Moldova: Wiwi Jury reviews Tolik and Viorela

The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the acts from Moldova’s O melodie pentru Europa 2018. Next we listen to Tolik, who is entering an R&B ballad called “Broken glass”, and Viorela, with her violin-packed entry “The gates of love”. Are we feeling the love or would we rather leave them at the gates?

Tolik – “Broken glass”

Antranig: Most of the song may be an uninspiring, unoriginal ballad but the musical composition finds an interesting flavour throughout the chorus. While it may not make the song anything to write home about, it becomes enjoyable by Moldovan standards. This could use a lot of work lyrically and it won’t move mountains at Eurovision but it’s a passable entry.

Score: 6/10

Bogdan: Not a bad song. It would sound better if it weren’t sung by Tolik, with his questionable English and bland voice. With a real R&B voice, “Broken Glass” would be a gem, but as it stands it sounds like a typical X Factor audition – competent, but devoid of emotion. Oh, and the backing vocals need to be replaced immediately.

Score: 4/10

Kristin: This is truly a beautiful ballad. The English pronunciation was somewhat good, though far from perfect. But that doesn’t hurt the song at all, as “Broken glass” is a well-written tune with good vocals and a lovely melody. I doubt that this is the winning song for Moldova, but I definitely would not mind it going to Lisbon.

Score: 8/10

Luis: When the backing vocalists are better than the singer, there’s a big problem. While there’s nothing unpleasant about this entry, there’s nothing outstanding neither. Tolik’s voice is not strong enough to uplift this and his backing vocalist overshadows him. Also, it’s a very safe and very plain ballad. Just like we go to Eesti Laul for ultra-modern hipster bands, we come to O melodie pentru Europa for craziness, not for okayish mid-tempos.

Score: 5/10

Robyn: “Broken Glass” is well written, but it has a dated sound, the sort of song that was current in the pop charts about five years ago. The only thing that really stands out is how it sounds like he’s singing “we like broken glass”. And that 2010-era lyrical stutter in the chorus sounds like it belongs in a museum. But let’s be honest — this is not the kind of song that does well at Eurovision. Semi-final two is going to be a bloodbath and a song like this would be the first to fall.

Score: 5/10

In the Moldovan Wiwi Jury, we have 10 jurors but only room for 5 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 4 and a high of 8.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 5.38/10

Viorela – “The gates of love”

Antranig: Viorela has a beautiful and delicate voice, capable of taking an audience on a journey. Which makes it quite unfortunate that her song flatlines in second gear from start to finish. There is some hope for Viorela — I could see this entry becoming a decent one with a strong revamp. But listening to it right now, I just hope Viorela comes back with a better song next year.

Score: 5/10

Bogdan: I don’t know who’s in more pain — the singer who’s denied entry at the gates of love, or me, who has to listen to her wail. I had to turn it off when the key change kicked in. This is a bad effort all-around.

Score: 1/10

Kristin: When the strings started playing in the beginning, I thought I was in for something more, but the song never seems to go anywhere. It just stays at the same pace throughout. It’s such a shame because Viorela has a lovely voice, which is completely wasted on a rather weak entry.

Score: 5/10

Luis: An entry with such poor production is just discouraging. I honestly can’t tell if Viorela has a beautiful voice or if she just wails for three minutes. It’s almost irritating, with both the violin and her voice fighting for who can reach the highest tone. But worst of all, the song is plain, lame and it never gets your attention.

Score: 2.5/10

Robyn: “The gates of love” sounds like a performance from a high school talent show, where a singer and violinist are randomly paired because their music teacher thinks it would be a good idea. The song sounds underdeveloped and is in dire need of a stronger backing track and some bassier backing vocals to counter Viorela’s high tones. As it is, there’s not much to enjoy.

Score: 4/10

In the Moldovan Wiwi Jury, we have 10 jurors but only room for 5 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 1 and a high of 5.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 3.81/10

See our list of O melodie pentru Europa 2018’s rankings here

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