The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the qualifying songs from the heats of Lithuania’s Eurovizijos atranka. Next we’re looking at Otreya with “Last Two Weeks”, Paula Valentaite with “Never Let You Go” and Sasha Song with “Never Felt Like This Before”. Should any of these acts follow in Donny Montell’s footsteps? Read on to find out!
Otreya – “Last Two Weeks”
“Last Two Weeks” reviews
Anthony: Last year’s solo attempt didn’t last very long, so I’m pleased she’s made it through to the next stage of the competition. And her entry is a major improvement as well. Ugne delivers that rock chick style I’m used to hearing from her, but it also feels like there are empty gaps in between. Plug them in with a bit more oomph and who knows, she could be rocking it out in Kyiv.
Score: 7.5/10
Luis: She’s singing in English but I couldn’t understand a word. Also, hello 2007! It’s kinda nice to know that at least one emo survived 2008 and that she’s here bringing us a song back from her era. I’m sorry, but I can’t take this seriously for Eurovision 2017. It’s dated to say the least. Although the lead singer is energetic and her voice is on point, the whole act seems to have just jumped out of a DeLorean.
Score: 4/10
Antranig: I have a soft spot for Ugne and I think this sounds very modern by Lithuanian standards. I can’t see this doing very well at Eurovision but this is a genre I can fully support and it would be nice to see Lithuania take a chance and send something different. If they want to really win me over, pump up the rock elements and this could be very memorable.
Score: 6.5/10
Robyn: A song like this would have been on trend 10 years ago. Today it just sounds horribly dated, a remnant of the age of emo rock. But to Otreya’s credit, Ugne is an energetic lead singer and she brings a lot to the live show. She just needs to work on her pronunciation — the dramatic lyrics of the verses are virtually indecipherable.
Score: 5/10
Renske: Ugne’s stage personality is great and she performs this song with a lot of confidence. Otreya reminds me a lot of the Belarusian group IOWA, actually. “Last Two Weeks” is a decent song for Lithuania’s pop punk industry, but it is not a great song for Eurovision and it faces a big risk to be eliminated by the international juries in the next round.
Score: 6/10
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: 6/10
Dayana: 6/10
Deban: 7/10
Jordi: 3/10
Josh: 5/10
Patrick: 4.5/10
Sinan: 7/10
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 7.5.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 5.7/10
Paula Valentaite – “Let U Go”
“Let U Go” reviews
Renske: “Let U Go” is a decent try to get a modern radio-friendly song to Eurovision. Paula’s performance is not interesting enough yet to lift the song to another level. The electronic parts simply feel like gaps. With some work on staging, this song has a huge potential and its international sound will definitely help.
Score: 8.5/10
Antranig: This sounds so 2017 it’s almost 2018. What a refreshing change of pace for Lithuania. Unfortunately, it is not particularly enjoyable listening to those squeaky voices for such an extended period of time. It’s very current but it’s not very good. Paula’s vocals are extremely dynamic and her performance was great. I just feel like I’ve heard this all before.
Score: 6/10
Luis: The squeaky computer voice is a bit too much, but at least Paula is bringing us something from 2017. Thank you, I was starting to think that I was watching Lithuania’s 2007 selection. I’m not really taking into account her performance as it’s only a heat, but she needs to move more. She has sass and attitude, but it’s as if she’s holding back. Paula should bring a bit of Lindita Halimi “S’të fal” craziness, and she’d have it.
Score: 7/10
Anthony: Paula has clearly gone for the current sounding chart-pop approach, and “Never Let You Go” feels very Major Lazer. While the song sounds contemporary, it does begin to feel tiresome after several repeated listens. Paula confidently pulled it off on her live performance, but it’ll be interesting to see whether this will do well with the international juries.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. “Let U Go” isn’t perfect, but it’s the most contemporary song of the first semi-final. Paula gave loads of attitude in her performance but “Let U Go” does start to feel repetitive. The squeaky digital voice is on trend, but it’s used too much in the song and dominates, to the point where Paula sounds like she’s singing backing vocals for a cute robot.
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: 7.5/10
Dayana: 6.5/10
Deban: 6/10
Jordi: 7.5/10
Josh: 7/10
Patrick: 7.5/10
Sinan: 8/10
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 6 and a high of 8.5.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 7.1/10
Sasha Song – “Never Felt Like This Before”
“Never Felt Like This Before” reviews
Renske: Sasha Song had the most developed stage performance during the first heat, but the song has nothing to build on. It simply has not enough hooks and climaxes. Every listen it becomes more repetitive. In the end, it will become a flat and empty pancake which will lose its taste over time.
Score: 7/10
Antranig: The sad reality is that the best part of this song is when Sasha Song is not singing. The background music is really catchy but the rest of the song does not allow Sasha to shine. From 2009 we know he can do a lot better than this effort. Now if someone wants to make three minutes out of that instrumental, I’d listen to that.
Score: 4/10
Anthony: Eight years on from his Eurovision experience, Sasha’s still giving Serhat a run for his money in the wardrobe department. His stage presence remains as strong as ever whilst he connected with his backing group, and fits in well with this inoffensive, pleasant pop song. A decent effort, but it just needs that spark to really make it fly.
Score: 6.5/10
Luis: The squeaky voice in this song sounds like the typical crying baby sit next to you at a plane who doesn’t let you sleep. It’s just irritating, and a very bad way to ruin an otherwise decent song. Sasha has a nice voice and a good stage presence, but the rest is not good. From the Pharrell Williams hat to the fact that he has been battered in sequins, to the messy staging. “Never Felt Like This Before” doesn’t do him justice, “Love” was much more professional (and better in general, tbh).
Score: 4.5/10
Robyn: Unlike Donny Montell, Sasha Song isn’t making his attempted Eurovision comeback with a better song than his original entry. “Never Felt Like This Before” is nice enough, but there’s nothing compelling about it. The song’s production is so intent on being modern and trendy that Sasha sounds like an insignificant session singer adding vocals to a superstar DJ’s track.
Score: 5.5/10
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: 6.5/10
Dayana: 6.5/10
Deban: 6/10
Jordi: 6.5/10
Josh: 6/10
Patrick: 6/10
Sinan: 6/10
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 4 and a high of 7.
I’ll be honest. I like Paula’s song more here. But, Sasha’s song is also good. His ong in 2009 was far better, but this year he has a dance song, with a good mood. I can see people from home actually like this song and vote for it.
At least, I would like to see Otreya in the Eurovijizos final. I think it’s a bit underrated. I also like the Caribbean sound of “Never felt like this before”,but the song is generic and average.
Otreya: pleasant to listen to, but quite forgettable. I struggle to understand what the lead vocalist is singing about.
6.5/10
Paula: This sounds good, but I agree on the squeaky voices, they shouldn’t last for so long because it gets too repetitive.
6.5/10
Sasha: Not bad, but it doesn’t have much to offer.
6/10
Paula’s song is just one of the many Justin Bieber/Major Lazer/DJ Snake ripoffs that nobody wants to hear in 2017.
I like Sasha’s song. It is something I would actually listen to outside of Eurovision. I hope they pick it because the Lithuanian selection is bad.
Otreya are underrated and compared to overhyped songs from other selections like the one from Totova or even Tako from Georgia.. it comes across as modern to me.