Armenia: Wiwi Jury reviews Nemra and Gevorg Harutyunyan

Twenty acts are fighting to represent Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Today, the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to the mountainous spa town of Jermuk, Armenia. After relaxing in the hot springs and tasting the fresh water, the Wiwi Jury sat down to review two more Eurovision hopefuls. Did we find a contender in the mix?

Nemra — “I’m a Liar”

“I’m a Liar” reviews

Antranig: This is enjoyable easy listening. While it may be more suited to a seniors’ centre than the Eurovision Song Contest, it has an infectious beat that gets stuck in your head. The repetitiveness works here and makes this memorable, with easy lyrics to remember. It has a clever ending as well. This may not be one of the best Depi Evratesil entries but after listening to all 20, this is one of the 4 or 5 I remember best.

Score: 7.5/10

Jonathan: I’d be a liar if I said I enjoyed this song. Monotonous and one-note, it never really goes anywhere. The electric guitar solo at least provides a little interlude, but in the end isn’t enough to elevate the song from the bottom of the pile. I get very little emotional connection from the vocals, and it doesn’t particularly sound like they’re enjoying the song themselves. This can of course improve live, but I can’t see it being enough for Nemra to reach the final.

Score: 4/10

Luis: “I’m a Liar” is repetitive and quite linear despite their efforts to make it interesting. It’s not a bad song, but it’s a bit out of place. It would much rather fit on a film, in the typical moment when there are quick shots from the main characters in different situations around the city. It’s not disturbing, but it’s not something you’d listen to at will.

Score: 5/10

Bernardo: This one is such a shame. It could have been something really interesting with a revamp, but you can’t do much when the song repeats itself over and over again. It’s not good enough with this year’s competition. I wouldn’t change it if it comes on my Spotify list but it also doesn’t light my fire.

Score: 4.5/10

Robyn: “I’m on Fire” sounds like one good riff that’s been stretched out into three minutes through frequent repetition and variations on a theme. They mix it up, change the tempo, add in some ethnic flair and then — just to keep things interesting — there’s a classic Festivali i Këngës-style guitar solo. It’s not substantial enough for Eurovision.

Score: 5/10

Deban: A decent easy-listening effort. I like the instrumental bridge here, although its execution reads like an exhaustion of ideas. Towards the end, this observation becomes even more apparent. “I’m a Liar” crosses the minimum threshold for what makes a good song, but its efforts stop at the halfway mark.

Score: 5/10

In our Depi Evratesil Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for 6 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 3 and a high of 10.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 5.5/10

Gevorg Harutyunyan — “Stand Up”

“Stand Up” reviews

Chris: There’s too much production going on here for Gevorg to stand up against it. His vocal is fine, but there’s moments where he goes a bit too much in to warbling territory. The entire song feels like it’s trying to be one big dramatic moment. That’s fine, but it just never really seems to come. Perhaps this will be more suited to the live performance.

Score: 5/10

Robyn: This very much sounds like a big number from a musical, and it feels like it’s missing the context of a musical plot. Give us some oppressed masses, y’all! While Gevorg has a strong, expressive voice, the song comes across more as empty posturing than honest expression. Staging could help, but the song really needs to stand on its own.

Score: 5/10

Bogdan: I quite like this. The sweeping orchestral number is complemented by Gevorg’s vocals, and the ethnic elements sprinkled here and there add character to the song without overwhelming it. What brings the song down a bit are the lyrics, which are formulaic and predictable. But otherwise it’s a beautiful effort, worthy of a national final.

Score: 8/10

Cinan: Another ballad. Gevorg has an interesting and good voice though. I feel like I’m in a musical theatre production (which I love). Yet I don’t know if it is 100% ready for Eurovision but I really love the traditional sounds, like almost every song has these sounds in this selection.

Score: 6/10

Natalie: Wow, this is like an ethnic symphony here. Those banging drums and piano keys make for a great atmosphere. And that orchestral bit in the middle is so rich and masterful, yet leads so well into those beautiful Armenian instruments. It’s incredible to think this is all packed into three minutes, yet it doesn’t feel rushed at all. Such passion and spirit, this is going to strike a chord with lots of voters.

Score: 8.5/10

Edd: Now this is one dramatic production! The instrumental after the first chorus is overwhelmingly epic, although the singing sadly just does not live up to the backing track. Gevorg’s vocals are weak and, as seen with many other songs in this national final, the song would benefit greatly from either much better — or Armenian — lyrics.

Score: 6.5/10

In our Depi Evratesil Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for 6 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 5 and a high of 8.5.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 6.21/10

SEE OUR LIST OF DEPI EVRATESIL 2018 RANKINGS HERE

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