Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — made the final stop on our Junior Eurovision travels. We journeyed to Valletta and indulged in some pastizzi whilst lounging on the sunbeds at Cafe del Mar. After we got a little sunburnt, we cooled down inside and reviewed the entry for Malta at Junior Eurovision 2017, “Dawra Tond” by Gianluca Cilia. Does this Maltese bop get us up and moving? Read on to find out…

Malta’s Junior Eurovision 2017 song

“Dawra Tond” reviews – Gianluca Cilia

Bernardo: Gianluca is his name and he is making sure you don’t forget him. With his infectious presence and cuteness, the little Maltese prince is channelling traditional BOP realness. In a year where the focus is on voice and music production, “Dawra Tond” brings a breath of fresh air and fun. It’s everything we needed and more.

Score: 9.5/10

Jonathan: Catchy and upbeat, Gianluca is bringing the fun to Junior Eurovision 2017. “Dawra Tond” is one of those songs you don’t mind getting stuck in your head, and its catchiness could serve it well in the contest if, after sitting through 16 entries, it’s the one song the audience and jury can still remember. Knowing how much effort Malta put into their JESC entries, they’ll surely be able to pull this one off.

Score: 8/10

Josh: Malta’s efforts at Junior Eurovision never go unnoticed and “Dawra Tond” is no exception. From the outset, the beat is infectious, fun and danceable and out pops little Gianluca with his perfectly coiffed hair. Amongst a mediocre field of entries this year, Gianluca has everything he needs to pull off another win for Malta. It’s one to keep an eye on.

Score: 9/10

Robyn: JESC 2017 has quite a few serious pop ballad tracks. The best ones will do well, but the others will be swallowed by the joyous juggernaut that is “Dawra Tond”. Gianluca is a cool little dude, full of energy and sass. Malta could enter JESC with 100% English lyrics, but they’ve made the right choice to use plenty of Maltese in “Dawra Tond”. This track is a three-minute party and it’s just what JESC 2017 needs.

Score: 10/10

Sebastian: The tiny island nation serves up a fun-sized pocket rocket with one heck of a eurobeat track. Gianluca is the epitome of talent and charisma, serving personality with a capital P. Dawra Tond is not afraid to throw in some simple Maltese, which just reinforces the song’s confidence with just right amount of cheese – or should I say, gbejniet. Malta, you get my vote!

Score: 9.5/10

William: The song carries a message of togetherness and unity, all delivered with a toe-tapping beat. It’s heavy on the accordion, which gives it a traditional festival feel, and the marranzanu — a jaw harp — adds a bouncy, tropical accent. But the real strength here comes from Gianluca who sells the song with his energy and spirit. In a contest geared toward children, this should challenge for the win.

Score: 9.5/10

Our jury for 2017 consists of 20 jurors, but we only have room for 6 reviews. The remaining 14 scores are listed below.

Angus: 8.5/10

Antony: 8/10

Antranig: 9.5/10

Cinan: 6.5/10

Chris: 9/10

Deban: 8/10

Jordi: 7.5/10

Jovana: 6/10

Luis: 9.5/10

Marek: 6.5/10

Mario: 8/10

Natalie: 5/10

Renske: 8/10

Rezo: 8/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 5 and a high of 10.

WIWI JURY SCORE: 8.25/10

READ ALL OUR JESC WIWI JURY RANKINGS AND REVIEWS

FOLLOW OUR JUNIOR EUROVISION COVERAGE

4 Comments
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Grande Amore
Grande Amore
6 years ago

I like the song but here it’s overrated af.

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

My personal favorite 🙂 Quite an earworm. I am totally voting Malta this year.

Ron
Ron
6 years ago

The first time I heard it I was like wow this song sounds so familiar…it’s a complete ripoff of Betty’s People of the Sun which by the way was coincidentally performed when Malta hosted the contest.

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Ron

^Only because of the accordion included in the arrangement that it sounds like it’s similar.