From drag queens to sand artists to women in giant hamster wheels, Ukraine knows how to choose memorable Eurovision acts. And on Saturday they’ll do it again with their national selection for Eurovision 2017. As ever the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — is ready to judge. Next up is Tayanna with “I Love You”. Is it love?
Tayanna – “I Love You”
“I Love You” reviews:
Antranig: There has been a lot of hype behind Tayanna but I felt the studio version to be quite overrated. However, this came to life in the live performance — goosebumps for three minutes. Vocally and musically, Tayanna annihilates the competition. While there are many songs yet to be revealed, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Tayanna keeping the contest in Kyiv for another year.
Score: 10/10
Robyn: Ukraine wouldn’t be so obvious as to send a song in the style of last year’s Eurovision winner, but they seem to have been greatly inspired by the 2016 runner-up. If you like divas belting out big dramatic songs, you’ll love this. But where “Sound of Silence” had stillness and emotion amid the drama, “I Love You” just goes for the standard Eurovision drama playbook. Tayanna is a talented singer, but “I Love You” feels cynical.
Score: 6/10
Kristin: One word sprung to mind, when I listened to “I love you”: wow. This one is dynamite, y’all! If Tayanna gets chosen to represent Ukraine, we will probably have the best host entry since Anna Vissi in 2006. The power here is beyond everything. She puts her heart and soul into the performance, and strikes you like lightning. I actually had to take a moment, and just gather myself after first listen. Pure quality!
Score: 9.5/10
Luis: Wow. “I love you” is not my kind of song at all, but Tayanna takes this to another dimension. She sings “when I said I’ll always love you, it came right through my chest”. Girl, the whole performance came right through your chest! She masters drama and turns her intense pain into a delight for the ears. It was the obvious stand out of the semifinal, and I’m feeling she will be flying the Ukrainian flag in Kyiv. This is not just another host country entry — this is in the league of Anna Vissi, Jelena Tomasevic and Sabina Babayeva. Stunning.
Score: 8.5/10
Zakaria: I can already hear the crowd singing along to this and roar at the end of the performance inside the International Exhibition Center. Yes, this song can definitely represent Ukraine on home soil and give them another great placing or even a second consecutive win. “I Love You” is full of emotions and Tayanna does an amazing job transmitting them by the power of her incredible voice and stage presence.
Score: 9.5/10
Josh: Tayanna has come to slay and wants to keep Eurovision in Ukraine for 2018, honey! This is a true highlight in the Ukrainian national selection this year, and whilst I personally don’t think this could win, it could get another top five placing for Ukraine. This stands out above the other female-led ballads we have so far. There’s so much power and grit in her voice that I’m captivated from this first second. This is special.
Score: 8.5/10
William: Tayanna makes pain sound so beautiful. With her powerful vocals and a chorus that surges like a tsunami, she delivers an emotional tour de force — and one replete with the requisite Eurovision key change. The raw product is strong. With some tweaks and dramatic staging this could shoot to the Top 5 at ESC.
Score: 8.5/10
Jason: “I Love You” is for sure one of the strongest entries amongst all of this year’s national finals. Tayanna is definitely not messing around here. The studio version blew me away, but the live performance absolutely killed the competition. She serves raw emotion and Europe would eat it up. There are more semi-finals to come, but Ukraine should just hurry up and pick Tayanna.
Score: 9.5/10
In our Ukraine Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for eight reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Chris: 7/10
Dayana: 7.5/10
Erdi: 8.5/10
Forrest: 9/10
Jordi: 7.5/10
Mikhail: 8/10
Natalie: 8/10
Stanislav: 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 10.
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This would easily crack the top 5. Great quality! Tbh, lots of people have brought up that it is “the usual female shouting ballad” but no one can doubt that she wouldn’t blow the roof of in Kiev and will undoubtedly make a fantastic host entry!
You cannot go more cliche then that…
Just from the first two notes it feels like you’ve heard it soooo many times before, Eurovision becomes more and more generic and boring with this types of songs, and particulary this year is absolutely propped with divas.
@ ”Y’all ADORED Rona Nishliu, didn’t you?” – Honestly, not me. It was probably one of my 10 least favorite entries of 2012., but I appreciate the uniqueness of the performance. It certainly wasn’t a ‘safe bet’ for Albania, they took a risk and ended-up in top 5. *I* don’t really like it, but I can see why some do. It’s not a fodder.
This song is good. Tayanna can really sing and this sound great. However… I think there are even better ballads this year, and the difference in their scores is shockingly big! Some got 5. something, some 6.something. Why is this rated that much higher than ”Blackbird”, ”Again” or ”I Will Never Give Up On You”? It is really *that much* better? I am leaning on thinking mentioned ballads were very underrated, rather than Tayanna being overrated. Anyway, I agree for Ukraine. This is probably the best song in the finals (or at least a toss-up for the spot), but it’s… Read more »
She sounds better live than the audio ????
That’s cool Robyn. 🙂
Too much grammatically incorrect shouting tbh.
@ Mil – Jamala’s song truly trascends any definition, it was GODLY. As for Mika, I’d say that was a midtempo rather than a ballad.
Either way, if this goes to the contest it’ll make the Polish entry PALE. Whew, another flop jury year for Poland because all the votes will go to Talentanna, hihi.
Wtf @ all the hate for this song, it’s literally the most outstanding ballad in this NF season. It’s shouty, so what? Y’all ADORED Rona Nishliu, didn’t you? It’s very dramatic and she pours her soul into it. The Wiwi jury’s stellar score is completely justified.
OVERRATED… I knew it before reading the scores… A shouty diva, typical.
another screamy botox diva… BORING
It’s too shouty [4]
.
I don’t know why this entry is so popular ._.) I mean it’s a good performance (but I prefer Occidentali’s Karma and Apollo in term of performance), but the song itself….. it’s not a strong song, just a girl who shouting about her lost love. I just…. don’t get the hype at all.
6/10
it’s too shouty.
3x
And it’s bland. Moreover, I’d agree about comparison with Babayeva if we were talking about Illaria’s complex and wonderful ballad (c) my bf, but not this shout-fest. This points are as laughable as In or Out from EL. But lame happens, yet this year juries have toppled some good male acts again… 🙁
Poland’s entry is way better than this and much less shouty … and less obvious … and far more current … but as always fans need to create hype around something … I guess the Russian roulette goes to this one … God knows why!
Why the hype, I don’t get it?!?!? This is truly THE shouting female ballad of the year! I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but come on!!! 8.39 for THIS?! There is nothing special about this screaming fiesta! In my book, ‘Flashlight’ (which I have on repeat since it won the Polish NF), ‘Botë’ and ‘Never Give Up on You’ are far superior, both in terms of composition and performance!
Ahahaha…
“NO. we DON’T need any more shouting women ffs!” – A wonderfully ironic and hilarious comment coming from Nina Sublatti, of all people. Very funny! 😀
In a likely to be Ballad Year, this one will 100% smash the other ballads to shreds. It will be Top 3 easily in Final. (Again, not every song came out yet lol, but for now)
NO. we DON’T need anymore shouting women ffs!!!!!!
@Polegend Gagarina
Mika Newton definitely had a ballad. That means 4 of the last 6 Ukrainian entries are female ballads (with the other two still being female singers). In fact, the last time they didn’t send a solo female entry was a decade ago in 2007 – and that was Verka. It’s hard to argue that Ukraine doesn’t have a niche entry, even if they’ve only been participating since 2003, and this is a quintessential Ukrainian entry – but a shouty, paint-by-numbers Ukrainian entry.
wiwiblogggs is literally so desperate for this song to win.. to bad the the esc fans In Ukraine don’t actually like it that much
This song is the definition of unoriginality, and it’s way too screamy to enjoy. Totally disappointed with this year’s Ukrainian finals
This is weird, that woman is choking and people clap their hands thinking she is emotional, instead of helping her.
On paper this song is rediculous, unenjoyable and wayyy over-the-top. Only the most outstanding kind of singers could do it any justice. Luckily, Tayanna is PERFECT at delivering this song. Her high range literally gives me chills towards the end of the performance. It’s one of those entries that I shouldn’t like, but I do simply because the performer is excellent. If Ukraine picks this, they might blow the roof off their own venue. 🙂
@Polegend Godgarina
Plus Mika Newton. And I will minus Jamala – it was not a ballad to me, it actually doesn’t have a definition…
We need SVT to pick the right song. Here in Ukraine we cannot do anything without SVT!!!! SVT SOS!!!
This is quality.
I really hope she does not go for English if she does win because this could be right up there come Eurovision-time.
Typical shoutty euroballad that fans will suck it. I’m bored.
it’s too shouty.
2x
This is amazing! Such a powerful song and voice. She should win for sure.
8.5/10
Best ballad of the year. Well deserved score.
I must be the only one who really likes this! Right staging this would do well. Thumbs up from me. Peace
Illaria is better than Tayanna who is so boring and genre. “I love you” is similar to “Angel” from Mika Newton.
I’m all for Melovin!
Why would I care about Ukraine, they don’t want to host again so they need a pathetic woman that screams I love you, wearing something to put her camel toe on display (hello Elina Borg) and a coat???, is exactly what Ukraine needs to be sure will not host next year, and everybody else must be happy.
@ Daniel – I guess you can’t count up to 3. Ukraine’s female ballads so far have been Alyosha, Zlata and Jamala.
This is the only outstanding ballad of the season. I’d be surprised if she didn’t win the national final.
awful song, generic and bland
awful, contrived euroballad cliche….her screams are PAINFUL to listen o. A VERY bad chpice…:Time / O Torvald must win! Best song!
Why has Robyn’s score been counted twice?
I really like her vocals and the song is good! But agree with @Daniel, it’s so predtictable for Ukraine nothing new. Still love it:)
Quote from the title : “This one is dynamite, y’all!”
This is just like those bombs that are still found around Europe, from WW 1 or 2, that never exploded and is for the best.
I mean it’s fine, but particularly for Ukraine, it’s very safe. I’m beginning to lose count of how many times we’ve had a Ukrainian woman with large vocals singing a big ballad, and this doesn’t really tread any new ground.
That said, it’s definitely the best that the final has to offer – but that disappoints me.
it’s too shouty.