Last year Jamala pulled on Europe’s heartstrings, securing victory in one of the most exciting Eurovision finals ever. And now the six finalists are showing their courage as they attempt to follow that. Vidbir 2017 — Ukraine’s national final — will take place this Saturday, and of course the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — is ready to judge. Next up is Melovin with “Wonder”. Does his song live up to its title? Read on to find out…
Melovin – “Wonder”
“Wonder” reviews
Antranig: “Wonder” might not be wondrous but there is a lot to like about this entry. The live performance and delivery elevates the song, with superb staging choices and flawless vocals. The weak points are the lyrics and the repetitiveness. This obviously wouldn’t be another Eurovision winner for Ukraine but it would be a respectable host entry.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: I accidentally watched this with subtitles on and was surprised at the intended lyrics versus Melovin’s pronunciation. But it still sounds good and he brings plenty of attitude. I’m less impressed with his teen emo style, but as he seems to genuinely be a teen emo and the novelty contact lens is his gimmick, then perhaps he’s just being true to himself. All up, “Wonder” is a good song, but there’s room for improvement in the performance.
Score: 6.5/10
Chris: What kind of emo Le Jazz Hot look is Melovin trying to sell me here? Unfortunately, it’s also probably the most notable thing about the song. It’s got a kind of bland charm to it. I don’t want to turn the song off, but it totally feels like a legitimate artist’s eighth track on an album. But seriously, that look is fascinating.
Score: 5.5/10
Mikhail: The first thing I want to say is that I’m in love with Melovin’s hair and eyes. It looks dope! Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the song. It is really nice, but it falls a little bit flat for me. I get the feeling that the song doesn’t suit his voice. It’s like they’re not made for each other and I’m just not getting that wow factor. It’s still enjoyable though.
Score: 6/10
Natalie: This feels like such a missed opportunity. Melovin seems to know what he’s doing and he has a good connection with his song, but there’s very little to this aside from heaps of piano chords, shallow electronic effects and Melovin’s repetitive chorus. There’s such a lack of love and soul given to this song, as though Melovin couldn’t be bothered to tweak and edit. It’s not sickeningly bad — there’s just better crafted and more memorable music out there.
Score: 5.5/10
Stanislav: I guess this song has everything to stuck in heads after its hypothetical win. Although there is not enough to have a song, you need charisma and staging. I have no doubt that they can make extraordinary staging with different effects. Additionally, Melovin has his own highlights – eye and hair colour(s) — something would make him stand out at Eurovisions. I would like to hear more electronic music and fewer ballad moments. And I’m lacking some power in the chorus. It’s a nice song for representing Ukraine, along with Tayanna’s one.
Score: 8/10
William: Coat from The Matrix, hair dye from the teenage emo kit, pronunciation straight out a Belarusian national final — there’s a lot to think about here. And the more I think about it, the more this feels manufactured and inauthentic. Musically underwhelming and lacking soul, this is a mediocre song dressed up by the LED. Not a fan.
Score: 5/10
Jason: Melovin (excellent name btw) really needs to work on his English pronunciation, because for the first minute or so, I didn’t actually realise that he was singing in English. That aside, “Wonder” is a current entry and is performed brilliantly by Melovin. It wouldn’t set the competition alight, but it is perfectly satisfactory.
Score: 6.5/10
In our Ukraine Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for eight reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Dayana: 7.5/10
Erdi: 6/10
Forrest: 6/10
Jordi: 7.5/10
Josh: 7/10
Kristin: 8/10
Luis: 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 5 and a high of 8.
I like it. Its like Love Injected infused with rock. Just needs to improve on his diction.
@an esc fan: It’s just that Tayanna is singing a very melodramatic song very powerfully… a lot of people like melodrama. It’s musically very expressive. It’s nothing to do with the raincoat – she could lose the raincoat and still move me with the music in the same way.
Don’t understand why so many people love Tyanna.
She sings like an actress in a play, not like an ESC singer, usually on this blog is labeled as a bad thing that it sound like a ”musical”.
Is it because the message is common ? ”Forgive me for my feelings, I love you”
Is it because some people have a fetish about a woman wearing almost nothing underneath her coat ????
I hope Melovin wins.
This could win. Yes there are English problems, but this is very “today.” 🙂
Definitely my #2 in Vidbir behind Tayanna. It’s nowhere as good, but still enjoyable and catchy. Really like this.
@Oxana
What you think is Indian English is actually Sound Indian English.The people in the north have a cleaner accent though the rate of syllable production is slower than our US counterparts.
I’m love with “Wonder”,this should definitely win Ukraine’s national final, not the shouty diva Tayanna. Melovin has charisma, stage presence and ‘shocking’ look. I prefer the studio version, because live it feels empty, but the LEDS, his look and voice elevate it all. Hope he wins this Saturday, I think he’s going to have the televote in his side. If he doesn’t win, well… I already have ‘Wonder’ in my playlist!
Melovin would be the best host.
“William: … pronunciation straight out a Belarusian national final” haha, nice one. but hardly a sensation 🙂 Belarusian and Ukrainian languages is from the same language group of Ruthenian language and have most in common than any other language pairs. No wonder why Ukrainians and Belarusians speak their English in similar manner, I do that too 😛 William, now you know how to distunguish Ukrainian/Belarusian English from Russian English, ours is much softer 🙂 in 2-3 centuries we’ll develop our dialect to rule like US and AU English or even Indian English does now 🙂 I have no expectations for… Read more »
No worries Colin
All of us happen to be unliterate here. 😀
The Jury is quite harsh here. This song is great, catchy, memorable, modern…
Melovin has a great voice,
His look is iconic, he serves an identity, something memorable and distinguishable. I believe that by just his facial expressions, his hair & eyes, he has a strong stage presence.
I know he won’t win on Saturday which is just so sad because he’s honestly the best! And they’ve never even sent a guy to the competition, well yeah a long long time ago. Celebrate diversity huh? What about sending Melovin then! He’s amazing! <3
@Kris – 😉 Exactly! Walking and writing on a cellphone at the same time just doesn’t seam like a good idea. B-)
@Polina Gagarina
Mikhail is a boy,just saying.
@Colin
*seem illiterate :-p
Doesn’t seem likely though Ukraine is going to pick a guy.Although they have asked to celebrate diversity. Maybe they’ll implement it in their selection.
He’s stage presence is beyond this world. He is really charismatic. I love his voice. It’s really powerful and soulful.The song has beautiful melody and with a little revamp it could do well in May. Best of the Ukrainian final.
@Mikhail sis ain’t nothing special with his hair, it’s a generic bleached weave lmao
It’s a nice song, until the last chorus. When he tries to go up with his voice but that note is the best he can do, I kinda feel embarrassed for him… he has a deep voice, he should leave virtuosities to vocalists with a wider range. I also expected something weirder for him, given his edgy looks. I’ll give this a 6/10.
Melovin is the best and I don’t mind if he wins all ESC, but I still can’t understand how was possible for Ukraine to make so many people resign and to ask help so late.
Poverty and corruption are not an excuse, next time a country should know to ask help early if it needs it.
Or to deny the hosting, it would be interesting to have another host and you to be like host and guest in the same time.
* Correction – To MAKE everyone feel welcome.
Sometimes I find this lack of editing options frustrating. It makes fluent English speakers sometimes seaming illiterate. 🙂
I think Melovin has the biggest stage presence out of Ukrainian finalists. The song may be slightly repetitive, but it has such a strong hook it doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t keep the contest in Kyev (But who wants that anyway), but could easily make it to the left side of the scoreboard. I know attractive girls are kind of a Ukrainian M. O., but maybe it’s time to try and experiment. They are on their soil and host entry serves more to male everyone feel welcome, rather than to win again.