Estonia: Wiwi Jury reviews Kaia Tamm and Kerli Kivilaan

The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to rate and review the competing songs in Estonia‘s national final Eesti Laul 2019. Next up, we take a look at Kaia Tamm with “Wo sind die Katzen?” and Idol alum Kerli Kivilaan with “Cold Love”. Did we have love for either of these songs? Read on to find out!

Kaia Tamm – “Wo sind die Katzen?”

“Wo sind die Katzen?” reviews

Angus:“Wo sind die Katzen?” takes you back in time to 1989, but dodges the danger of sounding dated. It apes all the best bits of ’80s production, without being weighed down by them. Instead it is a smart, fun and alternative slice of electropop, the kind of which Eesti Laul is well known for. Some people might view it as a novelty entry, but those people would be wrong. This is a strong entry in this year’s Eesti and the string-led bridge is the icing on the cake.

Score: 8.5/10

Bernardo: Hmmm. Hmmm. Cats, yes. Hmmm. Hmmm. No to the rest. This makes “Cake to Bake” an anthem. Nothing to seriously judge here.

Score: 1/10

Jordi: This is hilariously… random. Yet, it managed to leave me speechless somehow. Leaving aside the fun fact about cats and furries – which are adorable – the song itself is very cringe. The base is poorly produced and her voice doesn’t sound natural whatsoever, plus, this is as flat as a flannel cake. A part of me really wants to enjoy this, but I ended up thanking her for her offering, and pressing next.

Score: 3/10

Luis: Finally someone doing camp properly! A common trend in this year’s national selections is that novelty acts get boring halfway through, something that luckily doesn’t happen in “Wo sind die Katzen?”. From the moment you read the title, you know where this is going. It’s entertaining, it’s harmless, and it’s slightly extra. This deserves to have a place at Eesti Laul’s final.

Score: 6/10

Oliver: My eyes were fixed upon my computer screen for the entire duration of this song trying to comprehend what on earth I was witnessing. It is crazy. It is ludicrous. It is fantastic. One might say that it just repeating a hark of a crazy cat lady for three minutes, but that is what makes it just so loveable. It’s something quirky, something bizarre and something wacky to give one a moment’s respite from all things serious

Score: 10/10

Sebastian: A sickening starting beat cannot rescue this dated, obviously joke track. And while I’m all for versatility and weirdness at Eurovision, this is bonkers – but ultimately dull. It’s the kind of crazy I can look away from, which ultimately does not match up to previous ‘bonkers’ similar entries like The Hungry Hearts or Verka Serduchka.

Score: 3/10

In our Eesti Laul Wiwi Jury, we have 18 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 1 and a high of 10.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 4.25/10

Kerli Kivilaan – “Cold Love”

“Cold Love” reviews

Angus: Fans may have hoped for another Kerli, but on the contrary “Cold Love” shows this is the Kerli we deserve and need right now. Not all “f*ck you” anthems need to throw a drink in a person’s face: hard-hitting lyrics and a killer vocal can do that work for you. Kerli holds a mirror up to whoever did her wrong, shreds their character and walks off into the sunset. And with “Cold Love”, she might walk off with a ticket to Eurovision too.

Score: 8/10

Bernardo: The first ten seconds of “Cold Love” are very promising. Kerli’s vocals are exposed with almost no instrumental, but what is supposed to build into a feel-good mid-tempo song never delivers. Not even the captivating clear vocals from Kerli make this interesting. Thank you, next.

Score: 4.5/10

Jordi: Rooted in easy-listening and light arrangements, Kerli’s “Cold Love” is pure pop, with excellence filled with an infectious looped beat that somehow manages to keep flowing all song long. What really engages here as well is her voice: unique in tone and meaningful when sung. Yet the emotion is felt behind her words. On the other hand, in terms of competitiveness, it still feels a bit bland yet slightly generic. I am nevertheless, looking forward to seeing the presentation in the big stage.

Score: 6/10

Luis: “Cold Love” has several great ingredients to form an excellent song. It’s got brilliant lyrics, a fantastic voice and an original opening. However, it needs to lose some elements which disturb the song: particularly the raw synth sounds in the end, which lower the quality of the overall production. Still, Kerli Kivilaan serves one of the best dishes in this year’s Eesti Laul low-sodium menu.

Score: 7.5/10

Oliver: Kerli’s vocals are definitely the highlight of this entry, however, for a song competition, all things have to work in order to have a solid and credible entry. The three minutes felt like forever as there was little to no variation in the instrumentation and dynamics of the song. I don’t see this grabbing many voters’ attention unless something extraordinary occurs on stage.

Score: 4/10

Sebastian: Stripped back and raw, “Cold Love” showcases the Kerli’s vocal talent in an easy, breezy lounge track. And while it’s the kind of track you want to listen to on a Sunday morning late brunch, it’s not really the kind of song you’d think to hear or see in a Eurovision stage. It’s ultimately low impact and forgettable.

Score: 5/10

In our Eesti Laul Wiwi Jury, we have 18 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 8.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 5.84/10

See our list of Eesti Laul 2019 rankings

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