Tiny island, big voices, huge passion — the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2017 is almost here! But before the February 18 final arrives in all its glory, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — is reviewing and rating all 16 competing entries. Today we move onto Claudia Faniello with her song “Breathlessly”. Is Claudia leaving us breathless in her MESC return? Read on to find out…
Claudia Faniello – “Breathlessly”
“Breathlessly” reviews
William: Don’t deny: Claudia Faniello can sing! She feels every note and pours herself into every verse. And while I love her, the song leaves me wanting. From the heavy cymbals to the sappy melody to the feeling of Trisha Yearwood in slow motion, it comes from another era. Sadly it doesn’t leave me breathless, just frustrated that Claudia doesn’t have a song worthy of her talent.
Score: 4.5/10
Josh: Smooth, subtle, and beautiful. I’m thrilled to see Claudia back in the selection for Malta, and “Breathlessly” makes me feel at ease. This is a song that isn’t trying too hard to be minimalistic – taking inspiration from the great country ballads of the early 2000s and making it her own. However, I fear that the entry lacks the originality and dynamism to really go in for the kill.
Score: 6/10
Robyn: This is such a dreary, old-fashioned ballad. Fans of the genre will love it, but I can’t connect with it. I’ve tried listening to this song three times, and every time my mind wanders and I find myself doing something more interesting. It’s so forgettable.
Score: 3/10
Chris: I wouldn’t even have to listen to this song to tell you that Claudia Faniello is doing a ballad. Lo and behold, here we are. This is a cliché mess: lyrics such as “knowing there’s a vacancy within your heart”. Seriously? Claudia can sing, but why bother when it’s a song like this?
Score: 3.5/10
Deban: There’s a timeless quality to “Breathlessly”. A ballad that straddles many decades whilst committing to the merits of mellow rock. Claudia Faniello’s voice draws me in, and her delivery of the lyrics is hauntingly captivating.
Score: 8/10
Bernardo: “Breathlessly” might be dated but Claudia’s vocals are so engaging, smooth and beautiful — the woman can sing y’all. It won’t win, but it will be pleasant to hear such an emotional ballad in MESC. Miss Faniello knows how to do it and I’m excited.
Score: 6/10
Our jury for the 2017 Malta Eurovision Song Contest contains 14 jurors, but we only have room for six reviews. The remaining eight scores are listed below.
Antranig: 3/10
Dayana: 6/10
Forrest: 2.5/10
George: 7.5/10
Jordi: 8/10
Luis: 2.5/10
Ramadan: 4/10
Zakaria: 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 2.5 and a high of 8.
This is the fisrt Maltese song I like. It’s a nice ballad, with a beautiful female voice.
This song sounds like it has come out of my pile of discarded songs that I wrote 20+ years ago. It harks back to the days of Celine Dion and Shania Twain; the days when all album tracks sounded exactly like this: beautifully sung, but extremely predictable. I confess that I do have a nostalgia to write these types of songs. I love Claudia’s voice, and would even love to work with her in the future once these types of piano-based soft rock ballads come back into fashion. Sadly, this is not the right time for that. Also: Tiny cringe… Read more »
I think it’s a decent ballad, even though it gets easily dull after some time.
7/10
What? 5 🙁 No Breathlessly is timeless! It is not the winner for me but it’s an beautiful entry.
I can’t decide if I should vote for either Maxine or Claudia. 😐
6.5/10
This got a 4.0 from me (9/16). I found it incredibly boring.
Malta’s got one of the best national finals and unfortunately their songs aren’t being appreciated. It’s a pity though. Breathlessly is not a winning song but it’s a top 5 contender.
Beautiful song! Beautiful melody! Beautiful lyrics! It’s true, it isn’t a 2017 song but it’s an emotional wonderful song! A song that give you goosebumps and it gets only 5 points?! It’s not going to win MESC of course but it’s a lovely song, it’s wonderful ? It’s my 4th favourite. Deserves 7 points at least!!
I already said that I believe that ballads and slow-tempo songs are very underrated most of the time. This song is a 9/10 for me. Beautiful lyrics, beautiful melody, beautiful voice. I know tastes are different, but I cannot believe that Up from Supernova got 1 point more on average. I also kind of expect both Brooke from MESC and Mirela from Objectivo Eurovision being very overrated, like over 7. Nonetheless, Claudia’s song is for me one of those that will probably stick with me over the years, regardless of the MESC results. The only person I want to win… Read more »
A 5? You guys must be kidding.
First time when I heard the song i was so bored,but after some replays it’s not that bad,really beautiful and the lyrics are great too!! Now it’s in my top 5 from MESC,but based on first listen this should not win!
The song should be titled Boringly. But I guess, if they want to make the UK look less boring, they could send this as an act of mercy towards their English-speaking brothers?