Gamarjoba! The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — have landed in Tbilisi where we’re currently downing gallons of delicious Georgian wine and tons of khachapuri, a traditional dish of cheese-filled bread. In between courses we’re also reviewing Tamara Gachechiladze and her Eurovision 2017 song “Keep the Faith”. Are we able to do that after hearing her ballad? Read on to find out.
Tamara Gachechiladze – “Keep the Faith”
About Tamara Gachechiladze
Tamara “Tako” Gachechiladze won Georgia’s national final in January, coming out tops in a field that included 25 songs spanning traditional folk, EDM and balladry. Tamara has had Eurovision in her sights for years, having competed at the Georgian national final in 2008 with the song “Me and My Funky” and again with Stephane & 3G, who were chosen to represent Georgia at Eurovision 2009 with “We Don’t Wanna Put In“, before it was disqualified for political content. Speaking to wiwibloggs in Israel in March, Tamara said she wasn’t particularly surprised to have won. Can she keep the momentum going at Eurovision?
“Keep the Faith” reviews
Chris: At the Georgian national final, Tamara heaped drama on top of a song already full of it with her staging. Since then, things have looked a little more casual — which is probably for the best. The song’s revamp hasn’t done much to change it, but perhaps it didn’t need too many tucks and tweaks: this is about Tamara’s message and her voice, after all. Nothing stunning, but Tamara has a good chance of deservedly reaching Saturday’s final.
Score: 6/10
Robyn: “Keep the Faith” seems written to hit very obvious emotional cues, with both the lyrics and the “James Bond meets gospel choir” sound. But as the song progresses, that’s all we’re left with: “Keep the faaaaaith” repeated ad nauseam over a variety of musical tricks. By the time the song ends with the big orchestral fart, my faith is well and truly lost.
Score: 3/10
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Josh: One of the more dire entries in the contest this year. It’s a shame that during the Georgian national final they had to resort to such drastic imagery in an effort to get the message of the song across. It seemed in poor taste. Tamara has a great voice, and boy can she deliver the power. But without a memorable hook and — for now — some unsettling staging, I’m confident this will be staying in the semi-finals.
Score: 2/10
William: Don’t you let them steal your dreams, Tako! But please do recognise that this is better suited for the West End or Broadway than for Eurovision, where we frequently praise songs by saying, “Thank God it’s not another woman singing a ballad.” I cannot fault her vocally — she’s got it, she nails it, she sells it. I just cannot cope with this song, which makes me feel like I’ve survived a nuclear explosion — replete with horns and percussion.
Score: 3.5/10
Dayana: To be honest, this type of song only sounds good in the studio version — performances don’t usually capture everything. Tamara’s stage appearance is powerful and her vocals are on fire, but the ordinariness of the song worsens the quality of the whole entry.
Score: 5/10
Mikhail: It’s a passionate and powerful anthem, but it’s just not contemporary. But there is something I adore about this song — the last couple of notes and that epic ending. I don’t know why, but it makes me laugh. But not even that can save this song, which ultimately feels too Soviet.
Score: 4/10
Deban: The refrain that loops throughout the song is unforgettable and seems pertinent during these trying times. “Keep the Faith” highlights the need for personal strength, tenacity and perseverance. Tamara’s song may have been banned in 2009, but she’s bounced back this year with a more powerful message and added sophistication.
Score: 6.5/10
Sinan: The song is actually pretty nice but something is missing — even as Tamara totally kills it with her vocals. When I heard that Swedish composer Thomas G:son would revamp it, I thought he’d probably make it very cool but the result is something much truer to the original sound. This has a strong chance of advancing to the final.
Score: 5.5/10
In our Wiwi Jury, we have 38 jurors but only room for eight reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Anastas: 3/10
Andy: 4.5/10
Angus: 2.5/10
Anthony: 6/10
Antony: 6/10
Antranig: 0/10
Bernardo: 5/10
Bogdan: 3/10
Edd: 6/10
Erdi: 5/10
Forrest: 5.5/10
George: 4/10
Jacob: 7/10
Jason: 6.5/10
Jordi: 7/10
Jovana: 5/10
Kristin: 4/10
Luis: 3/10
Marek: 3/10
Matt: 4/10
Natalie: 2.5/10
Padraig: 1/10
Patrick: 1/10
Renske: 6/10
Rezo: 10/10
Sami: 3/10
Stanislav: 8/10
Steinunn: 4/10
Tobias: 1/10
Zakaria: 3/10
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 0 and a high of 10.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 4.31/10
What do you think of this song? Share your own score and review below!
Nightmarish. I’ve never said that word about any song before in Eurovision, but it pains me to listen to it. Singer’s fine, but the song is just too much to be pleasant.
I actually love this one. Though to be honest I do seem to love orchestral power-ballad style songs (in a way I’m getting a Rise Like A Phoenix vibe), and Tamara is vocally a great singer. This is definitely a safe qualifier though- with both Armenia & Azerbaijan in the same semi.
Score: 8.5
Rezo ra YLE xar. 10/10 – ze daucera qula da amatma ar chautvales.
9.5 mainc mogeca , ras daabexve es ati atze? ragacashi cagvadgeboda.
xtfuiii
???? ?? ??? ???, 10/10 -?? ??????? ????. ?????? ????? ?? ????????? ?? ????????. 9.5 ????? ???????? ?????? ????????????.
The voice is great!
The song: I don’t think so. It’s another song about peace without anything special. (cause we’ve seen beautiful songs about peace). Only the voice elevates it.
I’ll give it a 4.5!
She sings so deeply and so passionate about something that falls accros as… so vapid. For a country like Georgia to submit this, it’s kind of a disappointment, although Georgia is the country most likely to polarize. We love them or we hate them, and that really feels in the general public. Unfortunately for Tamara… it’s the latter/ A controversial background LED tugging in Georgian pride led to this to win, ironic with her being a member of the controversial Georgian 2009 band who got retired from that edition. She has the voice, but all kind of… falls apart from… Read more »
Hahaha @Robyn “when the song ends with that big orchestral fart”. Couldn’t have said it better myself 😀
First when I’ve heard this, I disliked it (and later preffered delightfully crafted ‘Bote’) and was thinking – this one is favoured so far probably because of singer. I guessed right when I saw backing video on screen and where she came from. It’s a dark ballad polished by little revamp that made it easier to listen so I revalued this. Definitely strong mark here this changes (key changes, props to Purple Mask) – just when you’ve got one, another one overwhelms you. ‘RLaP’ with additional one. I can’t predict it in its semi. Ocean of ballads and upbeat isles… Read more »
Tends to be sooo dramatic, but it is actually sooo boring. 3/10
This is no longer as bad as when I first heard it. I am still disappointed that a country wit a reputation for picking out-of-the-box entries picked something so….conservative and formulaic. Tamara can definitely sing but it is a long three minutes without much different going on.
I cannot imagine this qualifies.
The difference between “Keep the Faith” and Jamala’s and Conchita’s songs is that the latter two felt personal, and Jamal’s and Conchita used their voices to fit the song and tell us a story. This is just a generic peace song with generic lyrics and a diva showcasing her vocals. On top of that it sounds kinda creepy, and the staging so far doesn’t help. Tako’s a great singer, but the song doesn’t deserve to qualify.
I hated this at first, but the revamp actually made this better.
6/10
Won’t qualify, though.
Semi-Final Part I: The massacre of the screaming divas.
4/10
All i’m getting from this is a headache, but because i’m in a good mood i give here 1/10 ( for the headpiece ).
A politicizing entry that no one will frown upon because it is so bad. Okay, to be fair it is not that bad, it is just not good enough for anyone to care. This song makes me feel nothing. Wasted talent.
02 NOR | 04 UK | 11 SRB | 12 SWE | 14 DEN | 16 POL
18 LAT | *19 CYP* | 20 ICE | 23 GRE | 24 CZE | 26 NLD
27 BLR | 33 MNE | 34 ISR | 35 GEO | 36 GER | 37 MLT
38 ESP | 42 SVN | *(33 RUS)*
I’ve never liked this song and I’ll never do. Is pretentious and overdramatic, not my cup of tea. Can’t be compared to ‘1944’ or ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’. I don’t have much more to say.
In a fair world, Georgia wouldn’t qualify, but anything can happen and this peace power-ballads tend to do well. I predict they will place between 8th and 14th.
Georgia is currently my 42nd. 2.5/10
How weird that Rezo, the only Georgian in the Wiwi-jury, ranked this 10/10. Come on, I know you love your country but this goes too far.
Imo, she is soo underrated. Her voice is awesome, live, she can sing flawless, compared to some other artists in the 1st semi-final, so she has already a bonus..
I like Keep the Faith, as it reminds me kind of of Rise like a Phoenix.
Maybe, some of you will hate on me, but for me, both Tamara and Lindita, deserve to go to the final..
Let’s be honest.. This song deserves the final more than This is Love does..
Hope to see Lindita and Tamara in the final!
I cannot stand this song, it is so repetitive. It is a typical shouty female kind of power ballad. I will be surprised if she reaches the final.
I think this will be Georgia’s third NQ. There are more original songs in 1st semi.
In all pre-parties and in the video, Tamara had all-black outfits. Seems that the dress with lights is out. Good choice.
So so underrated! I think this is a great song. Very meaningful and touching. Tamara kills it vocally.
Sadly, I can’t see it qualifying. Many people dislike it and the running order does not favor it at all. It will probably get lost among other ballads. 🙁
Nevertheless, after Azerbaijan and Albania, I may also give this a vote.
8/10
Personal rating: Usually, I’m not shy of admiring an old-fashioned/”classic” ballad, but somehow, this one doesn’t work for me at all. It’s not very well composed as the melody is neither smooth enough to be considered schmaltzy, nor bumpy enough to pass off as “edgy”. The lyrics are quite “diplomatic” as well, to be honest. 2/10 Prediction: I guess that the juries and televoters are not going to respond well to Tamara’s “diva”/”glamour girl” attitude, simply because it makes her seem a little shallow singing a “save the world” song (the so-called “Glennis Grace” effect). What I expect: Bottom 5… Read more »
The song is really powerful and anthemic, but it might come off as a bit cold, yeah. Never thought about that before. Tamara is very regal and smart, but maybe needs some warmth in presentation if she want us to ”take her hand and come along”.
I love her voice and the song is OK, but so dramatic- it’s a bit much for me. I give it a 5/10, just because of her voice and I hope they can do simple staging, cause song is just to much’
Did not even know the song had been revamped. Sounded the same to me. ????
This song has some very harsh undertones which makes listening to it the first time ok. The problem is that it is very hard to listen to this song multiple times.
GEORGIA SUPER SONG AND VOICE . TAMARA AMAZING
And again in 2017, great vocals with a boring song. If they WOULD reach the final, that would be because Armenia and Azerbaijan and the juries. It has an epic revamp but the song is nothing special. But Georgia knows how to NAIL the staging, they even finished 20th last year with staging alone. They had better songs in the NF (LILEO OMG WHY) but I hope that one day they go back to the epicness of 2015.
Quite frankly, I highly disagree with the opinions. If this song was entered in the contest in early 2010s. You would all be scoring it high marks. Why do I say that? Because if Jamala had not won last year. This song would of made a huge impact on the fans of the contest, saying that ‘she is brave enough to sing a song against Russia’ or something along those lines. It is probable, that she will end up staying in the semi final, due to her performance positioning-which I am disgusted by. However, as she states I have to… Read more »
Wiwibloggs has “credibility!” Wow, when did this happen?” 😛 You raise a very good point about the similarities between Georgia and Albania. The main difference is that held suspension on the 2nd, or the “clash note” in Georgia’s entry – it makes me shudder. Also the power of the rhythm in Georgia’s entry reminds me of a protest song, as do the rising modulations in key. Albania’s entry doesn’t change key, doesn’t have the recurring “clash note,” and has much more beautiful orchestration – it’s a lot less creepy and doesn’t sound overly aggressive. Georgia’s song is too dark, basically.… Read more »
When the year started, we got Albania, Georgia and Belarus first. I was certain the trend will continue and that we will get at least 10 songs about peace or loss influenced by Jamala. However, it turns out it was an early mistake and Albania and Georgia are the only songs about peace/war/world state this year. So, the comparison is inevitable. I think that Georgia has definitely more variety among the lyrics and more memorable chorus, while Albania creates a more unique atmosphere with the orchestra and gives you a feel of the things she sings about.
In general, I really cannot disagree more with most of wiwi’s reviewers. This is definitely not my favourite song of all times, but I find it quite OK. A bit too repetitive maybe, and the key change around 2.30 is not very elegant, but still… But no, wiwi prefers Sweden which, as almost every year, has pushed the button of a machine that puts some random cliché sentences together. Then they have chosen some sexy guy (Sweden knows well that a sexy guy is almost guaranteed success) and… voilá! Another Eurovision hit. Loreen deserved to win, Måns almost deserved to… Read more »
Guys I don’t think dropping 2 ratings out of 38 does away with potential outliers …..you should make drop 8/38 and then give a jury score of remaining 30 central scores.
Actually, I believe they shouldn’t drop any score, as any review is subjective and biased by definition. But I do believe they should make firmer rules on which rating has what value. Reviewers should be able to rate a song however they please, but the same number should mean the same thing for all reviewers.
When this first got released, I despised it. Now that it’s been revamped, I’m a little more torn over what to think. It’s not a terrible song, but it’s really boring and anticlimactic – the verses build up to absolutely nothing. The music video is great – albeit a little cheesy – and it suits the song really well, better than the political and inappropriate live performance did.
She has everything she needs to win, except a beard.
2014 was a sad year.
9 – israel, bulgaria
8 – latvia, norway, Cyprus, Montenegro
7 – serbia, germany, Iceland
6- Malta, poland, spain
5- Georgia, slovania, Denmark
What is wrong with deban? He gave israel 5.5 and to this boring awful song he give 6.5..well that tell something about deban taste..
If any thing this song will get in to the final because of the eastern bloc countries. This certainly will not make the top 15. I’ve listen to the song serval times now and find that song does not match the powerful voice she has got. The thing that loses it for me is that she sounds like she is screaming the song.
This song is in various modulating minor keys (G minor, G-sharp minor, A minor), and constantly features a suspended 2nd as a recurring clash note throughout. This is good content, except that it sounds really creepy. The opening descending piano runs sound like the soundtrack from a horror movie, or even “The X-Files!” The Chorus to “Keep the faith” is also disturbingly agressive to the point that I must question what the song is really about. Is this song a rallying cry to go to war? Is it about the joy of revenge? Whatever the answer, the music says “blood”… Read more »
WOW, thanks for the review 🙂 Well, put into context like that, it really sounds creepy. As a standalone song, it sounds powerful. But, if this is indeed about politics, I don’t like it. BTW, Yesterday I decided to re-evaluate most of the songs, as many have different aspects I enjoy / don’t enjoy. So, these ratings for songs 0-7 / 10 are *so far* as some of them might change. I don’t want to be too negative, but at the same time, giving songs more than you think they deserve kind of diminishes the ratings of the good ones.… Read more »
Thanks Colin. Away from Wiwibloggs, I score the songs using a completely different (and more complicated) system. But for the purposes of this site, I just give a score out of 10, sometimes. (I didn’t score Czechia because I didn’t want to upset Martina Barta!) I also try to keep it shorter on Wiwibloggs, because a thorough musical analysis can be tedious to read. 😀
Georgia’s song this year isn’t bad music, but I think it has bad intentions. It’s might be perfect for Halloween; unfortunately the ESC is in May, so that doesn’t work. 🙂
So you didn’t decide to get leaner?
@Aria: Why are you leaning on Colin? 😛
@Major Lee grateful
Blow kiss fire a gun!! All she needs is somebody to lean on
Also *salute*
@Aria did you just call @Colin Fat?? 😮
@Kris, @Purple Mask – Ha ha, @Aria is just teasing me for when I said ‘lean’ meaning less strict. (S)he still finds it hilarious. 🙂 I’m okay with that.
Can you please tell me where in the song are the key changes? I am really curious, but I think I couldn’t differentiate between key change and tempo change if my life depends on it 🙂 Maybe I learn to recognize it better.
This song uses chromatic shifts to alter the key, so you have started off with a difficult example. However, here are the keys using this video: https://youtu.be/fMjoNAZ1DpU
0:00 – 2:22 = G minor
2:22 – 2:36 = G-sharp minor
2:37 – end = A minor
So the two key changes in the video are at 2:22 and 2:36/2:37. All timings are rough, as some notes last longer than one second. Does that help?
Yes, you are very helpful, thank you. 🙂 Actually, these particular key changes give song a lot of drama.
You guys are losing it…. your sanity and your credibility, I mean. I hope that the Georgians reading this unfortunate ranking have sense of humor and realize that this is irrelevant and that as soon as they qualify and start getting the points they deserve, the blogg will change the tune and up the rating.
Georgia is not qualifying. Its not called Eurovision nest hair contest.
The disappointing middle sibling between Rise Like a Phoenix and World (Albania 2017).
The disparity of uptempo/slow tempo song is huge is Wiwibloggs reviews. I mean, I cannot blame guys/gals for having their taste, but there is seriously a need for a least one or two reviewers who enjoys ballads and slow songs. This way, even the best of them, like UK, end-up mid-tier along with generic dance stufff, while most of them form the bottom. Oh, Georgia, sweet Georgia. Honestly, among 25 songs in their NF, I really thought this one should win. Granted, most were quite weak, but still, this stood out in a very good way. As the time progressed,… Read more »
The hate for this song is very widespread but I don’t get why. It’s Rise Like a Phoenix meets The Secret Is Love. It’s anthemic and Tamara sings flawlessly. By the way I’m glad she no longer goes by Tako bc people were calling her Tako Bell
Are you joking? Tamara is a favourite semi final 1 and grand final
Go Georgia ! Go Tamara !