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 up is E.G.O. with “My Story”, Gabrielius Vagelis with “Feel Myself Free” and Ieva Zasimauskaite with “You Saved Me”. Should we pay attention to any of these acts? Read on to find out?
E.G.O. – “My Story”
“My Story” reviews
Antranig: The first verse has me somewhat interested and then the chorus explodes into life. This is not the type of song we see Lithuania traditionally send but it’s time to try something different. This is full of energy and takes me on a journey unlike most songs in the Lithuanian selection. So far it’s the only song in this selection that I am going to download.
Score: 9.5/10
Robyn: E.G.O have come a long way since last year’s entry “Long Way From Home”. They’re still quite an old fashioned boy band, but they’re showing more skill and maturity this time. “My Story” is a decent song, but the performance just feels tired. As we saw with Lighthouse X last year, a mature boy band isn’t all that appealing.
Score: 6/10
Anthony: One year on, E.G.O. really have come in leaps in bounds as a group. Their song makes pleasant listening, but there’s just one small problem. The chorus sounds eerily similar to a song from another group. After Donny’s ninth-place finish, I can’t see Lithuania doing a Lighthouse X, let alone run the risk of picking up unwanted controversy, à la Cascada.
Score: 6.5/10
Renske: It seems that they shipped Lighthouse X on a boat to Lithuania. E.G.O. are good performers and they can really make their song enjoyable to watch. But they seem to lack some charisma like past non-qualifier boybands in Eurovision. If they work on that, this actually can become really great.
Score: 7/10
Luis: These guys won’t get much more than this. They harmonize, their choreography is slick, and the song allows them to showcase their powerful vocals. The performance ticks all the boxes for that song, and it should be perfect for those who like this genre. However, I’m neither a fan of boybands, nor of overdramatic songs, so I feel a bit drawn out of this. Good for them, because they will be the favourites of whoever likes this kind of music. Whether that is a group of people big enough to take them to victory is something I can’t tell.
Score: 6.5/10
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: 7.5/10
Dayana: 6/10
Deban: 8/10
Jordi: 5.5/10
Josh: 6/10
Patrick: 5/10
Sinan: 6.5/10
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 5 and a high of 9.5.
WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.55/10
Gabrielius Vagelis – “Feel Myself Free”
“Feel Myself Free” reviews
Antranig: Every so often you listen to a song and forget it’s even playing. The last thirty seconds brought me back to life and I actually felt a connection between artist and song. However, there’s no denying that the first two and a half minutes are completely forgettable. Subtlety is nice but there’s a difference between being subtle and forgettable.
Score: 4.5/10
Luis: All around, this song is very insufficient. Yes, Gabrielius has a great voice, but so what? His song is B-O-R-I-N-G. I deduce he wanted to go for a stripped-back and safe, but still a quality song, like what Michal Szpak did. Problem: you can only do such a thing when you’re an explosive performer. And guess what, this guy isn’t.
Score: 2/10
Anthony: If you’re going to perform a ballad as a possible Eurovision entry, make sure there’s a strong emotional connection to it. Gabrielius is trying to deliver the emotion but it just isn’t connecting, and this song doesn’t unleash his full potential. His laid-back live performance felt very wooden and there’s need for improvement if he’s to reach the final.
Score: 4/10
Renske: The guy surely has a good voice, but nowadays nearly every performer at Eurovision has a good voice. It won’t be outstanding from the really big ballads and the song just doesn’t deliver it for Gabrielus. It misses the drama.
Score: 4.5/10
Robyn: The raw ingredients for this song seem so promising: a telegenic singer with a smoky voice singing an emotional ballad. But all together, it’s a recipe for extreme boredom. I get what they are trying to do with “Feel Myself Free” — and there is absolutely room for a stripped-back performance at Eurovision — but it’s just not working here.
Score: 4/10
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: 6/10
Deban: 4/10
Jordi: 7.5/10
Josh: 5/10
Patrick: 6/10
Sinan: 3.5/10
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 2 and a high of 7.5.
WIWI JURY VERDICT: 4.65/10
Ieva Zasimauskaite – “You Saved Me”
“You Saved Me” reviews
Renske: This is so sweet and beautiful! But as soon as the song has ended, I have already forgotten it. Ieva owns the cute factor and has a great voice, but she has not the cutes or the greatest song. She finished only seventh in the televoting of the second heat and I think that tells already enough.
Score: 7/10
Luis: One thing is clear: Ieva’s saviour is either deaf or loves her a bit too much. Why didn’t her loved one warn her that singing this song was not a good idea? Yes, she has a beautiful voice, but her song is utterly boring, plain and uninteresting. When will people get that no one watches the Eurovision as a cure for insomnia?
Score: 2/10
Antranig: Ieva possesses an angelic quality and I feel like she’s about to save me and take me to heaven. Unfortunately, the song is just alright. It challenges her vocally and shows off some of her imperfections and that’s probably not what she was going for. I think she does connect with the song but the song is not very good.
Score: 5/10
Anthony: She reached last year’s final having started off without her own song. This time, she’s competing with one and it feels very much like her previous attempt. Another sweet and subtle pop ballad, Ieva ran the risk of being alienated with the televoters on her live performance. Unless she has something up her sleeve, Ieva’s becoming a one-trick pony, even though I adore her vocals.
Score: 6/10
Robyn: Ieva might as well be singing “You saved me” to the jury, because her song would not have got through on the televote alone. It’s a nice song with country tones, but it’s just so forgettable. If a song isn’t going to be entertaining, there needs to be an emotional connection. There isn’t one here.
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: 4/10
Dayana: 5.5/10
Deban: 3.5/10
Jordi: 7/10
Josh: 4.5/10
Patrick: 6/10
Sinan: 5.5/10
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 2 and a high of 7.
What’s with all the “feel myself” lyrics??? Ooo-er! Dodgy English or a bid to bring self-gratification to Eurovision???? (Go E.G.O. – LOVING that walking stop-motion trick in the choreography!)
Nothing special here. Among the three I would pick “My story”. Generally, I’m still waiting for something really good from Lithuania.
Clean you ears if you don’t like Gabrielius, dear wiwi jury.
@Robyn Gallagher
No problem. 🙂
Gabrielius 4.85? Wiwi jury must be funnier than lithuanian jury itself
E.G.O – I can’t tell if the members of E.G.O have first names that are the initials in the word “ego”, or if they chose that name ever since they first formed. It’s hard to say.
Score: 7.5/10
Gabrielius – I dunno fun this actually be criticized or not.
Score: 5/10
Ieva – This is really different from her previous attempt.
Score: 4.5/10
Gabrielius Vagelis is boring? Really? Oh, I must supposed this is because he isn’t a diva or a goodlooking guy. I will never understand what some juries are valuing. We are in the point where a generic boyband with a low-average quality song is getting a higher score than a touching song performed by an artist with a beautiful and charming voice. I was expecting something around 6.7/10 at least… ‘Feel myself free’ has some parts I don’t like such as the guitars on the verse’s bridge. But overall, as I said before, has a deep and meaningful message that… Read more »
This heat was quite strong.
E.G.O.: One of the best in the whole selection. I hate the trashy beat after the first chorus, but everything else sounds really powerful
8/10
Gabrielius: I think this is a beautiful song and I expected higher scores for it.
7/10
Ieva: Completely different from her other attempt, this is sweet, but very forgettable.
6/10
P.S.: Robyn, I think the girl in the picture above is Gabriel? (an eliminated act), not Ieva.
Ieva is soooo underrated :/