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 Marko Kaar with “Smile”, and Öed (featuring 2016 superfinalist Kristel Aaslaid) with “Öhuloss”. Did either of these songs make us wants to swipe right? Read on to find out!
Marko Kaar – “Smile”
“Smile” reviews
Barnabas: There’s one word that sums this song up: cliché. I’ve heard stuff like this during national finals countless times, and although the lovers of party bops will love this song to bits, I am rather just falling asleep to it. Next, please!
Score: 3/10
Florian: The song isn’t really bringing anything new to the table. Sure, it’s not bad by any standards and Marko Kaar does as good as he can. But something just doesn’t connect for me and the song is far from being creative enough to make me remember it after hearing the entire cut.
Score: 3/10
Lucy: Daaaamn what a bop! He has the same endearing quality as Mikolas Josef (albeit with less explicit lyrics) and it’s oh-so-very danceable and you can’t help but move. This is awesome and is something different in the pack this year. I really enjoy him as a performer as well as the structure of the lyrics, it adds a lightness that’s so enjoyable.
Score: 8/10
Natalie: I wish Marko would stop going into high notes all the time. This is a nice boppy dance song and it makes me feel good. But I do have a headache now thanks to Marko. The whole thing falls a bit flat for me as well somehow. It feels like needs a bit more polish and relying less on the same bassline and Marko’s incessant oooooh-ing. I wish I could smile more to this.
Score: 5.5/10
Robyn: “Smile” owes a creative debt to Zedd and Alessia Cara “Stay”. But while the 2017 hit single had a cool pace to it, “Smile” feels like it’s cramming too much into the three-minute time limit. Marko is obviously a talented vocalist, but his style seems more suited to the lyrical precision of musical theatre than a pop tune.
Score: 4/10
William: Despite the disco feel and Marko’s pledge of doing ‘crazy things’, this feels incredibly safe. There’s a fire in him, but sadly it’s buried under a boring melody and rather annoying production. It’s Bruno Mars sapped of energy, a Technicolour film displayed in black and white. The party ain’t starting with this.
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:
| Angus: 3/10
Antranig: 2.5/10 Bernardo: 5/10 Deban: 4/10 Jordi: 5/10 Julian: 4.5/10 |
Luis: 4/10
Lukas: 6/10 Oliver: 4/10 Pablo: 7/10 Sebastian: 7/10 Steinunn: 3.5/10 |
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 2.5 and a high of 8.
Wiwi Jury Verdict: 4.47/10
Öed – “Öhuloss”
“Öhuloss” reviews
Barnabas: Hey ho, with feel-good songs we go! This is actually giving me Imagine Dragons vibes, and the fun concept is quite entertaining. The staging of this though is a mystery for me.
Score: 6/10
Florian: The song is standing out from what Eesti Laul has brought up so far. The song isn’t bad at all and this could possibly work well on stage. But just in case they win (knowing that Estonia doesn’t always go the predictable way) —please don’t bring that lyric video to Tel Aviv, thank you!
Score: 7/10
Lucy: OK, ignoring the video (which I shall do as hopefully that won’t be incorporated to the stage performance), this is excellent. This is my favourite of the Estonian language tracks in the national final this year. This has a teenage carefree yet rebellious vibe to it, and if I knew a word of Estonian I’d be singing along without question. For now, terrible dancing will suffice.
Score: 9/10
Natalie: Well, full marks for a fantastic attitude. I kinda like these songs we get in national selections were it seems the participants were just like “lol, we should just send in a song just for the hell of it”. They’re not trying too hard, they’re not being too serious, and the whole thing is very fun and energetic. I don’t know how this will translate to stage or how well it will do. But it’s got a great spirit, a good rhythm, and makes me happy it’s here.
Score: 7.5/10
Robyn: Just when it seems like Eesti Laul 2019 is a totally bereft of bops, along comes Oëd and the utterly joyful pop of “Öhuloss”. The lyrics have some sort of commentary on social media, but the details aren’t vitally important when musically it’s super catchy modern bubblegum pop. If this holds up in the live performance, it would be brilliant to hear in Tel Aviv.
Score: 9/10
William: The pizza filter in the video makes me think of the days I had terrible acne, and it leaves me feeling incredibly uncomfortable. But if I close my eyes and focus on the music I’m kind of digging the chorus. It has an edgy, alternative vibe that feels very Eesti. It’s a little dark but ultimately quite jaunty and uplifting. This is very pleasant, even if it’s not that memorable.
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: 5.5/10
Antranig: 6.5/10 Bernardo: 4/10 Deban: 3/10 Jordi: 3/10 Julian: 7.5/10 |
Luis: 6.5/10
Lukas: 6/10 Oliver: 6/10 Pablo: 4.5/10 Sebastian: 7.5/10 Steinunn: 8.5/10 |
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 9.
I don’t think I can comment on Oed, I’ll just say I’m not a fan.
“Smile” is up-tempo, you feel good, you want to dance. I think it’s a little cheesy though.
Both songs are supposed to make the listener feel good. But for me, they don’t have that effect. This is down to annoying “siren-like” melodies that repeat. At points, it really does remind me of an Ambulance sound. That’s a flatline “no” from me.
However, the artists themselves are actually quite good. It’s a pity they don’t have better songs.
I don’t dislike Marko’s song. The video is very cringe worthy though. I want to like it more but I can’t.
Öed has a really fun song that makes you happy instantly. It sounds very carefree. However, the video is very disturbing and I think that’s what putting a lot of people off. I want to like it less but I can’t.
Marko is really cute but even WITH the music video, I had turn the song off after a minute. It just goes nowhere. 🙁
Smile – Very generic, even if well made. I mean, it’s absolutely in the mold. – 4.5/10
Ohuloss – Odd, yet engaging. The knocking rhythm is quite unique. – 6.5/10
Öhuloss is really good. Smile is really not.
With Marko I thought Douwe Bobs Slow down would start!
You guys are so harsh to Marko. He has a nice voice and i think the song is catchy and danceable. I like it 8/10