February is at its peak, new artists are appearing everywhere like popcorn and the host country of Eurovision 2017 — Ukraine — is adding the oil. And of course the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — is ready to judge. Next up is Illaria with “Thank You for My Way”. Read below to find out what we think about it.
Illaria – “Thank You for My Way”
“Thank You for My Way” reviews:
Mikhail: It’s simply beautiful. The melody is charming, you can feel the Ukrainian soul in it. All the folky elements are incorporated fantastically. I think it’s flawless. Some might say that it needs some climax, but I don’t think so. This song takes you into the ocean, into the beauty of nature and wants you to feel relaxed. That is why I love it.
Score: 8.5/10
Josh: Illaria looks like the lovechild of Kati Wolf and Valentina Monnetta. The difference being as that Kati and Valentina both had memorable songs. Nothing stands out in “Thank You for My Way”, which is a huge concern. Plus, we already have our share of female-lead ballads at Eurovision 2017.
Score: 3.5/10
Kristin: You are most welcome for “your way” Illaria. You can also keep your way, because your way is a little bit bland and boring. Did I say “your way” a little bit too often? Whatever. I don´t care. I´m doing this my way. Thank you but no thank you. Next please!
Score: 2/10
Robyn: The title sounds like something your uncle would say to a karaoke operator, but “Thank You for My Way” turns out to be a very pleasant song. But that’s the problem — it’s just nice. There’s nothing amazing happening. Even an attempt at some Jamala-style wailing fails to deliver any emotion.
Score: 4.5/10
Luis: “Thank you for my way” is a contender for the worst title of all the songs in any national selection this year. The song is not that bad, luckily. There are actually some very beautiful elements, and Illaria’s voice is warm and rich, like a Colombian coffee. Sadly, the song is more like the coffees they sell at tourist attractions: you only consume it as there’s nothing better. And gurl, there’s something much better in Ukraine.
Score: 3.5/10
Stanislav: It’s difficult to say something about Illaria’s song without repeating the word “typical” in every sentence. For me, “Thank You for My Way” is a very very typical Eurovision ballad song. Of course, there is no doubt that Illaria can sing, and sing very well. She has a great voice and nicely shows it off in this song. Though she could still have shown off her voice with a modern dance song.
Score: 6/10
William: The LED is beautiful and Illaria has lovely red hair. But the song? It’s not dramatic enough for musical theatre. It’s not mainstream enough for the radio. And it’s not interesting enough for Eurovision. But it’s great to see how Ukraine is using the LED floor here — it bodes well for when they stage Eurovision this May.
Score: 3/10
Chris: This is like 1944’s weird, offshoot folksy cousin. There’s a lovely tone to Illaria’s voice and the staging is really on point here. Those two things, however, drag the mediocre melody along. There’s nothing really special here — would Ukraine really want to be represented by this on home turf? It’s nowhere near the worst entry, but it’s by no means a stand out moment.
Score: 5.5/10
In our Ukraine Wiwi Jury, we have 15 jurors but only room for eight reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Antranig: 6.5/10
Dayana: 7/10
Erdi: 6.5/10
Forrest: 4.5/10
Jason: 5/10
Jordi: 8.5/10
Natalie: 7.5/10
Zakaria: 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 8.5.
*put
argh, add that “edit” link to comment, I know wordpress allows it. I know I print mailformed English most of the time but I print it fast, LOL
Hersi, well out
still, Illaria is my the one and only artis to win NF. if wiwibloggers can’t understand the meaning of this song, it’s energy and unique feeling, it’s not our fault. We, Ukrainians, understand this song perfectly. do you have a soul? I guess you traded it for colored galaxy note 7? 🙂 we’re hosting and we’re not going to impress YOU with our song. We’ll have our party with the song WE want. courtesy of Jamala this year. save your energy for the next year to bash our singer for not being gay aligned and for failing to deliver syntetic… Read more »
Sooooooooo much better than Tatyana’s entry. This would be a good selection for Ukraine. Not the standout that 1944 was, but maybe there’s another song that’ll work in the selection? Haven’t listened to any of the others…
First of all, Ukraine doesn’t look for a song to win the contest! They’ve already done this! So the point is to find the right song to represent them properly!
I’m not a fan of the song, but her voice is beautiful and the song sounds traditional while it isn’t.
Honestly, from the very first listen i thought Tayanna was trash. This song is 10,000 times better.
@ HateUCinephiles : ” I really do not know how many more zero-effort ballads will you see as “elevated by passion and live vocals” in this year’s NF season. Taco, then Lucie, then Kasia, the Claudia, then Tayanna. Things are becoming easier and easier for future upbeat entries, supposing they come of course”
True, and upbeat songs will come.
I’m all for Melovin!
Best song in the Ukraine.
I like it more every time I listen to it.
It’s OK but OK is not going to win.
What you guys don’t understand is that this song is very Ukrainian, and Ukrainians like this very much. The fact that you rated this so low and put Tayanna so high (even higher than you guys rated 1944) shows just how rigged the Wiwibloggs Jury is towards Tayanna, when she’s still not gonna win bc nobody in Ukraine wants her lolol
I prefer this rather than Tayanna tbh
Wha does “thank you for my way” even mean? This song would be much better in Ukrainian, because if you’re going to write lyrics that make no sense at least do it in a less popular language. The song itself is quite dull, nothing outstanding happens in those 3 minutes. I fail to hear the folk elements many talk about. Also, screaming @ Josh’s review lmaooo
This is the richest, most complete entry in Vidbir 2017. It is unfortunate Jamala came just last year, because a loose, and not that justified of a comparison as well as the not so clever use of almost identical staging is doing this song damage. This is lush and layered whereas 1944 was organic and minimal. I could even describe them as opposite sides. Both being weird is not reason enough to dismiss the later for repetition. How are wiwibloggers (and presumably Ukraine) so behind Tayanna’s colourless, cliched, out of date song is a mystery. I really do not know… Read more »