The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — is reviewing and rating the 37 competing songs in Eurovision 2023. Next we review Czechia, who have chosen Vesna with “My Sister’s Crown”.
Are we crowning the entry as our winner? Read on to find out!
Vesna – “My Sister’s Crown” (Czechia Eurovision 2023)
Review: Vesna – “My Sister’s Crown”
Antranig: “My Sister’s Crown” is truly unique – cut from a completely different cloth from any Eurovision entry that has come before it, and certainly very different from previous Czech entries. This is a song I have been compelled to listen to on repeat since the moment I first heard it and it is constantly stuck in my head. Staging will be make or break for this entry and there is a lot Vesna could do with it. If they get it right, there is no reason why Vesna can’t record the best Czech result at Eurovision. This is art!
Score: 9.5
Samuel: This is a creative, thoughtful and visually stunning entry from Czechia and it’s easy to understand where the Vesna hype comes from. However, I eagerly await to see how this song will translate on stage and whether it will have the same impact. Aside from being visibly intriguing, the song has yet to appeal to me in a broader sense.
Score: 6.5
Ruxandra: I think this song has big potential. Having lyrics in four different languages can be used as an advantage. The structure is good. I would like to see the unity not only in their lyrics, but also at a vocal level in their live performances. Performing with energy doesn’t always mean excessive movements, I don’t think that dancing is a must. Also, I see them near one another on stage just physically, not vocally. They need to harmonise their voices better and to listen to each other while singing. Sometimes they give me the impression that each of them tries to cover the others vocally and this makes the performances to look messy.
Score: 7.5
Lucy: There’s a good reason “My Sister’s Crown” ran away with the title for ESCZ 2023 – an instant hook that gets you intrigued to know more. Whilst we have heard Eastern European elements mixed with modern melodies before, this is so different, and it inspires feminism and power. It creates something bigger. Add in the additional context we have about the song, Vesna have created brilliance here.
Score: 9
Renske: Girly power pop combined with Slavic folk influences has been on the rise in recent years. “My Sister’s Crown” is full of figurative speech. Sometimes, that works in a poetic way, but the many different interpretations with Vesna’s entry have unfortunately had a different effect. It is experimental compared to what we hear on the radio, but compared to what we are seeing at Eurovision, it is not something fully innovative. Women-support-women pop is difficult to create but the try is beautiful, despite the song sometimes overusing certain tropes.
Score: 5.5
Czechia 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:
|
Cinan: 10 Dayana: 9.5 Deban: 7.5 Diego: 8 Forrest: 4 Jonathan: 8.5 Kristín: 6 Luis: 9 |
Oliver: 5.5 Pablo: 7 Rick: 9.5 Ron: 5 Simon: 5 Tom: 7.5 William: 7.5 |
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 4 and a high of 10.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 7.42/10
What do you think of Czechia’s Eurovision 2023 entry? Share your own score and review for Vesna’s “My Sister’s Crown” below!
very political should have been band…
Art? Where?
My 36 place , only «Solo» is lower than this.
Ready for downvotes but I never managed to listen to this one from the beginning til the end once. I just can’t stand it. And they say it’s even worse live….It shouldn’t stand a chance to make it out Semi 1
Fantastic entry, unifying many different wonderful languages of Slavic heritage, I seriously can’t even remember the last time that the Czech Republic chose to offer such a uniquely tradititional and culturally rich entry. Emphasizing on Slavic tradition, unity between sister countries and being anti-war, it is both musically and lyrically, utterly haunting. The verses are perfectly composed, the traditional elements in the music flow from everywhere and the chorus is nonetheless enchanting. messages aside, all the elements, especially the folk/modern mix instrumentation complement each other FLAWLESSLY!! The music video might as well be the best one we have this year.… Read more »
This is a great song, I really like it… Unfortunately live not so great…
You like song so you suddenly don’t care about live performance? 🙂
I’ve noticed how members of the jury are so obviously biased towards their own country. Like Ron giving his own country 7.5 for such a generic song but giving a masterpiece like this such a low score. C’mon guys, its about the song not country
I never know how many members are in this group. Why are there sometimes four, sometimes five, and sometimes six?
You’re so right!
If someone came to me with lyrics about defending women and/or a sister country and told me to “write a song seriously,” I would put it in E minor. That is exactly what has been done here, and it’s wonderfully effective. Even without the deliberately torturous sound effect added to the Verses, this song stands up easily on its own two feet. After the Intro and Verse 1 start the story off, the Pre-Chorus is a very memorable build-up largely thanks to rhythmic accents, but it’s also here where the “B-C-B” motif appears many times throughout. This motif is important,… Read more »
13/37, they used to be in top 5 but but i guess the hype is already gone for me when more songs are released, btw can’t wait to see how they gonna stage this song. Maybe they will give Czechia the best result ever or end up NQ…
The Czech national final was an interesting one in that despite there only being five songs to choose from, two of these had no business being included and were very un-competitive. That left three possible options to choose from and the Czech Republic went for the one that I liked least. I definitely feel like “Ghosting” was the most modern and well-presented of the tracks, and, it was the one that was performed best, too. But, when you have so much of your decision in the hands of international voters, they tend to make their minds up early and tribally… Read more »
I might be the only person, but I just don’t get this song. At all. I tried. Tried several times, but … nope.
its a support to Ukraine song… nothing to get.
At the same time I always liked this one, I’ve been constantly surprised by the amount of love it gets from the fandom. Because I must say that for the lack of cohesion of the final product, its elements are way more interesting than the whole. The girls are individually and collectively appealing on the screen and the chorus is quite infectious, even if I would say it gets repeated a little more than it should. The difficulty hear is to connect all those beautiful dots. The live performances we had so far were iffy at best. Hopefully they’ll get… Read more »
My first time listening to this song was in the Czech National Final live performance and it was a total mess, too noisy and scratchy. First impressions do matter and I’ve never been able to like it from that very first moment. The studio version improves the whole act and I can appreciate the art behind it and its musical uniqueness. We are not used to this type of music in Eurovision. However, since they have to sing it live, and none of their live performances sounds good at all, I’m not sure if they will be able to qualify.… Read more »
28. Vesna – My Sister’s Crown (Czechia) – 5.5/10 – a little too predictable with rap and musical elements which are often quite grating, the chorus is the best part of this track with an almost dreamy quality. I find this song has very high barriers which are hard to break down, which has limited the appeal of wanting to get to know it more. It very rarely finds its way to the top of the list of tracks that I want to listen to but it sufficiently peaks my interest to look forward to how it will be staged.
Ron who scores is just for fun, 3.5 in Slovenia and 5 in the Czech Republic, okay we said we have different musical opinions, some may be harsh judges, but no mercy
Did anyone in the Wiwi Jury listen to the live songs at all? When the music video of this song came out, it was one of my favourites and I believed it should do very well in the contest. But when I heard the group singing live they were terrible and they killed the song. A song, however good the composition is, it has to be judged on the delivery and this group really disappointed me, so much so that I came to the conclusion that they do not even deserve to qualify.
The WiwiJury is doing a tremendeous job doing all these reviews. But I don’t quite understand if they are reviewing the songs themselves or how they think the overall impression, sceneshow inculded, will be on the big night. Looks like some review the songs, other the whole package (which we really haven’t seen), others what potential the song and artist have and if they think the artist is able to put it into action. Is WiwiJury with their points expressing their own taste or how they think the songs and artists will present themselves during the liveshows and where they… Read more »
I looove Vesna and their song! Whenever I am about to forget it a bit (on my playlist) and I re-listen to it, I love it more each time.
BUT
Live performances so far are modest, vocally good but this type of song needs good staging and performance.
If they just get on stage and sing and move, they will even risk qualifying for the final, I am afraid. Too pity!
I just hope they fit everything and a good staging is revealed next week! Fingers crossed!
Good luck Czechia!
Song 9,5/10
Performances 6/10
CZECHIA – Pan-Slavic sisterhood is exactly what times like these need. Strong women standing for each other against discrimination and aggression. An attack on one of them is an attack on them all, and they are willing to take a stand! They manage to be both peaceful and relentless. The chorus has a beautiful melody with an almost medieval-sounding rhyme that echoes through it. It’s like a fine apparatus that pushes forward with its plan, which fits the lyrics perfectly. Various verses and rapping segments are surprisingly engaging too, and feel coherent with the chorus. The only thing that could… Read more »
The interesting thing about this entry is just how many details there are in the music video to pay attention to, most of them remain unnoticed by those who watch it for the first time and aren’t too familiar with eastern European culture et cetera. While the song is really interesting in its own merit, it also feels very ‘Eurovision’ in the approach it tries to take, including the song’s message. Unfortunately the live performances I’ve seen so far leave quite a few things to be desired, but with bad equipment at preparties and a hilariously poorly constructed national final…… Read more »
While I personally think it should be at least a 8/10, I am a bit confused as to why the live performance/staging potential is taken into consideration when making a score. Isn’t the scoring supposed to be based on just the first listen and the song itself? Not the “will it flop”? While that can be something you write about, it shouldn’t be something that you base your score off of
This is the real “hit or miss” of the year. The song has the potential to do something amazing, but they need to give it the proper performance to elevate it, and so far they weren’t able to do it. If they’re able to do it in the real Eurovision stage, they’ll be in the top positions.
One of the most annoying entries this year, together with Serbia and Finland.
3/10
you mad cuz finalnd could win, go cry
Both Serbia and Finland will destroy Chechia easily, so of course he’s mad?
I’ve noticed that they’re not reaching the potential they could have at any of their live performances to date. Here’s hoping it’s all optimized and ready for the big one.
Despite being a multilingual group, in “My Sister’s Crown” Vesna speak the universal language of slogans. Every line in the song could make its way onto a banner at a demonstration – “we’re not your dolls”, “there’s no place for hate in our sea”, “we’re sisters till the end”, “choose love over power”. On paper, this is a powerful manifesto, but in its 3-minute form, “My Sister’s Crown” feels impersonal and fragmented. You could arrange these sentences in any order without changing the overarching sense or flow. Considering the music video, the vibe that I’m getting is “an elaborate art… Read more »
I love them! They are in my top 5 even if the live performance isn’t as powerful as the recorded one
AS many here have said, great song, powerful video, lame live prformance. What we have seen in preparties is same as live from the NF. Imo, they should abandon instruments, get costumes they had in video (or similar) and get some effective but minimalistic lighting.
Also, I would shorten ending a bit. When I listen to this song I enjoy it right up to end but then cut last 10-15 seconds because it becomes tiring. But my top 5 for sure!
This entry came out quite early and it has remained as one of my favourites ever since – it’s creative, it’s got some awesome harmonies( although I do remember live this was a little shaky) and there is a ‘Little Mix’ feel in there too. I really like this and so hope it does well.
Great harmonies and the solo parts are on point too. The lyrics are also nice, it’s so special having a blend of different languages. The production is a bit loud and messy tho. This was comfortably in my Top10 but their performances in the preparties were a disappointment. I did expect that they wouldn’t sound the same but still they’re not good live so far. Studio version is a Top5 material. Performances so far are just barely Top20. I still think it won’t get in risk of NQ but noone thinks it’ll be Top5 anymore or even a winner (if… Read more »
Deserve a bit better score imo… so it remains 3 songs to be reviewed, assuming these 3 songs will be the top 3, so we already know the top 10 wiwi jury I guess:
1. SWEDEN
2. FINLAND
3. SPAIN
4. AUSTRIA
5. NORWAY
6. UK
7. FRA
8. SLOVENIA
9. SERBIA
10. MOLDOVA
Spain won’t be third.
She will get 10 from some wiwibloggers for sure maybe not 3rd but top 5 assured I think.
I’d score this so much higher if the live performances weren’t really disappointing. Could be an 8 or a 9 for me. Right now it’s maybe a 6.5 or 7.
Czechia: I was able to watch this music video without any notions or preconceptions about what this song would entail, I think it was also before this song was officially announced as part of the Czech selection. The first thing which caught my eye as I’m sure it did for many were the striking visuals. The music video looks very professionally done and expensive. In terms of the song sonically, I think as someone who leans more towards mainstream music, this song blends a traditionalist folk sound with a modern sound in a way I’ve looked for other countries to… Read more »
Just out of curiosity, what places do you folks have left? Mine are 1st, 2nd, and 7th (although my first place is *extremely* close to call)
4th, 6th and 15th 🙂
Mine were similar. 4th, 7th and 11th!
I have places 1, 5 and 14 left 🙂 . So ultimately, positive or mostly positive reviews are left.
1, 2, 8, 12 – Four great reviews incoming. 🙂
Including this one as soon as I get to my USB where my written reviews are stored.
Czechia can’t really resonate well with my auto correct either 🙂 .
Close. 🙂 I re-checked. Czechia is my 10th, actually. Left places are 1, 2, and 12.
4th, 5th, 15th
Heh, I use “interesting” as either genuinely interesting or massively sarcastic so I am very intrigued as to what your interesting Eurovision winner is. 😛
4, 10 and 35.
I’m going to upset a lot of people……
Two of them are in my top 3 and the other one is fighting for the 10th spot with other 3 countries.
1
2
4
27th place: CZECHIA: I am torn with this entry. The chorus is infectious and the musical video is really well made and artistic. It is evident that they have given some thought to the entire artistic process and what they have produced is a good, alternative (well not fully), ethno-inspired overall result. Yet I don’t like the rap parts and the verses in general. The chorus can also feel repetitive after some time even if it is admittedly catchy and the best part of the song. Their live performance will play a big role, as a song like this is… Read more »
This one has never quite gelled with me; it feels overstuffed and maybe a little calculated. I can’t deny that the chorus is very nice, though. 6.5/10
While I agree they have been lame live thus far, I am convinced it’s because there is no competitive stressor in the parties, thus based on the video, this song will do very well. It is my third favorite this year. 10/10
I LOVE the song but i am afraid they Will go for a girl band kind of performance which imo does not match the song at all.
I like the song since the first time I heard it but I got a bit bored of it recently.
However, it is ranked at 14th place overall, 6th in the 1st SF.
If they deliver vocally and with the good staging, I dont see any problem with qualifying. 🙂
Is anyone having trouble posting reviews? Mine’s waiting approval again D:
This is one of Czechia’s best entries. Loved it when I first heard it, music video is such a visual feast but I’m worried it won’t translate to the stage. Their live national final was disappointing. If they can bring more charisma to the performance and bring elements from the video to stage, this is heading for the top 10 in the final, maybe even top 5
I’m not impressed. 6/10
Is this the highest wiwi jury ranking so far ?
No, some Song got over 8. I think Austria
No, but it’s still quite high. Austria, Norway, UK, and Slovenia are even higher. We can assume that Sweden, Spain, and Finland will likely all be too. I wouldn’t be surprised if these would turn out be the top 3 overall.
If this doesn’t get an amazing staging, and we get the same chilling on the stage like we had in parties, this might be a shocking non-qualifier. The video of the song and good production put this song among the top 10 contenders, but realistically speaking, it doesn’t belong there. The girls are nice and charismatic and all, but they are not amazing singers (this song needs it), and as some other people say, only the chorus of the song is good. The rap part sounds like a mess even on track, and especially live.
For me, 4/10
It’s such a stacked semi and if they don’t bring it live and staging is weak, I agree it could fail to qualify as Czech Republic don’t always the best televote support
“My sister’s crown” starts with a bang and an exposition that right away sets the forceful tone. From there the verses and choruses flow smoothly, they are presented like a relay, in which every sister gets her turn to shine in her own language. It’s a beautiful concept and a grandiose soundstage: These sisters will not stand down without a fight. The entry stands and falls with the voice layering, of course, and I have seen people worried about this. In my opinion these worries are overblown, but I will say that the soundmixing is key to determine the ceiling… Read more »
Great choice of a winner, Tibor! And a really good review to go along with it. 🙂
It’s only my runner-up, but I still seem to be the one who likes this one much better than everybody else. Reading through these comments is the most baffling experience of this wiwijury week so far. And since there are only three more songs to come, I guess it will remain this way. 😉
Only the chorus is good.
I find this song interesting, especially the chorus. But I have the feeling it is going to flop, we have not seen a nice performance so far and I find the rest of the song rather boring.