Latvia: Wiwi Jury reviews Hypnotic with “Pray”

The first heat of Latvia’s Supernova 2018 kicks off on Saturday, February 3. And as it draws ever closer, we’re nearing the end of our Supernova Wiwi Jury as well. With just six songs left, can anyone replace MADARA at the top of the rankings?

All female trio Hypnotic will be hoping to do just that. One member, Sabine, has previous history of Supernova, competing in 2016 as a solo act. After making the finals of X Factor in Latvia, they’ll hope to reach Eurovsion with “Pray”.

Hypnotic — “Pray”

“Pray” Reviews

Edgars: It might be best to start a charity for the Hypnotic girls. There’s got to be a way to find some people who will write better lyrics in a minute. It actually sounds like a parody song: just add “love and peace” right after “stop the war” and the most cliché song of century is done.

Score: 3/10

William: “I decided to write this song, I hope you will listen.” With these words Hypnotic sets the stage for some properly stinky cheese. Musically this is OK, lyrically it’s a total mess. I want the world to heal too and I’m glad she’s praying. But owing to soppy text ain’t no Eurovision voters — let alone a God — gonna listen to them.

Score: 3/10

Jonathan: Initially the first verse sounds promising and suggests we could be in for quite a nice pop/RnB tinged song. But then the chorus comes, and it morphs into a rather dull “love love peace peace” ballad, with some rather unoriginal lyrics. All we can do is “Pray” they don’t decide to go down the route of a cliché girl-group performance at Supernova.

Score: 4/10

Luis: L-A-M-E. This song feels better suited to Belarus’ national final than to the more contemporary Supernova. “Pray” is one cliché after another, put together in three minutes over a relatively modern track. If Latvia sent this, it would be a come back to the Anmary era, and ain’t nobody want that.

Score: 2/10

Jordi: Who doesn’t like a little bit of cheese? “Pray” feels moralising, and maybe that’s why it’s harder to dislike the song. The first minute of the track is just too cheesy. Love the last chorus and their harmonies when they sing together though. I do appreciate the meaningful message behind the song, but it’s difficult with this song.

Score: 5.5/10

Chris: There is pretty much nothing creative about “Pray”, and in a way that’s fine. You know what to expect from the song and Hypnotic do deliver it competently. If they can deliver the harmonies live too, then that could push them in to a spot where they might even make the Supernova final. But the song itself is rooted in Latvian failures of the early part of the decade. Out of date cheese gives you Eurovision nightmares.

Score: 5.5/10

Robyn: There’s no doubt that Hypnotic can deliver flawless harmonies, like a Latvian OG3NE. But unlike the Dutch sisters, Hypnotic hasn’t got a song that does them justice. “Pray” is basic and repetitive, and the lyrics soon sink into “love love peace peace” territory. And besides, Riga Reggae has the superior “stop the war” song!

Score: 4/10

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 2 and a high of 7.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 4.92/10

Read all our Supernova 2018 Wiwi Jury rankings here

Check out more Latvia Eurovision news here