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 we take a look at rock band Iseloomad with “Kaks miinust” and proud auntie Jennifer Cohen with “Little Baby El”. Read on to see what we thought!

Iseloomad – “Kaks miinust”

“Kaks miinust”reviews

Antranig: I wish this was a Belarus national final so I could just say “spasiba” after three seconds and have it over and done with. If you like this genre then be my guest but it’s not my cup of tea. If you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all. I’m going to stick to that adage here.

Score: 1/10

Deban: An easy pop-rock offering that would compliment the atmosphere in a drinking den rather well. the sounds of “Kaks miinust” are pleasant enough. Although the Estonian language element here isn’t that noticeable, it is an added bonus. Rock music comes in many shades, and the lighter end of this somewhat hard genre of music deserves more exposure at national finals.

Score: 6/10

Julian: This is my most disliked song of Eesti Laul 2019. “Kaks miinust” doesn’t have any dynamics and it just bores me. While the song promises some old-school rock vibes, it ends up going nowhere. The song structure confuses me and I’m sure the performance would be totally forgotten at Eurovision, even if it was performed last in its semi-final. The only interesting point about the song is that it’s sung completely in Estonian.

Score: 2/10

Lukas: This has to be one of the most irrelevant and forgettable songs in this year’s preselection season — and that alone says a lot about it. The whole song sounds like unfinished product and it could work only as a background music at best. After listening of this entry, you can’t remember anything. It would surprise me if this song going to make it into the final of its semi in Estonia.

Score: 2/10

Pablo: This entry reminds me one of the rejected songs of the Young Georgian Lolitaz. The one that likely placed second-to-last in the national final. “Kaks miinust”doesn’t really stand out much within its genre, much less hold a candle to the rock entries that did manage to make a big mark on the Eurovision stage. The Estonian sounds good over the instrumental, but that’s the biggest positive that can be found.

Score: 2/10

Steinunn: The beginning reminds me of a watered-down indie-rock version of “Mustang Sally”. Not a good sign. The verses might have the potential to keep my attention but there is still something missing. One might hope that the chorus could bring that extra but in this case it brings no substance whatsoever to the table. This song is like a soggy and tasteless burger meal where the fries were the most ok part.

Score: 3.5/10

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:

Angus: 4/10

Barnabas: 7.5/10

Bernardo: 2/10

Florian: 1.5/10

Jordi: 4.5/10

Lucy: 3/10

Luis: 3/10

Natalie: 7/10

Oliver: 2/10

Robyn: 6.5/10

Sebastian: 4/10

William: 3/10

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 1 and a high of 7.5.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 3.5/10

Jennifer Cohen – “Little Baby El”

“Little Baby El” reviews

Antranig: We have had songs about pretty much everything at Eurovision but not too many of them are about a baby. Little baby El sure is gorgeous and the song does her justice. It’s very easy to go for some generic predictable lyrics for a song like this but Jennifer does not fall into that trap. Surprisingly, this is one of the better songs of Eesti Laul 2019.

Score: 7.5/10

Deban: An ode to Little Baby El is sweet without being saccharine. Jennifer Cohen is sassy, trendy and cool. Her enunciation is perfect as she belts this song with great precision and clarity. The urban sample beats here may be street, but the lyrical composition is surprisingly nurturing and heart-warming.

Score: 7/10

Julian: “Little Baby El” definitely deserves a place in everyone’s playlist. The song spreads some fresh and modern vibes while the singer Jennifer plays with her sympathy. While the first verses are a little mysterious about how the song will develop, the chorus is captivating and a definite earworm. Sadly the song doesn’t develop any further, with just more repeated sections. This song runs the risk of being forgotten.

Score: 6.5/10

Lukas: Jennifer is serving some real attitude with her entry and I am already a fan of it. The song is very catchy and easy to remember. After only one listen the chorus gets stuck in your head, which is a plus if for doing well in Eurovision. I think this entry has a lot of potential to be a very strong one but it needs a bit more wow factor because so far the whole song is a bit monotonic and doesn‘t grow enough. But in this year’s Eesti Laul, it does stand out which is great.

Score: 7/10

Pablo: Original! An upbeat danceable pop song that serves as a love song to her niece, Jennifer’s offering Millennial Auntie Realness as she flirts with EDM and reggae inspirations over sweet and coy lyrics that all combine in a most interesting three minutes that leaves me wanting to play it again. This entry sounds like it would find a great place with both juries and televote. If the staging is kept tasteful, it could very well go all the way.

Score: 9/10

Steinunn: This is an interesting entry. The song is not overwhelmingly great but at the same time it‘s not bad. Let‘s say this is something I wouldn’t necessarily put on my playlist but definitely wouldn‘t turn off the radio if it would be played there. It has a sentimental tone, being about the singer’s baby niece, but it doesn‘t sweep me off my feat. On the contrary it lacks feeling. Maybe – and hopefully – Jennifer will bring the feeling to the live performance and make the impact this song should make.

Score: 6.5/10

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:

Angus: 5/10

Barnabas: 5,5/10

Bernardo: 5.5/10

Florian: 6.5/10

Jordi: 4/10

Lucy: 8.5/10

Luis: 6/10

Natalie: 5/10

Oliver: 6.5/10

Robyn: 7/10

Sebastian: 8/10

William: 6/10

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 4 and a high of 9.

Wiwi Jury Verdict: 6.5/10

See our list of Eesti Laul 2019 rankings

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Purple Mask
Purple Mask
5 years ago

Not much to add from me. Everyone else has already said what’s occurring. Best of luck to them.

AngieP
AngieP
5 years ago

Jenifer’s song is actually really nice. The other song…no.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
5 years ago

Jennifer’s is pretty good but the other one is not as bad as you guys make out.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
5 years ago

Jennifer’s song is a cute bop. The other one… they took zero effort and you can tell.

Colin
Colin
5 years ago

Kaks miinust – It has an easy flow and I appreciate that it’s in Estonian. Thankfully, this will have to be shorter for ESC version, because it’s quite repetitive. Also, as it progresses, it becomes boring as it’s so linear. The message of the song is quite nice. The energy is too low, though. – 5/10 Little Baby El – It’s very sweet, but quite dynamic and rhythmic at the same time. I really like the lyrics and I appreciate the fact that Jennifer wrote a really emotional song which’s not a ballad. That said, if someone didn’t know English,… Read more »