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 Lacy Jay with “Halleluja” and Lumevärv feat. INGA with “Milline päev”. Did we have praise for either of these songs? Read on to find out!
Lacy Jay – “Halleluja”
“Halleluja” reviews
Antranig: Having had the pleasure of travelling to Estonia in 2018, this song (and its music video) take me back, giving me that signature Estonian vibe. I can’t see this song competing with the heavyweights but it deserves to make the final and achieve a respectable result. Estonia could benefit from a simple yet captivating song like this one.
Score: 7/10
Deban: Lacy Jay is a powerful belter. She combines sincerity and trepidation in her voice which fits this song beautifully. Stripped of religious undertones and unnecessary sentiment, “Hallelujah” is soulful. A lovely addition to the Eesti Laul and one song I’ve added to my selective playlist.
Score: 7.5/10
Julian: “Halleluja” is a typical modern singer-songwriter song and Lacy Jay’s voice seems very impressive, especially in the pre-chorus. But that also makes me fear for the live performance. It’s a song that lives with Lacy’s live voice so it either will be awesome or really bad. “Halleluja” is not as uplifting as I hoped it would be during the pre-chorus and the main chorus quickly becomes boring. I’d be surprised if the song would reach the final.
Score: 3/10
Lukas: “Hallelujah” is an alternative entry which makes it stand out from the rest of the songs but I’m not a huge fan of it. The entire song goes in one line and just doesn’t make any impact. It has a nice melody and Lacy‘s voice is great but there is no wow factor here and the chorus is quite forgettable at the moment. If the staging is going to be interesting and Lacy is going to give a strong live performance, then I might like it more. But for now, it isn‘t one of my favourites.
Score: 6.5/10
Pablo: I can’t quite tell what genre this wants to be or what direction it’s taking me. It is easy listening, but it straddles so many different edges it leaves me confused. But it is pleasant, especially the chorus. Pleasantly confused? Let’s say so, but in the grand scope of Eesti Laul, I am not sure how this one could be received live. It just doesn’t do a lot for me, let alone inspire me to reach for my phone/app/internet poll to vote.
Score: 5/10
Steinunn: This entry confuses me. The song itself isn‘t at all bad, it is actually pretty good. However it‘s the singing that makes me confused. Lacy Jay has a good voice and I really want to like her, but I don‘t understand why she needs to pronounce every word like her jaws are belted together. This makes her singing sound forced which annoys me because this could have been a really good entry.
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:
| Angus: 10/10
Barnabas: 7.5/10 Bernardo: 5/10 Florian: 4.5/10 Jordi: 5.5/10 Lucy: 7/10 |
Luis: 7/10
Natalie: 6.5/10 Oliver: 7.5/10 Robyn: 7/10 Sebastian: 5.5/10 William: 5.5/10 |
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 3 and a high of 10.
Wiwi Jury Verdict: 6.22/10
Lumevärv feat. INGA – “Milline päev”
“Milline päev” reviews
Antranig: The music video clips of the Tallinn skyline and the Old Town are certainly gorgeous but sadly the song itself is not up to scratch. “Milline päve” is enjoyable without being particularly interesting. Easy listening only gets you so far at Eurovision and this song is better suited to a trip to Spotify than one to Tel Aviv.
Score: 4.5/10
Deban: The greatest strength of “Milline paev” is that it is sung in Estonian. However, one ingredient on its own does not make a great soup of ideas. That said, this song isn’t bad. It is predictable at times, and runs on a lazy beat, but INGA’s dulcet tones save the day.
Score: 5.5/10
Julian: “Milline päev” is a song that gives me modern vibes and I want to hear it at every party. Inga has such a sympathetic look that fits the song. I even like the transitions between verse and chorus. But even though the last chorus is supported by background singers, the song isn’t uplifting enough. It would need strong staging with positive vibes, maybe with background dancers.
Score: 6.5/10
Lukas: This is a nice pop entry with a catchy melody and a great singer. The song is easy to remember and because it’s in Estonian, it gets more points from me because it makes it more unique and original. If Inga can put on a great performance this should easily reach the final in Estonia and do quite well. I would put this song on my summer playlist and listen to it quite often but I don‘t know if it would do well in Eurovision. There isn‘t anything wrong with this entry but if there is going to be more songs like this it just going to be lost.
Score: 7.5/10
Pablo: This song does feel how an everyday Estonian radio hit would sound instead of forced to meet style statutes for a contest. Carefree and breezy, and the Estonian language brings new levels of depth to a song that could be brushed off as generic if it was in English. The prospect of the live performance is a worrying factor, as these kind of entries are really hard to deliver in a compelling, “vote for me for I want this” fashion, not to mention that the staging needs to be as lively as possible without looking fake. Regardless, this is a serious grower as is.
Score: 7/10
Steinunn: The fact that this is sung in Estonian is basically the only engaging fact about this song. The rest kind of falls flat. It‘s not a bad song per se, it‘s just that I feel like I‘ve heard this song so many times before and it brings nothing new to the table. It is just like every other song on the radio that goes in one ear and out the other and makes no real impact.
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:
| Angus: 4.5/10
Barnabas: 3,5/10 Bernardo: 4/10 Florian: 6.5/10 Jordi: 6/10 Lucy: 6/10 |
Luis: 4.5/10
Natalie: 7.5/10 Oliver: 6/10 Robyn: 5.5/10 Sebastian: 5/10 William: 4/10 |
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 3.5 and a high of 7.5.
Hallelujah has an interesting sound and it builds. Lacy sounds great, I hope she delievers live. Not a song that stands out I have to say.
Hallelujah – Lacy Jay has a very powerful mid-range voice that stuns the ears on the recording. I really hope that this voice can be used to that effect live, because without that amazing voice, the song doesn’t really go anywhere but into “relax mode” in the Extended Chorus. This feels very much like a spiritual song that is missing an actual “Hallelujah” (in the religious sense). But then of course, that is entirely down to the intention of the songwriter (so maybe I’m missing the point). Milline Paev – Every year, there is a song like this at Eesti… Read more »
Lacy is the only one in Eesti Laul this year I would consider voting for at Eurovision, hope she has a good live performance
Hallelujah – Interesting. It evokes feelings and Lacy’s voice is gorgeous. I’m still thinking about the meaning behind it. – 7/10
Milline paev – A cute radio bop in Estonian. It’s quite predictable and typical, but I enjoy her energy. – 6/10
I don’t like religious songs in Eurovision. So No to Halleluja
Boy, how did i miss entry on first perusal of Esti Laul?
Lacy Jay is a wonderful vocalist and this song is really quite originally beautiful.
More listens of this methinks!!
Was Angus drinking before reviewing? A 10/10 for Hallelujah?
Sorry Wiwibloggs but you have a DUTY to publish his full review. It is obviously in the public interest.
best song of Eesti Laul by far, should have more 10s
He evidently found his “Hallelujah” in that song. 😛