Time for the fifth part of the review series we started yesterday. As you know, nine of our editors have taken a look at all entries. Tonight we present you part five of these series: We’ll have a look at San Marino and Russia!
San Marino: The Peppermints – Breaking My Heart
Simon Wells:
Half of the female school-age population of San Marino have been wheeled out for this pop song (OK, only one of them is actually Sammarinese). It’s got to be of noteworthy concern that there are more than a few wonky notes in the studio version of this song, so I’m not convinced that we’ll hear rock-solid vocals on the stage in Malta. There are clearly a couple of the girls that are good vocalists, which make the rest stand out even more noticeably. Musically, it is instantly forgettable; one of those songs that was written in less time than it takes to perform. Another clumsy band name.
Rating: 3/10
Nathan Waddell:
It’s great to see the microstate return, particularly off the back of appearing in the Eurovision final this year, to the junior contest. This group of girls have a very good range of vocals between them but I’m not a fan of this song. I’m interested to see how this is staged in Malta itself.
Rating: 5/10
Peter Dunwoody:
I get what they’re doing in theory, but it’s executed badly almost every step of the way. The production values are terrible, song sounding like a recorded in somebody’s living room on a cheap keyboard – unforgiveable at an international competition. Then we have the girls; I really don’t blame them, but somebody should have told them that the point of being in a girl group is to work together and not compete and sing over one another. The result is three minutes of almost unlistenable shouting.
Rating: 3/10
Russia: Alisa Kozhikina – Dreamer
Liam Clark:
There is always room in my life for over emotional Disney princess ballads and there is absolutely nothing about ‘Dreamer’ that I dislike. By far my favourite song from this year’s contest. Oh my, that key change is everything!
Rating: 10/10
Dimitris Ioannou:
A great ballad, with a lot potential. Although I rarely like ballads, this got me from the very first seconds. Alisa’s voice is so beautiful and magical. I would love to see this in top five and I think that with a decent draw and a stunning performance it could easily win.
Rating: 8/10
Nick van Lith:
As I said with Serbia, it’s another adult attempt for JESC, but Alisa manages to keep it within ‘JESC boundaries’, if that makes sense. She does what both Gaia Cauchi and Anastasiya Petrik managed to do: take a somewhat ‘adult song’ and at the same time keep the ‘child alive’ – it’s not over the top adult, but a bit half way. It’s a good attempt for the modern Junior Eurovision. I think it would’ve flopped in the first five, six years of the contest, but now it’s going to do well.
And there’s a key change! That’s probably going to score them another top five. Yeah, I’m not a big fan of children singing in English when that’s not their native language, but that’s what happens in modern contests. Russia have made an effort this year.
Rating: 8/10
Danny N:
Another ballad now and this one is from Russia. Like Serbia, the combination of a sweet melody and the angelic voice of Alisa goes really well together. It sounds very much like a Disney song but that’s not really a bad thing, with an impressive visual on stage this could be something quite special. The final chorus is performed in english which will no doubt help in connecting with the audience.
Rating: 6/10
Stay tuned tomorrow when we review Georgia and Cyprus!
