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 Karl Kristjan & Karl Killing (ft. Wateva) with “Young”. Were we feeling their youth? Read on to find out!
Karl Kristjan & Karl Killing (ft. Wateva) – “Young”
“Young” reviews
Angus: Equal parts Shawn Mendes sunshine guitar-pop and filthy electropop Justin Bieber dance banger, “Young” seamlessly blends two of the most popular contemporary sounds, producing a promising end package that stands out from this year’s end lineup. Smartly showing off vocal ability, technical prowess and heavily flexed pop muscles, it’s one of the standouts from Eesti Laul 2018.
Score: 7.5/10
Chris: This is probably the most listenable, chart-friendly song from the Eesti Laul group. “Young” doesn’t do anything new in terms of chart music, though, but it would be something new for Estonia at Eurovision. Whether the Karl’s can make the song work live is another question.
Score: 6.5/10
Deban: Boy band type verses paired with a cyborg chorus. This would’ve been interesting ten years ago, but its derivative at best in 2018. However, a deeper peek into the lyrical structure unveils more shocking reality. The waters here are as shallow as a puddle!
Score: 5/10
Luis: These guys are not even in their thirties and they’re claiming they need to stay young one last time. We have a term for that in Spanish: Viejoven (Young-old). There’s an Ojete Calor song with that name. Go check it, those three minutes will be much worthier than those you spent listening to this. “Young” is a generic entry with little more to offer than cringy lyrics and a cute lyric video.
Score: 4.5/10
Robyn: So here are a bunch of 20-somethings singing about how they don’t like being “old’ and how they wish they were “young”. Honestly. Bishes, look in the mirror and enjoy your youth and stop complaining because one day you will wake up and you’ll look and feel like a corpse and you’ll wish you were a spritely 25. Lyrically, I don’t have time for this mess. Musically, it’s a generic pop track from 2016.
Score: 3/10
Steinunn: The title of the song says it all, young. But not in a good way. Young guys reminiscing about their younger days and how they still haven‘t found their path in life at 25. Yawn. The song also sounds like it‘s too young and needs a bit of maturing before entering what adults call life. The two Karls and Mr Whateva sure are cute though.
Score: 4/10
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:
Antranig: 4.5/10
Barnabas: 5.5/10
Cinan: 6.5/10
Jonathan: 5/10
Josh: 4/10
Jovana: 8/10
Lukas: 7/10
Rick: 8.5/10
Sebastian: 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 8.5.
Nice lyric video. The song itself is nothing special. Monotonous.
5/10
How is this any different from Karl Kristjan’s song last year? Same feeling as last year, too. Not bad until the horrible cheap-sounding instrumental.
It’s a very similar musical formula being used, indeed. The song appears to be introspective though, whereas last year was all about a young woman. (Either that or the guy misses a young boy; could be seen either way).
The lyric video is more interesting than the song itself.
I think there’s a misconception of this song. The youthful blonde co-singer is perhaps supposed to represent actually self-transforming into being young. So he is a personification, not the source of the song. The song itself is clearly written by an older man longing for a relationship he had when he was younger, but that’s not what we see presented, because that’s what the songwriter DOESN’T want to see. Understand? (Probably not, lol.) Musically this song is quite similar to last year’s effort from Karl Kristjan. So is it a bit lazy, maybe? Or is it that he’s found his… Read more »
I agree. This song is supposed to be performed by an older man. At least 40 or even more. Maybe the guys are singing about being even younger (a child), but in that case, I guess the lyrics would be a bit different. However, I quite like how the song is so easy-breezy and yet so nostalgic. It might not be great, but it’s still among the better ones in Eesti Laul and knowing Karl, they’ll have a good live performance.
6.5/10
Verse 2: “Twenty-five…Still not sure about who I really should become. Thought I had it all figured out. Now I see life ain’t all about the promises I can’t keep. I would give it all to go back.”
Hmmm. If only we could write a third verse, as follows:
“Fifty-one. Now I’m just embarrased that I wrote this song. I feel so much wiser now I get along… with practically everyone. Even myself. I owe it all to Robyn.” 😛
It does indeed! How did I miss that? Thanks. 17 to 25 doesn’t seem like a big age leap, but it actually is. This song is about a fear of growing-up and becoming a responsible adult. I can relate to that. However, instead of “young” and “old”, they could have used “kid” and “grown-up”. But here is a theory… Maybe this was supposed to sound childish and exaggerated to emphasize how the singer is still partially clutching to his teens, where all adults were considered “old”? Are they smart enough for that or am I now giving them too much… Read more »
Well, i had a phase in my teens where i also wanted to grow up. I think it’s normal that these kids wanna express themselves this way.
Lol Robyn! She’s so triggered
That said this is not a bad song. Radio-friendly and all but yes it won’t stand out. Being in the weaker semi 2 it is likely to qualify. But I don’t see a song from semi 2 winning Eesti laul.
A 6.5/10
ROBYN UR A LEGEND KWEEN
ps:the song is so meh and cringy tho
Well THAAAAANK YOUUUUU Karl Kristian and Karl ft. Whateva for reminding us all that we’re getting old.
This sounds too much like a Chainsmokers ft. Halsey wannabe and I don’t even like those so it’s a no for me.
Robyn had no mercy today. Tasteful legend. I don’t have to say what I think because she already did in her review.
IKR! Robyn’s reviews slay.
(Best comment ever!)