Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continued our tour of Switzerland by visiting the capital, Bern. After a day of exploring the kilometres of shopping arcades, we took a break to review “Secrets and Lies” by Chiara Dubey – her entry for Die Entscheidungsshow 2018, the national selection for Switzerland at Eurovision 2018. Is this song one of Switzerland’s best-kept secrets? Read on to find out…
Chiara Dubey – “Secrets and Lies”
“Secrets and Lies” reviews
Chris: Oh, Chiara. Truth be told, it would have taken something truly remarkable to top “Anima nuova” or “Bella sera”. Chiara’s soft, sweet vocal shines through on “Secrets and Lies”, but it’s a puzzling composition. On repeat listens, it grows on you. Initially, though, it’s just too low-key to stand out. Beautiful, but it’s not quite right.
Score: 6.5/10
Deban: “Secrets and Lies” as a composition draws strength from the fragility in Chiara’s voice. Although this is an excellent submission, it worryingly relies heavily on several factors such as the producers’ running order, studio acoustics, staging effects and the mood of the nation. Nonetheless, I applaud entries that take risks whilst stripping back on production elements.
Score: 7.5/10
Josh: “Secrets and Lies” is the perfect track for Chiara to showcase the beauty and delicacy of her voice. The instrumental, taking inspiration from old-school Disney with a slightly eerie approach, is just enough to compliment Chiara’s voice without overpowering it. The danger with such a quiet song is that it loses the dynamism that it takes to capture an audience. An absolutely beautiful track, though.
Score: 6/10
Robyn: There’s something very refreshing about the delicate sweetness of “Secrets and Lies”, sitting amid all the bombastic pop of the revamped Swiss national final. But perhaps that’s its weakness — it needs context to work. If this made it to Eurovision, it could be one of many sweet ballads battling it out. It should work on its own and it isn’t quite there.
Score: 6.5/10
Sebastian: Seconds in, your met with an intriguing, ethereal sound – Chiara’s voice is unmistakably raw and almost harrowing. “Secrets and Lies” is a simple melodic tune which fits her voice perfectly. But it is yet another ballad from Switzerland. If the Swiss do want to make an impact on the Eurovision stage, be it bad or good, “Secrets and Lies” is not it. It’s a very respectable effort, but not the entry Switzerland needs.
Score: 7.5/10
William: The studio cut does absolutely nothing for me — it’s a pastiche of melodrama and breathy vocals that feels self-indulgent and monotonous. HOWEVER, and I capitalise that deliberately, there could be real magic in the live version if she’s (1) able to match the pitch-perfect and delicate vocals on show here and (2) give this more dynamism with staging. My score is low, but Chiara sounds like she has the potential to make this magical.
Score: 5/10
Our jury for 2018 consists of 16 jurors, but we only have room for 6 reviews. The remaining 10 scores are listed below.
Antranig: 7/10
Barnabas: 7/10
Bernardo: 7.5/10
Bogdan: 7/10
Jonathan: 7/10
Jordi: 7.5/10
Jovana: 8/10
Luis: 6.5/10
Lukas: 7/10
Rick: 4.5/10
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 4.5 and a high of 8.
A song with a daring a-capella at the start, but then a Chorus straight out of the Cinderella soundtrack. Beautiful, but disappointingly it goes nowhere. A missed opportunity. 7/10
Or more likely, that guy happens to have the same knowledge of music that almost every other person involved with the Swiss selection process in the last few years has…..none.
Lol….you’re fun!!
I love her voice, but I can’t help feeling there’s something missing in this song. It fails to be truly atmospheric. I’ll be curious to hear the live performance, see how it works.
I understand it sounds flat and boring. The studio version seems to go nowhere. However, I’ll agree with William that the staging can make it better. A beautiful background and a staging that can make it look atmosheric and mysterious for example.
6/10
What’s with the wiwi jury overrating the Swiss songs??
This song is dull . It makes Amar Pelos dois seem good in comparison.Nothing really happens in the 3 minutes. She wouldn’t have the appeal singing in English nor the backstory that Salvador had to capture people’s imagination. I wouldn’t think that this song can make Switzerland qualify. But that said it’s a divisive song and they ultimately get more votes than songs liked by all but loved by few. (Ask Emmy Liyana)
A 3/10.
My guess is that when a selection is routinely horrible, you overrate even the slightest improvements. Considering the Swiss selection last year contained a number of crimes against music….the fact that this year’s dull-as-dishwater, cookie-cutter, non-offensive entities don’t cause our ears to bleed should be reflected with slightly-better-than-usual scoring.
Chev??
No ..you got it all wrong!!
This was a favourite because it gave them ‘tug on heart-strings’ vibes ala Salvador Sobral based on studio version. What the Swiss delegation didn’t realize is that the vibes last year mostly came off Salvador Sobral(his personality and story) and not his song!!
Nonsense. That song (Amar pelos dois) was amazing. Top of my most played songs in 2017
This could have SUCH an impact. Switzerland had been bad with their staging, but If This gets the right staging, this is an easy top 10 with the right draw. This is just such a beautifull entry, that I just can not give it lower than the maximum score. 10/10
Exactly, this sounds like a Disney song. I feel like it stays too flat throughout the three minutes and fails to capture the listener’s attention.