Lithuania has kicked off its marathon national selection Eurovizijos dainu konkurso nacionaline atranka. That means it’s time for the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — to begin ranking and reviewing the songs that qualified from the four heats. We’re starting with Benas Malakauskas with “Rolling”, Edgaras Lubys with “Could it be?” and Golden Monkeys with “Septyni Dievai”. Should any of these acts start packing for Kyiv? Read on to find out what we think!
Benas Malakauskas – “Rolling”
“Rolling” reviews
Antranig: “Rolling” rolls along without really getting anywhere. I wouldn’t say it’s boring throughout the three minutes but it is certainly not memorable once it finishes. It is definitely a song that makes you feel good without taking you anywhere and unfortunately I’d like to go on a journey. Benas has potential and I hope he grows from this experience.
Score: 5.5/10
Luis: Hello, hello Mr. Filler, look there we go again. Benas brings us something bland and inoffensive. He’s got a decent voice, which struggles in some parts of the track, and a set of backing vocalists who need to be re-tuned. Moreover, his stage presence is close to null. He’s like the Lithuanian boyfriend of Barbie, in the sense that Barbie’s boyfriend can’t move. I’m rolling over this one.
Score: 3.5/10
Renske: Benas has a strong voice and potential as a performer, but nothing will save this song in the end. “Rolling” is Eurovision pop that we have heard more than enough of in recent years. Neither the message nor the song are refreshing or original. This song will be forgotten in the crowd.
Score: 5/10
Robyn: This song only made it from the jury vote and it’s no surprise why televoters weren’t impressed. Benas has a pleasant voice, but he struggles with higher notes, and his backing singers dominate the song too much. Then there’s the song itself — it’s just so bland. There’s nothing about it that makes me want to listen again.
Score: 4/10
Anthony: Benas just managed to avoid an early exit from the competition, and it’s a lucky escape. Despite his pleasant voice and charming stage presence, “Rolling” severely lacks impact and becomes forgettable. He was a hit with the local juries and I’m intrigued to see if the international panel agrees with them.
Score: 5/10
In the Lithuanian Wiwi Jury, we have 12 jurors but only room for 5 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Bernardo: 5/10
Dayana: 7/10
Deban: 4.5/10
Jordi: 4.5/10
Josh: 4/10
Patrick: 6/10
Sinan: 3/10
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 3 and a high of 7.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 4.7/10
Edgaras Lubys – “Could It Be?”
“Could It Be?” reviews
Renske: Edgaras Lubys is an established artist and a good stage performer. I can understand why this won the heat. However, it won’t appeal to an international audience. The song is a bit screamy, especially the “la-la-la” part. It’s also a poor mix between different genres — at one point the song tries to be an old-fashioned ballad and at another point it appears to be a dance song.
Score: 6/10
Antranig: Could it be that I am really bored? I think that’s the case. The verses are so mundane I forget the song is playing. The chorus is admittedly very catchy and almost becomes a completely different song. Those verses are not fun and they need a lot of power to make this enjoyable. As it currently is, the fun of the chorus is not worth enduring some forgettable verses.
Score: 3/10
Anthony: Two years ago he almost made it to the final. So could it be Edgaras’ year? He may be a hit in his own country, but I’m not feeling it, despite his performance. Don’t be surprised if the international juries feel the same way. Singing several la-la-las in the chorus may have worked for Ivi Adamou, but this isn’t having the same effect on Edgaras in this irritatingly messy tune.
Score: 4/10
Luis: La-la-las are part of the story of Eurovision. And in this song, as in many others through the 62 years of this contest, the la-la-las sound cheap and uninspired. I’m sorry, but filling almost a minute of a song with las is off-putting to say the least. The verses are passable, but from the chorus to the irritating music bridge, the song is a hot mess.
Score: 2/10
Robyn: I have no idea why the jury gave this their top score. The song starts off sounding edgy and cool in the verses, with the robotones complementing Edgaras’ gentle voice. Then things quickly derail with the empty and irritating chorus, followed by a poorly executed attempt at a pop drop. The whole song is a mess.
Score: 3/10
In the Lithuanian Wiwi Jury, we have 12 jurors but only room for 5 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Bernardo: 3/10
Dayana: 3/10
Deban: 3/10
Jordi: 4.5/10
Josh: 3.5/10
Patrick: 2/10
Sinan: 2/10
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 2 and a high of 6.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 3.1/10
Golden Monkeys – “Septyni dievai”
“Septyni dievai” reviews
Anthony: The Golden Monkeys have treated us to a golden moment — a rock entry sung entirely in Lithuanian! It’s a fine effort from the group. But when it came to the live performance, however, the vocals came across a tad shaky. It would be harsh to suddenly boot the lead singer out, à la Georgia’s Eldrine. They’ve done well in their heat so it’s still early days.
Score: 7.5/10
Robyn: This song has a lot of potential, packed with a sense of mystery and drama. As it is, the Golden Monkeys singer doesn’t quite have the vocal strength to deliver it as it was intended. His voice wobbles and sounds like he’s trying to force character to cover up vocal weaknesses. But I’m not quite prepared to write it off — this is Lithuania and there are still weeks to go.
Score: 6/10
Antranig: The verses of this song try to balance rock with some kind of dreamy mood and it’s not particularly compelling. The chorus is very powerful when it becomes proper rock. Ultimately, adding a bit of a punch to the verses would make this a great entry and Lithuania can do a lot with it. More rock at Eurovision, I say.
Score: 7/10
Luis: Is this some kind of Satanic cult? Or an artistic form of a Satanic cult? Whatever, that was good sh*t. “Septyni dievai” blends drama and mystery with a solid rock track. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the screen for the whole three minutes – props for that! But I’m also feeling that this song is very divisive. Only a certain slice of rock-loving Eurovision fans will enjoy. This is not ready to be sent into the mainstream world.
Score: 6.5/10
Renske: “Septyni dievai” tries to give us major drama and power, but the lead singer’s vocal is too weak to deliver it. The violin does not add anything to the song and is actually a bit distracting. Overall, the performance was actually one of the stronger ones — they can really translate the song onto the stage. If I were them, I would try to experiment with English, because it might sound great as well.
Score: 7/10
In the Lithuanian Wiwi Jury, we have 12 jurors but only room for 5 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Bernardo: 4/10
Dayana: 7.5/10
Deban: 2.5/10
Jordi: 1/10
Josh: 3/10
Patrick: 3/10
Sinan: 4/10
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 1 and a high of 7.5.
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Ok. Among the three song, Golden monkeys’s song is the best one. But nothing stands out yet.
Edgaras’ overall rating should be 3.1, not 3.25. His highest review is a score of 6, not 4.5. 😉
So happy to see that the Wiwi jury mildly liked the Monkeys’ song! It’s in the unintelligible (for me) Lithuanian language, but it still manages to be interesting and catchy.
ddf: We’re reviewing the 6 qualifiers starting from the first heat, then second, third and finally fourth. Please be patient as you’ll be waiting a while for Greta Zazza on heat 3.
you reviewed the worst songs , review greta zazza like i love you
These three entries are underwhelming. Other Lithuanian entries better be good or they’re not going to make it out of their SF.
I totally agree with your ranking this time. Golden Monkeys are by far the best out of these three. Very good, dramatic and mysterious song. The performance was nice as well, the lead singer just has to improve on his live vocals a bit.
7.5/10
Benas’ song is weak at best.
3.5/10
Edgaras’ is just awful. Very annoying song and voice, it’s a travesty he won.
1.5/10