The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — is reviewing and rating the 37 competing songs in Eurovision 2023. Next we review Malta, who have chosen The Busker with “Dance (Our Own Party)”.
Were we dancing along in our own private parties? Read on to find out!
The Busker – “Dance (Our Own Party)” (Malta Eurovision 2023)
Review: The Busker – “Dance (Our Own Party)”
Rick: I’m usually not really a fan of funkpop. But those guys from The Busker are just so charismatic and make this song accessible to me. It feels fresh, cool and somehow different to anything else. Of course it’s not the most sophisticated entry ever, but it’s very enjoyable and unusual for Malta, which I really appreciate.
Score: 7.5
Tom: “Dance (Our Own Party)” starts strong – I love the sexy sax intro. Then it goes a little all over the place. I am not sure about the amateur dramatics on stage. The Busker need to strip the crazy down a little because there is a lot to like with the song. “Dance (Our Own Party)” has a really cool vibe and will be great to dance to in the arena and at Euroclub. However, what they are doing physically is a little goofy. You can be whoever you want to be of course, but there is too much of a disconnect for me between the song and what goes on, on stage. The first semi awaits them so it will be a tough ask to qualify, but they might sneak through.
Score: 6
Lucy: I know this might be controversial … but The Busker have provided one of my favourite songs this year. Effortlessly fun, yet endearingly awkward dancing make this performance so relatable. It reminds me of going to a Eurovision themed night somewhere, in the sense that generic nights out aren’t my thing but the song is about going into your party comfort zone. Us Eurovision fans can have our own party and we will dance like weirdos, and scream along to songs only our community knows. Whilst “Dance (Our Own Party)” is about anxiety, it’s also about having an awesome time in a more comfortable space. I love it!
Score: 9
Oliver: The Busker have tonnes of personality. They’re a likeable trio, and as a concept “Dance (Our Own Party)” is a fun twist on the classic party anthem genre. But the flaw lies in the execution. The boys’ self-penned song relies too heavily on a dated saxophone riff laced between stiff, bland melodies. And with its gimmicky stage show, the live performance isn’t much better. The sweaters, party hats and bobble head choreography cross the fine line from quirky to awkward, on the verge of irritating. In a stacked semi-final lineup, Malta fades into obscurity.
Score: 2
Diego: The Busker and their song “Dance (Our Own Party)” are perfect to turn the party on in Liverpool. Everything in this song is fun, quirky, groovy; it definitely makes you wanna dance. I’m sure they are going to leave their souls on the Eurovision stage. Despite all that good mood, I see it being difficult for Malta to qualify to this year’s final. For me it’s some sort of déjà vu — the kind of song that we’ve heard before. Very good luck to them!
Score: 5.5
Malta Eurovision 2023 ranking
In the Eurovision 2023 Wiwi Jury, we have 20 jurors but only have room for five reviews. The remaining scores are below:
|
Antranig: 5 Cinan: 8 Dayana: 8 Deban: 7 Forrest: 6 Jonathan: 7.5 Kristín: 6.5 Luis: 6.5 |
Pablo: 5.5 Renske: 4 Ron: 2.5 Ruxandra: 5.5 Samuel: 6 Simon: 6 William: 7 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a low of 2 and a high of 9.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 6.11/10
What do you think of Malta’s Eurovision 2023 entry? Share your own score and review for The Busker’s “Dance (Our Own Party)” below!
12 points from Norway. My favourites this year.
They are not my favourite entry, but are in my Top 10. They still deserved to qualify to the final.
Ron, why are you so mean with everybody?
i want to love this so much, but i haven’t been able to yet! i don’t hate the sax sound, but i’m tired of it- it’s outdated. the lyrics also aren’t the strongest and don’t flow for me… but they will definitely create a party in liverpool and i wouldn’t be surprised if the public votes this through to the final! 🙂 3/10
It’s just too much like Sunstroke Project for me to see it as something fresh unfortunately.
Don’t y’all just hate Oliver?!
This song for me is such a vibe, it really reminds me of lake malawi in 2019 (which I also really liked). I do think this performance has a bit more of that quirky awkwardness than the czech entry and im hoping televoters wont be put off by it. I hope the staging is cleaned up a bit from the nf, some really fun ideas but for me at the moment, its a little bit chaotic and doesnt feel as intentional or as put together (not necessarily in a mean way) as friend of a friend. I think if they… Read more »
MALTA – After a few years of imported and slick songs, I was skeptical to see what their long NF filled with questionable entries would produce. Luckily, they decided to pick not only one of the best songs in there, but arguably also the most competitive one. At first sight, the song might seem a bit simple, but it brings so much fun to the table. The guys are charismatic and balance the line between being cool and goofy very well. It’s a party song about social anxiety, which makes it quite endearing. The colorful visuals are well-matched with the… Read more »
Almost no chance to qualify, but to me is a great song. The band is so charismatic; they know how to make the song grow on stage. Sad they are in the hardest semi tho.
Tbh the song itself isn’t going too far but the group and, especially, the singer know how to deliver a charismatic performance. Up to the point that I wouldn’t dismiss the idea of Malta qualifying. Malta needs to bring everything they can on stage to support the charisma of The Buskers. I don’t really think it will matter if it is too much. They just need to party hard on stage and make it very obvious and visual to the audience.
Malta rests in my 25th place.
25. Malta
30. Denmark
I just realised that no-one has mentioned the “being a baby” imagery from the music video. Any thoughts, or tie-ins with music videos of the past? Madness (the band) from the 1980s?
The balance between endearing and unsettling imagery from the music video has been done to perfection, and is only making me like this song even more.
Repetitive…one trick pony. SF1. No chance .
Wow, hold up there. Could we have one review at a time? 🙂
I understand how depressing it can be when an ESC act qualifies “just by showing up and being mildly fun”. This also underlines why I’m overall not in love with the songs of 2023, with a few exceptions.
I’m glad that Malta finally brought us something genuine, with a beating heart. Because even their best entries lately had the bad habit of trying to fit a gifted vocalist into a particular box that not always suited them. Here we have the opposite, this feels like a group of friends doing music and coming up with creative ways to present it to the world. They’re guys next door inviting us to party and it’s fun to watch. The song lacks sophistication, of course, so its roof is low. But I’ll be rooting for them to be in the final.… Read more »
H E Y, WAIT, in case anyone’s still reading the comments, I just wanted to voice my appreciation for the Maltese sweater gang. Intentional goofiness is not easy to pull off, and they are trying their best. You might even say they’re trying a bit too hard (rainbow-laser-shooting-cats, you know what I mean?), but The Busker’s relentless commitment to awkwardness is simply too precious to hate. Weirdly enough, the part I like the least is the saxophone jingle – it feels so needlessly attention-seeking, like an uninvited guest barging into a party and unceremoniously stealing the spotlight. The… Read more »
I really love this song. I’d give it a 7.5 or an 8, it’s cute and catchy, if a little repetitive, but refreshing from Malta!! Looking forward to seeing how they stage it
6-6.5 sounds about right. I wouldn’t mind listening to this twice in Liverpool. I think the staging is fun, on point, the song is catchy and has a message, they are charismatic.
Nothing amazing, but completely fine.
This song is actually catchy and has some charm to it, unlike denmark.
This song asks the listener a question with a yes or no answer. The trouble with that is half the audience might just say “no.” As for me, I like that there’s a saxophone from outside of the Sunstroke Project, but there’s very little actual song here, just hooks. So, I think I need a sweater to feel better about this song. On the plus side, this is a very different choice of song from Malta, so well done on doing something different. I have no idea how this is going to go down with the audience – could go… Read more »
It’s good to see something slightly quirky from Malta and would be happy if this made it through.
I think Malta need to go down the Muzika Muzika route with its selection and try sending something in Maltese next.
Sorry, I wouldn’t say it’s fresh or effortless. A lot of effort had gone into copying good ideas from other Eurovision acts, like Sunstroke’s sax and Dadi’s graphics. Good luck to them, but I voted for Christian Arding.
Malta this year surprised me. Given the absolutely incompetent selection that is MESC, I was initially unaware of the Busker before they won, as I didn’t follow the selection anyway. I gotta say I was positively surprised with the result! It’s got charm and a unique sense of quirkiness, while the simplistic vocals serve good purpose. The staging at MESC needs little changes as well, as I think it’s good to go. It’s a 7/10 for me. Unfortunately this probably won’t qualify because it’s got a TERRIBLE running order slot, and it’s Malta so we won’t see them score a… Read more »
Exactly, when the producers and the EBU put you on second you might as well have a VT screen with the words ” they don’t think we’ll qualify”.
But aside from Destiny in the semis in 2021 (lets not forget there’s a larger audience that watches the final) Malta, particularly in recent years have not done well in the televote. They mightve been close to winning the televote in 2002 but that’s 20 years ago. Theres a consistant pattern of Malta under performing with the televote.
Im aware that they haven’t brought the most competitive songs in the last 18 years but they have had some hype around them with entries like 2015, 2019 and 2020/21. Those songs in particular had a sizeable following and esc fans were rooting for them to qualify but even those either didnt qualify (2015) or didnt place as high as fans wanted them to (2019,2021).
Oh im aware fans arent necessarily the most influential in terms of results but Malta have sent ballads and pop songs (and songs like 2013,2014). This year theyre going in a new direction both sonically and with their participants because the busker are the first lads to represent Malta since 2014. I still think though Malta do tend to struggle with televoters, like their songs in the last 20 odd year havent been awful, some countries can qualify with songs some would describe as borderline but Malta dont tend to get as lucky in those scenarios. I guess itll be… Read more »
I always stan Claudia Faniello appreciation. Breathlessly is close to being in my top 10 in 2017.
You and the juries. 0 in Televote.
Not even Vertigo?
Unpopular opinion, but Vertigo is my 5th in 2007.
A miserable 15 marks from the public, 7 of which I believe from Turkey. If this had been representing a Scandinavian country, people would have been wetting themselves – as usual.
Malta’s entry is only for the Eurovision stage. I literally cannot listen to the song on my phone playlist. BUT… when I see their performance I kind of say “Well, it’s fun!”.
HOWEVER, their last live performances around Europe were kind of “meh”, not the fun and energy I expected.
I feel it is going to qualify because it is a fun song, they perform it decently at least, and there are no juries. Should there be juries, the song would not qualify at any rate.
i would not mind if this qualifies, i kinda want it too
Another one I find Fine, but nothing to be excited about. Better than past year, less basic mainstream and more- friends having a good time, but Slovenia, in my opinion, is playing that role better and it will show in the final results.
Hah, Oliver with random 1-s and 2-s again
Well, he represents the typical bitter, hateful Eurovision fan.
We can see these comments you know x
I prefer 1s and 2s over giving high marks to pretty much every song, like some reviewers do.
One thing I find interesting is his comment seems fairly positive for a score of 2. Not that id enourage him to be more negative but before I saw his score and while I was reading the review, I assumed it’d be a 4.
The staging is nice. The song is decent at best. But a lof of the song has talking/only music.I would like my dance songs to be poppier ,this a bit on the jazz side.
For a televote only semi , this was Malta’s best choice. The 2nd running slot hasn’t helped it at all.
6/10
Semi result:10-14th
Overall result:23-34th
Disappointed already… MALTA is one of the stand out entries this year! Deserves top 10!!!
Underrated as hell but I’m not counting on this to go to the final. Same story as Slovenia last year. 7.5/10
Does anyone know whether they will be creating wiwi jury videos this year or not?
I think you’re right in that as much as everyone’s focusing on how good the good songs are in SF1, everyone’s missing the fact that there’s probably two qualifying spots that are going to be filled by songs that are not *those* good ones.
The question becomes, can Malta be one of those not-quite-as-good-as-those entries? And I’m like, why not? I’d prefer something like Latvia if it came down to it but I’d take Malta over quite a few of the other borderliners.
This will be top 15 in the final. Those who say otherwise do not know anything about music.
Leaving this comment here. 🙂
Giiirl they should be thinking about qualifying first cause that spot of death is no joke
Firstly, need to applaud Malta that they went in this direction, bearing in mind the voting changes in the semi finals this year. It seems clear with Malta’s previous televote woes, that their usual style of entry, or in fact, any of the other songs from their national final this year, wasn’t going to get it done. We’ve ended up with Dance (Our Own Party) and it certainly seems like the best decision they could’ve made. As for the song, this is one of those Eurovision entries where you really do have to wonder to what extent the song is… Read more »
6.-Malta – Previous Maltese selections have been a mess. But this is so enjoyable. Such a step-up. Such a bop. A party starter. Numerous great influences (Sunstroke Project, Lake Malawi, Citi Zeni). It isn’t bland!
Please don’t tell me this is a diss at sweet Emma last year, the song change was her own choice, she hasn’t abandoned i am what i am anyway, she herself still likes the song and she also wished these guys of the busker best of luck on her social media which they liked too
It’s fun, but the saxophone is too prominent and it gets repetitive and annoying. Otherwise, it’s an alright song.
saxophone is played 15% of the length of this track while most Eurovision tracks have 100% of them accompanied with piano or, say, synth. So why is saxophone so worse than the piano???
Or, why is 15% of sax so worse than 100% of piano?
100% NQ
Criminally underrated. It’s well produced, easy-going and really catchy. I guess the problem is that it’s representing Malta,. Usually I don’t cry over these rankings but seriously, lower than Denmark?
I grown to like this a bit more since it came out, but otherwise it’s just okay. And just okay in that stacked semi? hrm.
Well, hmm maybe it’s kinda repetitive, but i really liked it from the day i first heard it. It’s quirky and describes my personality accurately, I must say! Maybe they should change certain things in the staging, but otherwise I think it’s ok. But yeah when they’re deathslotted, I can’t say I have much hope :/
I’m so sad this isn’t more liked! I feel like it’d be a great fun addition to the final
it’s not liked in this bubble. Otherwise it will have an impact on millions of people during the live show.
As a saxo sucker I can only appreciate this song, sure it’s not an usual song, it can appear a bit awkward for some people but it makes the song as no others and it helps to stand out.
For me it’s fun and fresh, and they deserve to qualify.
It has a lot of things I would hate in a song, such as sax as the main instrument + extremely long instrumental breaks, but they somehow make it all work. They have a lot if charisma and they’ve staged this in a very interesting way. I have a lot of faith in them to give a good performance, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be enough to qualify in the end and unfortunately this will probably be one of my faves I’ll lose in the semis.
Nonetheless, an 8,5 from me.
This song doesn’t particularly interest me. We’ve heard it 100 times before even though it’s pretty funky. They are very charismatic I’ll give them that. I don’t think this will qualify or even come close to it. It’s giving Latvia last year and we all know how that ended. I do prefer Malta over Latvia’s song tho. I especially like the verses, but the chorus is a bit too repetitive. I don’t have anything more to say about the song, but I do have some thoughts about Malta at esc. I really don’t know why did they decide to go… Read more »
by the way, both Denmark and Malta got quite a higher score in comparison to last year.
That would not have been difficult sadly
On the other hand, MESC is great fun and a good excuse to visit Malta in February. But I agree with you generally speaking.
One of my least favorites, but not rock bottom. I’m not a fan of the sax and lyrics like “I feel better in my sweater”. Not too annoying but I’d prefer to see it drop after the semi.
It’s a cute harmless song with a charismatic performer, but just not the type of music I enjoy listening to and definitely not an addition to my playlist. It’s a 6/10 for me and 28th in my ranking. I don’t think it’s very likely to qualify from slot 2 in the running order in such a busy semifinal, but I wouldn’t mind if they did and I wish them good luck.
8/10
I love it! Real party vibes. I can’t keep my eyes off the performance. It helps that they are hot guys. I’m excited to see what they do on the night and I can see this getting votes and qualifying.
So far the jury averages are far higher than I thought!
A sort of unpopular opinion but I don’t like this. It’s kinda like Eat Your Salad. Bad lyrics, quirky as hell, not a fan of saxophone in the upbeat entries, was never a fan of these songs.. Very much agree with Oliver on this one.
Rating: 2/10 (31st)
I really like this, I like the stage performance, I get why a lot of people don’t like it. I think it would qualify from Semi 2. Not 1 though.
I love Malta, it’s so fun and catchy. Would love to see it qualify
Malta 8/12
Malta is unfortunately my number 30 this year, honestly the only thing I like about this is the sax hook. And his sweater.
But they are very likeable, and I wish them best of luck in May!