We are getting close to Belarus’ national selection for Eurovision 2017, which takes place on January 20. In recent weeks the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — has been listening to and reviewing all of the songs. Next up is PROvokatsiya with “My Love”, serving their pain with tons of emotions. But was it enough to melt our hearts? Read on and find out!

PROvokatsiya – “My Love”

“My Love” reviews

Chris: There’s nothing too wrong here, but then there’s not a lot that’s right. The duo aren’t the best singers in harmony and at times it feels a little like a battle, more than a duet. The song drags on and it’s hurt by the lyrics, too, which feel like they’ve been crammed in as an afterthought to the melody.

Score: 4.5/10

Mikhail: Post-Soviet ’90s wailing. What else could we expect? I admit, they feel that pain they are singing about, but the way they sing it is not my love. Not even close. For me it sounds like some sing-off in karaoke bar behind the “a little bit drunk” line. It could just be the technical quality of Belarusian audition stream, but I don’t think that it matters that much.

Score: 3.5/10

Luis: They are called PROvokatsiya, but the only thing they provoke are yawns. As much as the guys feel the song, why would any country make their 2017 choice be a song that a ’90s boyband would have rejected? These guys have beautiful voices, and they work well on their own, but their harmonies need to be polished. “My Love” is lame, and the concept of a duo singing a love song directed to a third person is not really engaging.

Score: 3/10

William: These outfits are very Mao Zedong slumber party. But rather than discussing a cultural revolution these bros are overdosing on sentiment. I respect their passion and they blend rather well, but two dudes pouring their hearts out over the same woman is a little creepy and I just want to unplug the speakers. This could slay in a gay telenovela — I would 100% watch! — but for Eurovision it’s just not working.

Score: 3/10

Robyn: This isn’t a great song and PROvokatsiya aren’t the best singers, but they put so much into their performance. Despite the duo’s futuristic look, the song has a cloying and old-fashioned sound. But PROvokatsiya put a lot of heartfelt emotion into their performance and can’t be faulted for that.

Score: 5/10

Sami: Before the chorus, I couldn’t really catch a single English word from all that mumbling. Not sure if I should blame their vocals or just the awful acoustics of this audition room. But no matter how great the lyrics might be, that wouldn’t be enough to lift this song anywhere. It’s bland, it’s dull and really lacks a memorable melody. I rather watch this on mute, as the boys are nice to look at but they really need few singing lessons before the final.

Score: 3/10

Kristin: What in the world? Someone should inform those two lovely boys that singing is not what they are destined to do. Oh dear. The song is not bad as such, but it is far from being good. What was intended to be a heartfelt and emotional ballad, seems more like a duel between two equally bad singers about who can cram in more false notes. This leaves nothing but a constant “My Love” ring in my ears. Which is not a good thing.

Score: 3/10

Antranig: Two young, attractive guys singing a love song — what could possibly go wrong? Apparently, just about everything. Individually they aren’t bad but they don’t harmonise very well. The song isn’t terrible but it gets repetitive. I think these boys could use a bit more experience before they take to the Eurovision stage. I hope to see them again in a year or two.

Score: 5/10

In the Belarus Wiwi Jury, we have 18 jurors but only room for 8 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Bernardo: 2/10

Dayana: 4/10

Edd: 3.5/10

Jason: 1.5/10

Patrick: 5/10

Rezo: 3/10

Sinan: 3.5/10

Steinunn: 1/10

Zakaria: 0.5/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before calculating the average score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 0.5 and a high of 5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 3.23/10

SEE OUR LIST OF BELARUS 2017 RANKINGS HERE

FOLLOW ALL OF OUR BELARUS EUROVISION NEWS HERE

14 Comments
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Purple Mask
Purple Mask
7 years ago

@Robyn: Haha! I’m glad I didn’t watch the Moldovan Semi Finals then!
1.04!! Crikey! So, was the music just the same two or three notes repeated over again or something like that? 😀 Wow. Astonishing.

Wait, Highway’s “The Real Thing” only got 2.2? (Although I suppose that could have offended more jurists though). I can’t wait to see the scores for some of Finland’s 2017 selection now. 🙂 (Let me kiss your… whaaat?!)

Avstriya
Avstriya
7 years ago

Despite the awful sound the song is actually quite good and the voices are not that bad either.

I think there is a strongly negative bias towards Belarus and Moldova. Would this be in the lineup of Ukraine, Russia or Armenia, their score would be better, because these countries are seen as absolute pros.

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

@Purple Mask

It’s not, there have been even worse ones. For example, Montenegro’s “The Real Thing” got a 2.2/10. 😛

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
7 years ago

Question: Is that the worst Wiwi Jury Score EVER? It might be.
Oh dear. I feel really bad for the guys.

AngieP
AngieP
7 years ago

What is happening with the Belarussian NF?
Most of the song are mediocre for me. This song doesn’t sound good (maybe from these videos we can’t understand much). I’m not keen on the vocals and I also think it’s boring. Not a fan.

GoodLuckLads
GoodLuckLads
7 years ago

They are handsome guys. It’s a shame, that they’re song isn’t that good. It’s really, really old-fashioned, not in a good way. They should’ve been Samir & Viktor of Belarus. Sing funny, catchy, uptempo-songs.

cheesecake
cheesecake
7 years ago

3.23 seems about right.

Tomas Patrick Davitt
Tomas Patrick Davitt
7 years ago

“Mao Zedong slumber party” – LOL YAS QUEEN! COME THROUGH! I snorted in the library when I read that

Jerome
Jerome
7 years ago

Ouch! Apparently Belarus doesn’t have a good selection (based on the reviews thus far). Personally, I think this is a great one with so many good songs in the line up (this one included). But hey, to each their own.

Johan
Johan
7 years ago

@Avstriya You are not right. The meaning of Wiwi Jury is to help Belarus with the international assessment of the songs of selection and to give up local stereotypes. This will help if not now, then in the next year for sure.

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

It’s such a pity because the verses of this song are great and very promising. And when you expect a big “BOOM”, what do you get? An annoying and cheesy chorus that doesn’t go anywhere and just repeats itself over and over again. The song itself doesn’t build and this doesn’t help. Still, I think it’s a bit underrated and I’ll give them extra points because I actually really enjoy the verses.

6/10

Avstriya
Avstriya
7 years ago

I think the jury should quit posting reviews on Belarussian songs. Sorry, but I feel sorry for Belarus as they get bluntly ridiculed as the one country that does not know how to get Eurovision right. Better to politely skip the reviews!

Official Månsters Association
Official Månsters Association
7 years ago

They both can’t sing in harmony with each other and the entire song bores me. I can’t even finish the whole song without a yawn every now and then (idk how). Next.

Pollaski
Pollaski
7 years ago

LMAO. What in the holy eternal f*** is this?

Let’s focus on the most interesting thing of the video- are those spinning wheels on the side of the video screen in sync or not? Because I’m kinda thinking each ones a bit off, but there too big to focus on two at once, and the camera keeps moving so I cant just flash from one to the other. Its driving me nuts.