The Wiwi Jury takes another trip around Malta today, as we look at the songs of Malta Eurovision Song Contest. Our team of music un-professionals is almost ready for the final on February 3, as they near the end of their reviews.
Next up before the jury is Jasmine Abela. Jasmine is another MESC veteran, making it to the final in 2016 with “Alive”. Two years on, she’s giving it a second go with “Supernovas”.
Jasmine Abela — “Supernovas”
“Supernovas” Reviews:
Antranig: Jasmine Abela has an extraordinary voice and she deserves a bigger platform on which to showcase her talents. “Supernovas” has the spark she needs to ignite and take her to that level. The Maltese field is a very strong one, but Jasmine has the talent and the song to be able to compete in this national final. If she gets the staging right, watch out.
Score: 9/10
Deban: A message of strength delivered by a youthful starlet, “Supernovas” is a powerful torch song with melody that sticks harder with each spin. The execution of this track cleverly avoids a dance break which may have cheapened the message. Jasmine returns to this contest re-branded, and as a worthy contender for victory.
Score: 8/10
Sebastian: A contemporary bop, “Supernova” is super polished. The song doesn’t stray too far from a standard Eurovision track – cue the simple lyrics and the perennial key change. But Jasmine’s powerful vocals elevate what is a more-or-less pop-by-numbers track into something anthemic. This is a slickly produced and packaged effort worthy of being heard in any national final.
Score: 8.5/10
Luis: Aren’t supernovas exploding stars? Then why does this song never reach a climax if it’s called “Supernovas”? This is linear, generic and doesn’t bring much to the table. Jasmine’s got a great voice…but that’s all. And great voices are a given at MESC. This supernova would wander unnoticed in the Eurovision semifinal’s outer space. That is, the non qualifiers.
Score: 3/10
Chris: Malta’s obsession with generic, Eurovision-friendly ballads does Jasmine no favours here. Whilst she’s clearly one of the best vocalists, the song really does let her down. Perhaps most problematic here is the electronic beat that accompanies much of the song. It’s like a slightly more tuneful car alarm, but just as grating.
Score: 5.5/10
Jonathan: Here we go — this is where the competition is! From the very first word Jasmine’s voice shines through and captures your attention. One of the few MESC entries this year with decent lyrics, “Supernova” is heavy-hitting but still builds nicely throughout (and that key change is everything!). With the right staging, this has potential to bring Malta back to the Eurovision grand-final.
Score: 9/10
In our Malta Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Robyn: 3/10
William: 4.5/10
Angus: 3.5/10
Barnabas: 7.5/10
Natalie: 7.5/10
Bernardo: 7/10
Rezo: 8/10
Josh: 7/10
Jordi: 5.5/10
Lukas: 7/10
Patrick: 7.5/10
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 3 and a high of 9.
Another good voice! Malta has talented singers that’s for sure!
Powerful, strong voice. I’m in the middle. It’s good, but it’s not great.
6/10
So, you take “We are young” from Fun, you mix with Beyonce’s voice, you boost David Guetta all the way and you get a great death hit that kills you. Top 10 insured. Hard to find a weak point. Perhaps the lack of originality, and that the song becomes annoying towards the end, because a little too much.
If she won, she would be the 3rd person named Abela to represent Malta.
3rd time lucky?
Fun fact: Jasmine was a student at a music school in the UK that i’m currently working for. 🙂
So it’s hard not to be biased. 😀
Actually this is a pretty good song. It gets extra points for its key change cheese and its memorable cheesy Chorus melody. And because, apparently, young people can be supernovas. 8/10
I really like this one. Wouldn’t mind this one winning!! Needs a little work on the chorus ; it’s lyrics are a bit generic but atleast they make sense.
A 7.5/10
I would agree with you on this one. Jasmine’s song may be typical, and even might come off as a bit pretentious, but at least it makes sense of what she is singing about. Metaphors are a bit over-the-top (supernovas, fire in the sky, rebellion in children’s eyes), but they are clear, unlike certain others (pack of wolves, for instance). Depending on her believability in live, this could even be a pleasant surprise. For now, 6.5/10 from me.
Certainly my second favourite from the Maltese selection. Jasmine’s impressive vocals are shining through with this positive and uplifting song.
Not taking away of the fact that i really enjoyed listening to this song. My only negative is the usage of the word “Supernovas” do people really use this word in every day conversations. Just a thought? It’s still an impressive 9/10 from me.
I am finding it hard to tell the differences between Malta’s female artists and their entries. They seem to have spent a bit more money on this one but vocally, she is not good. We are slightly entering strangled cat territory.