The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to listen to and rank the 20 songs competing in Eesti Laul 2018. Next is Eliis Parna & Gerli Padar with their song “Sky”. Did it make us want to fly? Read on to find out!
Eliis Parna & Gerli Padar – “Sky”
“Sky” reviews
Antranig: If you look up “17th place in a Eurovision semi” on an online Eurovision encyclopedia, this song would start playing. There are certainly some good vocals here but they are paired with some cheesy lyrics and all the cliches associated with a Eurovision ballad. I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy this song but it isn’t strong enough to make an impact at Eurovision.
Score: 6.5/10
Deban: “Sky” is more off-West- End musical than Eesti Laul. It is more incidental babble than theme music. As the song plods on, I imagine hyperactive interpretive dancers desperately trying to infuse some life into this limp piece. Good voices alone do not make a good song. As I try to aim for the sky, I can’t find a way out of the basement.
Score: 3/10
Luis: “Hey, um… Malta? We’ve found one of your songs for MESC in Estonia, could you please come by and pick it up? Thanks”. I’m even offended that a song as unoriginal and bland is in this year’s Eesti Laul. We come here for ultra-modern indie songs, not for ’90s ballads!
Score: 3/10
Rick: At first this sounds like it‘s a bit uninspired and like it has nothing new to offer. But then you get lost in its simplicity. Of course, this feels very citchy and over-romantic, but that doesn‘t bother me at all. It‘s so special and emotional in its own way that it doesn‘t need to fulfil any expectation. A beautiful song that would not be misplaced in a Broadway musical.
Score: 8/10
Robyn: This sounds like Melodifestivalen filler, the kind of track that’s eliminated early in a semi and isn’t thought of again. The song has a great melody, especially as it builds to the chorus. Eliis and Gerli are great singers and their voices sound lovely together, but “Sky” just doesn’t do enough.
Score: 6/10
Steinunn: This is old-fashioned. And not the nostalgic and vintage kind of old-school cool, more like something that would have – and should have — been left behind in a random national final back in 2002. Or even better, in a way off-Broadway musical about two girls that came to the Big Apple to become big stars but are on the verge of realising it will never happen – in 2002. Next!
Score: 3/10
In our Eesti Laul Wiwi Jury, we have 15 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:
Angus: 3/10
Barnabas: 6.5/10
Chris:3/10
Cinan: 6.5/10
Jonathan: 5/10
Josh: 5/10
Jovana: 6/10
Lukas: 6/10
Sebastian: 3/10
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 8.
Beautiful voices. The song itself is monotonous.
5.5/10
My favourite music genre again. But, there are problems with this song. The first verse is outstanding, personal and straight out of a Beverley Craven song. However, the Chorus is more filled with Disney metaphors and a sickly sweet melody. As beautiful as the harmonies are, the melody is designed for one singer alone, so the addition of a second singer here is questionable. Past the two-minute mark, sadly the song falls into a string of cliché rhymes and a progressive bridge that doesn’t even change the key. What a pity, after such a promising start! Disappointing. 5.5/10
Verbose, tedious and they never stop singing! There’s two rambling verses before the chorus arrives half way through. By then we’re bored to tears. They should have checked the mega-corny lyrics with a native English speaker first because some phrases are not really right.
I am happy this song was under such harsh criticism actually! This song would be among boring and uninspired ones 15 years ago, today this is just… pure disaster. Its not good ballad, its not even mediocre Disney 10th track song. I love Gerli, I loved her “Partners in crime” – Estonian NF was one of first I ever watched, I have no idea who this other girl is, doesn’t matter. Last place for the ladies, please. Better luck next time.
No…..no dull Disney songs please.
A 3/10.
It’s a nice, elegant ballad. It doesn’t stand out a lot, but it’s very pleasant to hear. Unlike NF songs like “Breaking Point”, “Song For Dad”, “Once Upon a Time” or previous winner “Goodbye To Yesterday”, I don’t find any reason for this to be a duet in the first place. Their voices are very lovely, but both are within the similar range, and the lyrics don’t suggest anything that couldn’t be stated by a single performer. It’s good, but just doesn’t stand out.
6/10
I agree. Not exactly sure why there are two of them.
Honestly, I keep forgetting that this is even in the selection. After listening to it, I cannot remember a single thing about it, either.