🙂

We must send Heartbeat to Stockholm !!! 🙂

kachijs
kachijs
8 years ago

It will be Justs, of course.

But you all check out the newest Aminata’s song – Fighter.

Reo
Reo
8 years ago

Can’t wait for the Latvian final this year!

WTF
WTF
8 years ago

@Ben Rafter: I think narrow-minded eurofans should stick to their typical ESC drivel and refrain from commenting on Catalepsia…

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
8 years ago

Laburnum – He is not the right act to send. He is the ONLY act to send.
It must be nice to have such an easy “decision” to make.

dutchie
dutchie
8 years ago

Wiwi, it seems you think that everything that sounds contemporary is somehow ‘Swedish’… the beats in Justs’ song are borrowed from deep house, and that’s not a Swedish genre at all. Listen to Mike Mago or Oliver Heldens, both big in the UK (bigger than in their native Holland actually).

fikri
fikri
8 years ago

super saturday sucks. none of the songs selected set my anus on fire. justs is the only redemption… PLEASE WINNNNN

Laburnum
Laburnum
8 years ago

And the good thing is, Latvia KNOWS he is the right acg to send. This could seriously be another win for them.

Dripe
Dripe
8 years ago

Justs, you got my support!

Latvia is doing EXTREMELY well on Eurovision betting website. I guess everyone is confident that Justs can not only win in Latvia, but have VERY good chances in Stockholm.

Ben Rafter
Ben Rafter
8 years ago

I think you got the best and worst reviews on catalepsia mixed up! Justs will EASILY win tonight.