Ukraine: Wiwi Jury reviews Laud and The Erised

The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the six acts competing in the grand final of Ukraine’s national selection 2018. Next we take a look at Laud with “Waiting” and The Erised with “Heroes”. Were either of these songs the heroes of our time? Read on the find out!

Laud – “Waiting”

“Waiting” reviews

Antranig: “Waiting” is a very interesting track and it packs a punch from the very first note. Laud performs the song well and has the energy to deliver an engrossing performance. My criticism would be that the song brings the same level of energy and excitement for three minutes. There are no peaks and troughs here, just a constant barrage. While that may often be a positive thing, “Waiting” would benefit from some calmer bridges and pre-choruses.

Score: 7/10

Deban: Fundamentally, I find Laud’s voice annoying. “Waiting” is a three-minute nasal plateau. It plods on like a bad song on loop to nowhere, and ultimately lacks enough variety to capture my attention.

Score: 2.5/10

Luis: This song is like a clash of many things that work alone, but don’t completely do together. LAUD is a charismatic performer with a bold voice who basically makes love to the camera. “Waiting” is full of modern beats and while it’s linear, it manages to surprise several times during the three minutes. The camera work is on point. But there’s a lack of clear cohesion between everything. Maybe it’s his diction, maybe it’s the borderline non-sensical lyrics. Good material, nevertheless.

Score: 7/10

Raphael: Regardless of whether or not “Waiting” would be a strong candidate as a song alone, there are too many distractions in this performance to make it a cohesive package. From Laud’s mildly aggressive expressions to the directionless “freestyling” in the last 30 seconds of the song, there’s not enough for listeners to grab onto before it’s all over. His nasal voice may be unique enough for some to remember, but it isn’t a plus in my book.

Score: 4/10

Robyn: Laud is a confident performer and really sells his song to the camera. He hits all his cues and is Lisbon-ready. The problem is with the song. “Waiting” has an edgy, minimalist sound, but Laud’s diction makes the lyrics harder to understand. We know he’s waiting for something — but what?

Score: 7/10

Our jury for Ukraine consists of ten jurors, but we only have room for five reviews. The remaining ten scores are listed 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 2.5 and a high of 7.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.09/10

The Erised – “Heroes”

“Heroes” reviews

Deban: Emotional and expressive — I like this! Although Sonya needs to work on her enunciation, she compensates with enough fire and energy in her performance. From their styling to this song title, The Erised still manage to work a surprise.

Score: 6.5/10

Jonathan: Are we sure this song is called “Heroes”? Because I didn’t hear vocalist Sonya mention it once – not that I understood many of the lyrics due to diction issues. That aside, it’s clear that the group’s time under a UK record label has given them an international sound that would appeal to much of Europe. The song is current and would be a respectful Eurovision entry for Ukraine. Although there may be a slight clash with Switzerland’s Zibbz in terms of style if both managed to pass through their respective semi-finals.

Score: 7.5/10

Luis: “Heroes” is a bit too experimental and transcendental for Eurovision. It’s got a languid base that fails to grab you and it just loops over those war drums for three minutes. It’s got a bit too much of drama, and it’s totally lost because of the poor enunciation. Ukraine has better options than this.

Score: 5/10

Natalie: There is something about rumbling snares and heavy electro beats combined with a drawling vocal. Sonya Sukhorukova certainly packs a lot of emotion into her delivery, but it does mean that often the lyrics are hard to understand. But the song is horribly repetitive, and the beats easily outshine the rest of the instrumentation, which is a shame because it is otherwise quite beautiful and well-produced. This one just needed some more polish and focus, then it could have been something really magical.

Score: 6.5/10

Robyn: Despite the song’s name (too soon, guys!), “Heroes” isn’t a bad track. There’s plenty of drama and potential for a memorable Eurovision entry. But despite Sonya’s solid vocal talents, her diction is shockingly bad. Whether the lyrics are serious or fun, the message needs to be clear.

Score: 6/10

Our jury for Ukraine consists of ten jurors, but we only have room for five reviews. The remaining ten scores are listed 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 4.5 and a high of 7.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 5.88/10

SEE OUR LIST OF UKRAINE 2018 RANKINGS HERE

READ MORE UKRAINE EUROVISION NEWS HERE