Yesterday the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Denmark. After taking a stroll around the Tivoli Gardens, we set up next to a giant illuminated swan and discussed Lighthouse X‘s song “Soldiers of Love”. Did it makes us want to be recruited? Or were we looking to stage a coup? Read on to find out!
Lighthouse X – “Soldiers of Love”
“Soldiers of Love” reviews
Edd: 2016 marks first time in a decade that I haven’t loved a Danish entry. The song has absolutely zero personality and evokes no emotion in me whatsoever. I can’t even pick out a single element to talk about because it’s just so bland – it’s gagging for a post-chorus harmonica instrumental. This is going to have to be one hell of a visual performance if Denmark wants to be back in the grand final.
Score: 4/10
Angus: For a song about love, this is really lacking emotion. “Soldiers of Love” ticks all the right boyband filler track boxes — a key change, cheesy message, attractive singers and slick harmonies — but the finished product feels hollow. It doesn’t give Lighthouse X any identity and their delivery, while technically brilliant, is a disappointing effort from Denmark.
Score: 2/10
Bogdan: Lazy songwriting that offers absolutely no surprise whatsoever. The dreaded key change is delivered with robotic precision at the expected time. The lyrics are cringeworthy. No amount of eye candy will help when the overall impression is so saccharine. Too bad, because the guys are competent singers.
Score: 2/10
Deban: The ’90s boyband explosion finds new life as the 2016 Danish entry. “Soldiers of Love” is inoffensive, notoriously catchy and danceable. Lighthouse X are seasoned professionals, and have worked their camera angles to telegenic heights. As the boys march on with a song crafted for universal appeal, this will surprise most people.
Score: 6.5/10
Diego: It feels like coming back to the ’90s where cheesy pop songs were the next big thing and boybands were ruling the world of music. But we’re in 2016 and that doesn’t speak to me anymore (if it ever did). It’s just a regular pop song with some pre-made lyrics about love and not a single drop of personality. I can’t deny it’s pleasant to hear but the thrill ends there. I feel like Denmark will not make the grand final for the second time in a row.
Score: 5.5/10
Judit: I can’t deny, I like their boyband style. They are good looking, and “Soldiers of Love” just stuck in my head. They’re singing “Take my hand…” and yes, I would take their hands. I love the song and I just can’t sit still while this one is playing. Not the best vocal, not the best song, but still has something and thanks to that Denmark is in my top then this year.
Score: 8/10
Mike: Well, Lighthouse X was by far not the strongest contender in the Danish national final and maybe even the worst choice in the superfinal, but I have to admit that since I have started to adore this typical Scandinavian pop song. This song does not have quality written all over it and their voices are not the best of the competition, but when this song starts playing on my Spotify I can not sit down anymore. Denmark should be back in the final this year and make a three-minute party on the stage because that is what they can do really really well.
Score: 8/10
Padraig: Forgive my dirty mind, but I expect most people would rather see their soldiers of love than listen to “Soldiers of Love”. This is standard boyband fare. It’s not ground-breakingly brilliant, yet it’s not a disaster either. Basically it’s average in every way. I’d be much more impressed if the song title was a double entendre, at least then I’d have something to snigger at.
Score: 5/10
Robyn: Even though Lighthouse X have only been together for four years, they look and sound like a reunited boyband from the ’90s, perhaps one that’s got back together for a Eurovision bid. What’s worse, “Soliders of Love” is such a dull, by-the-numbers, self-conscious Eurovision entry. Despite the song title, there’s no warrior spirit here. The lyrics are thick with cliches, adding nothing enjoyable. Lighthouse X are demanding three minutes of my time but giving nothing in return.
Score: 1/10
Sami: I don’t really understand why this song has so few fans. For me, it’s one of the best songs in this year’s contest. The guys look very confident on the stage and they sound good — together and in their solos. The chorus is really catchy and even though the lyrics are extremely cheesy, I can’t help singing along to it every time I hear it. Right now it looks like Denmark might not reach the final second year in a row, but I hope Europe surprise me and send them to final like they deserve to.
Score: 10/10
Tobias: I like this a lot. It got stuck in my head the first time I heard it. The music is catchy and memorable which is important in this contest. It is a great song for radio but may be a bit boring on the Eurovision stage, but hopefully they will do something more exciting than the final in Copenhagen. It will be interesting to see how Europe will respond to this, but I don’t think they will make the top 10 though.
Score: 6/10
William: This could seriously win — if Eurovision 2001 were magically restaged in Stockholm. But thankfully this is Eurovision 2016 and, sadly for Lighthouse X, they tread very familiar territory. Their early ’00s boy band sound oozes cliché — and so do the lyrics, particularly the cringe-worthy bridge: “Unbreakable, don’t let it go, it’s an open road, time to let it show”. Despite all of that, the hook is irritatingly catchy and I kind of like this — even if I would never pay to download it legally.
Score: 4/10
In the Wiwi Jury we have 40 jurors but only have room for 12 reviews. The remaining 28 scores are below.
Anthony: 6/10
Antranig: 8.5/10
Bernardo: 5.5/10
Chris: 6/10
Cristian: 4/10
David: 6/10
Dayana: 7.5/10
Denise: 7/10
Forrest: 6/10
George: 7.5/10
Gökhan: 4.5/10
Jason: 3.5/10
Josh: 4.5/10
Kristin: 7/10
Liam: 7/10
Luis: 1.5/10
Marek: 8/10
Maria: 6/10
Mario: 3/10
Max: 7/10
Mikhail: 5.5/10
Patrick: 5.5/10
Renske: 7.5/10
Rezo: 5/10
Sinan: 9/10
Steinunn: 6/10
William C: 5.5/10
Zakaria: 2/10
The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 1 and a high of 10.
Also wanted to pitch in here and say that there is no key change in the song.
If Anti-Social Media couldn’t qualify last year (a stronger entry, I might add), neither will this. My #32 in my first evaluation. It benefited from 2 strong female entries (one escaping controversy, and the other the bookies’ favorite) splitting the vote.
An ok song, boybands aren’t my cup of tea. 6/10
You will all swallow back your rude words when this song qualifies and snatches a Top 10 place instead of stupid, overrated divas’ entries like Croatia, Macedonia, Malta or Germany.
Lighthouse X, go for gold and show these LOSERS how a real act performs!
@Bogdan, sorry if my first comment was too harsh. I guess I was in a feisty mood.
boring, average and repetitive that is all you need to know about this song and it won’t make the esc final in may.
@Alex – You’re right, there is no key change in this song….those 2 reviewers don’t appear to know what they’re talking about. Even if it moves into the relative major I don’t think that counts. And I think they were referring to the final chorus anyway which definitely is in the same key as the rest.
Oh Denmark. What a mess of a song. Still better than Russia, though. 4/10
This song just doesn’t get to me as pure as others. It has nothing special also. Quite boyband typical. Forgettable.
But these 3 men are really likable. Song’s uplifted thanks to them.
I think Denmark will make the final but won’t get higher than top 15.
The Danish delivery to Eurovision is usually quite old-fashioned and generic. However, Soldiers of love is still catchy and still better than the terrible Heart-shaped hole and Not alone.
This is a part of my top 10 to 15 and this is perfect for a serenade song. I don’t mind what others say about it.
7/10
I finally agree with William on soethwing! I would never buy this legally, but it is quite catchy!
Cheesy lyrics are something you can expect going wit a boyband. Their voices sound really nice together, but this song doesn’t bring anything fresh.
4.5/10
At least isn’t annoying as “Cliche Love Song” and “The Way You Are”.
It’s really not the most original song in contention this year but the song is catchy, upbeat and professionally written, the boy and effect doesn’t work on me and it might struggle to qualify, but definitely not the worst and I wish them
Well. Won’t win though or come top 10, but it’s nice to listen to. 5/10 🙂
As a lot of people already said, this song isn’t original. But it will probably qualify, since they’re in the SF2 (that doesn’t have any great song and just 5 entries are actually good)
EDF must return next year as an artist or songwriter!!!
@Tom
haha, well to me it sounds like a Take That song 🙂
and i really like everyone’s opinion on here
This is better than last year’s song but that is not exactly hard to do. I will be honest, I am annoyed that this was offered up by Denmark instead of Simone. That is now two years in a row. Danish people should be banned from voting in their own national final! Having said that, this song is not as bad as I originally thought. There are worse songs than this in the final but not many. The lead singer has a lot of vocal issues.
3/10
@Nicky91 ha believe it or not that was my censored opinion xD
Nothing special about this, I needed A LOT of listens to stop disliking this song and that’s clearly not favourable at Eurovision.
Furthermore IMO they don’t even look that good, don’t know if people will vote for them because of their looks…
I can still see this qualifying, maybe.
The song gets boring so fast. It’s too emotionless.
@Miima: A cat playing ukulélé would be higher than Moldova.
They’re cute and the song is pleasant enough, given that they’re in the second semi, they’ll probably qualify. Don’t underestimate mature boybands- and they’re all easy on the eye, which always helps.
@ Alex – thanks for your feedback
@Nicky91
Absolutely, opinions just vary on this but as I said I don’t dislike it, it is just not my among my favourite songs this year. I like “Miracle” a bit more but again it may just sound too “Swedish” for my taste. I would like to have a few more kinks and edges in that song. It certainly will do well in the ESC final but it does not really appeal to me so very much. I also find that the word “miracle” is extremely overused in ESC lyrics.
Absolutely adore this song but there’s no doubt Denmark would have done better with Anja or Simone.
With Montenegro, this is for me the worst of the year. It feels empty and cliche, cheesy and just plain awful. Even last year was better than this, and that was pretty bad too. 0.5/10.
@GEF, alright that’s well enough explained to me, and it’s okay if you like other songs, this year has got very good songs
and what do you think about Samra for Azerbaijan?
@Tom, the same what i thought about this song 🙂
Didn’t expect score this high. For me, definitely the weakest song reviewed so far. Catchy chorus, but very generic and with no originality whatsoever.
4/10 for me.
The chorus is catchy and they sing well, but I find the song dated and cheesy. I’m not a fan of boy bands and this reminds me of a Take That tribute band.
My other half loves it though and thinks it’s catchy and cute.
Anyway good luck Denmark!
@Nicky91
Since you ask for my view on Malta’s song, I guess you probably love it. So I must disapoint you. For me it is just an ordinary (Swedish) Europop song. It is not bad and I like the bridge when the background singers sing “I can’t get enough of your love” but I am not so keen on the rest of the song. I must admit that I belong to the minority who actually preferred “Chameleon”.
It would be a 6/10 which is still not bad.
@WTF
how do you just call me?
i’ve also given my opinion on Denmark, i think they are quite underrated, i like this song Soldiers of Love, reminds me of Take That 🙂
#TeamSamratowin #TeamIraLosco4ever 🙂
@Nicky91: Great, seems like Malta’s spam bot is back at it once again…
How is this hogher than Moldova?
This is such an underrated song! I love this, it is catchy, light-hearted and fun. OK, it probably won’t win, but it is a good song that I would like to qualify. Honestly, people this year only seem to want lame, unoriginal Europop songs to do well. This song has a strong message and is miles better than last year’s.
2/10
I can’t get behind this. Even before I first heard this, I was already put-off by the stupid, corny title “Soldiers of Love”. Boy do I feel sorry for all those who want to enlist for that crap. Not that I don’t appreciate love songs but they need to be a lot less corny than this.
Hmm, Angus and Bogdan, I take that back partially. One could perhaps argue that the verses are in F minor while the cheery choruses are in the relative major key A flat major, but I do find it hard to say that this would qualify as a “key change” in the sense of a distinct feature characterizing boy band songs, and certainly not in the traditional sense that most people around here are used to invoking where one moves the key up a half or a full step (or more). You could probably come up with plenty of songs in… Read more »
My rankings of all reviewed songs so far:
1ST: Spain
2ND: Estonia
3RD: Belgium
10TH: Germany
13TH: Netherlands
19TH: Serbia
21ST: Norway
27TH: Denmark
35TH: Hungary
37TH: Moldova
Angus and Bogdan, you need to look up the definition of musical key. There is no key change in the song!
Well produced and it can work well. However it’s one of those songs that you could listen to a thousand times and you can’t still recognize it.
4 / 10
I don’t know if I’m being delusional but it seems like Denmark always has a good reputation in esc, but whenever I actually think about it, I remember that the only good song they’ve had in the last 5 years is from 2013 and that they’re actually not a solid competitor. This year yet again marks a halfway song like every other year excluding only teardrops. 5/10
@GEF
what would you rate Malta’s Walk On Water?
If you made this boyband entry any more stock, you could fly it over to the US and enter it in next week’s race at Bristol. Actually, I am totally for this, because Bristol will beat the ever loving crap out of you and give you some character, which this song desperately needs. The chorus is nice and catchy, but other than that, there’s nothing we haven’t heard before, and when I think of this years boy band entry, my mind slips to the slightly better UK entry (does a duet qualify as a boyband?). It doesn’t help that Denmark… Read more »
It’s just a nice song, nothing special but the performance in DMGP was actually really good, all three have good vocals, charisma and are enjoying themselves on stage. That’s why they won in Denmark.
I don’t really get all the hate towards this entry. Sure, they’re not the Beatles but I think it’s still a well produced song and an interesting tune. And at least it’s not a cheap tentative to imitate Heroes with a plastic electro tune, like most songs this year.
Not sure if Denmark can qualify with this but if it was up to me, they would. 🙂
This is indeed just a very bland 90s boy band song. I usually don’t complain about songs that seem a bit unmodern. But is there anybody really impressed by this 90s boy band trash? Would anybody call it good pop music? There are no real emotions, no power, no surprises. Everything seems so extremly artificial.
My rating so far:
Play / Say Yay: 9,0
Ghost / Pioneer / Slow Down: 8,0
What’s the pressure?: 7,5
Goodbye: 7,0
Icebreaker: 6,5
Falling Star: 4,0
Soldiers of Love: 3,0
underrated, quite catchy and fun
7.5/10
@Robyn: that’s okay! i understand its not everyone’s type off song and that’s fine. just my own conspiracy lol 🙂
Worst nordic entry this year.