Get the kettle on and pour us a brew! The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has reviewed the first five of the Eurovision: You Decide acts. And now we reach the final hurdle with Nate Silver and his number “What Are We Made Of”. Is the song made for 12 points? Read on to find out…
Nate Simpson — “What Are We Made Of”
About Nate Simpson
Twenty-three-year old Nate is, like the other five acts, a former X Factor candidate. He appeared in the 2016 show, making it through to Judges Houses. Prior to that, Nate has performed in the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. He also released an EP, Steady, before his time on the show.
“What Are We Made Of” Reviews:
Forrest: Nate Simpson certainly has an impressive range, although I’m not sure that alone is enough to carry this song. The chorus seems out of place, almost as if the song was written in two parts. Perhaps this is why “What Are We Made Of” lacks the oomph necessary to make it a truly moving ballad.
Score: 5/10
Chris: I groaned when the chorus first came on. It’s just so painfully paint-by-numbers generic. Let alone the fact that the lyrics make me yearn for LeKlein of all people. It’s telling that this didn’t come from the same writing camp that the majority of entries did — because it’s miles below everything else in this selection. That’s saying something. A shame to waste such a talented performer on this track.
Score: 3/10
Bernardo: Where is the hook? I’m still waiting for it to come. Nate’s voice is great, but once again, it’s against a bland song. It just does not stand out in the UK selection — and let’s not even talk about Eurovision. It’s pleasant to hear, but just that.
Score: 6/10
Anthony: “Simpson, eh?” Sadly for Nate, it’s less a case of “Woo-hoo!” and one more of “D’oh!” He’s got a beautiful, soulful voice but after a promising start the chorus kicks in and we get enough cheese to smother a bowl of nachos. Mmm… nachos (drools). It even makes Malta’s ballad specialist Franklin Calleja look even more adorable and the song suits him better as well.
Score: 3/10
Antranig: This was the last song revealed and before I heard it I thought the national final was of very high quality. After hearing this, though, I had to reevaluate that description. Lyrically and vocally, this is on point. But as a song, it’s extremely boring and I find myself with no reason to come back and listen to it again. I don’t believe it does Nate’s talents any justice.
Score: 3/10
William: The soaring chorus shows off Nate’s stellar vocals, but it seems to come out of nowhere and has little to any relationship to the verses that precede it. But the game of cut-and-paste isn’t the biggest offence. That award goes to the clichéd themes and lacklustre melody. This is so off-Broadway that it’s in New Jersey. Gurl, bye!
Score: 4/10
Robyn: I fell asleep when this was first broadcast (ok, it was 1am where I was) so I was expecting it to be snooze-inducing on future listens. But it’s not! It’s actually quite good. I don’t think “What Are We Made Of” would work as a Eurovision entry — it sounds more like a number from a musical. But it’s still an enjoyable song in its own right.
Score: 6/10
Kristin: I disagree with everyone, because I actually like this. Sure, maybe it’s generic and a bit paint by numbers, but I found it refreshing. Nate is charming and just seems like such a nice bloke. Of course, it helps that he has a beautiful voice too. This might not be the best song in the world but so far, this one is my favorite at You Decide. Shake the haters off, Nate. You are fab.
Score: 8.5/10
In our UK Wiwi Jury, we have 18 jurors but only room for 8 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Andy: 8/10
Edd: 6.5/10
Dayana: 5.5/10
Florian: 6/10
Josh: 3/10
Jovana: 8/10
Luis: 3.5/10
Matt: 9/10
Sinan: 6/10
Zakaria: 1/10
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 9.
Actually, The Wiwi Jury was quite spot-on on this occasion. If you’re going to write a song about an introspective and meaningful question like “what are we made of,” then it’s inappropriate to then ask that question with a chorus and melody that is OTT, pompous and proudly happy. The way that the Chorus announces “what are me made of” is cringeworthy. It sounds more like a gay man suddenly coming out to his friends and singing “I am so haa-ppyy!” It doesn’t work, because the lyrics don’t match the music in the Choruses. It doesn’t matter how good Nate… Read more »
Really? I thought his song was the best out of the bunch lol my opinion has been unpopular AF in this selection
As long as the songs aren’t “gay” enough, they are possibly brandmarked “dated” on the alt-right-esque, gossip-style WiWiBloggs. Nate’s song simply doesn’t meet the musical boundaries of WiWiBloggs.
Lots of “dated” comments among the wiwi jurors. How is it “dated” exactly?
His song is great and I’m tired of the word ”DATED”.
He has a very likeable chorus. What is ”dated”?
I just like to sing his chorus. Is it something wrong with me?
Ok let’s definitely not send this to kyiv. Anything but this song…taken from the 80s songwriting book
My favorite and I’m glad 4 juries ranked it as it deserves. Enlightened spot on messy BBC’ blot.
Nate deserve a better song, he has a lot of potential and his voice is really beautiful. The song is just boring and dated, it has a promising start,but then flops.
I’ll overlook Anthony’s remark on my beloved Franklin…
This song is just not good, the chorus is quite annoying.
4/10
Really good voice, song is flat and disjointed.
I think he did the best he could with it. If other performers let themselves down performance-wise on the night, it has a chance. Having said that, it would take a lot for Nate to get this song to win the selection.
Not a hope of winning
@an esc fan
It’s just the public and a British jury voting tonight.
Nate Simpson – What are we made of is my number 1.
I don’t know the system of voting, but if will be an international jury they might like this song more than british do.