Latvia: Wiwi Jury reviews Sudden Lights with “Just Fine”

We know the running orders, we know the hosts — but we don’t know quite yet who the Wiwi Jury’s favourite is for Latvia’s Supernova 2018! Our team of music un-professionals continue to work their way through the 21 entries, day by day.

Up next are Sudden Lights with “Just Fine”. The band got their break in 2015 when they won a local contest, Pirma plate. They say that Radiohead and Jose Gonzalez are both inspirations behind the track.

Sudden Lights — “Just Fine”

“Just Fine” Reviews

Robyn: This is surprisingly appealing. Sudden Lights creates a gloomy rock atmosphere that builds to a bold and uplifting climax. But it’s the old Eesti Laul dilemma — as pleasurable as it is to listen to on headphones, that doesn’t mean it will translate to a Eurovision performance. Let’s see how it comes across live at Supernova.

Score: 7.5/10

Chris: There’s a problem with “Just Fine”: I simply don’t know how it’s meant to make me feel. The song goes for moody, yet the instrumentation continues to soar. The lyrics – perhaps because they’re hard to decipher – don’t offer much help. It’s the kind of song you want to like, but it’s just not quite hitting the mark.

Score: 5.5/10

William: Atmospheric, meditative and with philosophical edge, “Just Fine” sounds like it was written by a former monk turned alternative musician. While it lacks the “climax” so central to most Eurovision songs, this draws energy and life from the lead singer’s emotional voice and unique instrumentation that gives it major texture. I don’t know why, but I love this.

Score: 8/10

Jonathan: It’s never a good sign when a song feels longer than three minutes, and this one is only two and a half minutes long. While certainly atmospheric, “Just Fine” is better suited to being used as backing music for a student film project. All in all, the song is ‘just fine’.

Score: 3/10

Lukas: This is another song which is okay but does pretty much nothing. It’s not mainstream or memorable and to stand out from the rest, you need to have something special. The title “Just Fine” promises that, but after listening to this song…I don‘t feel “fine”. Yet another quite dull song in Supernova this year.

Score: 5/10

Edgars: With a good show and live performance, these guys could be the surprise of this year’s Supernova. Hopefully, that will happen. It’s the first song in Supernova history without a true chorus and probably the shortest one as well. Maybe they have some genius plan for their extra half minute? We’ll have to see.

Score: 6/10

Luis: “Just Fine” is like a mansion without a rooftop. It builds through a great instrumentation and strong vocals, but it lacks a clear climax. It needs a “get you out of your seat” moment, and it’s a shame this only lasts 2:30 minutes. Sudden Lights are like the Lativan lovechild of Sigur Rós and Alt-J. Just like those bands, they create great music (just check their album), but a song contest where you have to impress Europe in three minutes doesn’t really suit them.

Score: 8/10

In our Latvia Wiwi Jury, we have 14 jurors but only room for 7 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

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 3 and a high of 8.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.25/10

Read all our Supernova 2018 Wiwi Jury rankings here

Check out more Latvia Eurovision news here