Welcome to The Xtra Files, our series which will give you an insight into what the team at ESCXTRA think of your favourite entries into this year’s contest! Today, we review Australia.
Now that all the songs have been released, we are able to review each and every one of them. Our honest and brutal reviews will keep you entertained until the rehearsals start on 30 April! We will also each give a score out of 10 for every entry, and create an ESCXTRA leaderboard of the entries!
Today we have reviews of the Australian entry, ‘We Got Love’ by Jessica Mauboy, from Dominik, Nick, Ryan, Sami, Wiv and Yassia. Let’s get started!
The Reviews
Dominik
Australia is always delivering. Love to have Jess back in the real contest. The song is a good pop song. Nothing new, but I like the style and think she will put on a great show. Just love the quality we always get from Australia and the passion they have. Can’t wait to see what they bring on stage this year.
Nick
I have major issues with this year’s Australian entry. When an artist enters Eurovision through an internal selection, I hope (and wish) they would pick a song they’d have released as a single anyway. Or a song from their album, whichever they prefer. A completely formulaic song, written especially for Eurovision, keeping all the cliches (love, equality, an attempt at anthemic and a key change) does not go well for me.
Ryan
Australia have never quite nailed a studio version of their Eurovision entries yet… until now! Guy and Dami both elevated their tracks once on the Eurovision stage, Dami massively so. Nevertheless, “We Got Love” is already a fantastic track on first listen. Uplifting, anthemic, powerful, contemporary, everything you could want in not just a Eurovision entry but a smash hit pop song. This is my tip for the win in Lisbon, with Jessica’s experience and SBS’ history of effective staging.
Sami
“We Got Love” is well produced, catchy and kinda anthemic, but the chorus is so flat. The song doesn’t grow enough until the last 30 seconds. I’m pretty sure people will enjoy it, but it might be too generic for people to actually vote for it. The juries will like it for sure, like all the Australian entries before.
Wiv
This is annoyingly catchy! It’s not in any way my kind of music, and I don’t really like it, but it still makes me wanna dance. In addition she’s got exactly the kind of nasal female voice that grates on my eardrums. And the lyrics…eh…
Yassia
Some controversial feelings after listening to this song: it’s not bad at all, but I feel like I’m missing something. Maybe this something is a more catchy music, maybe a better chorus…don’t really know. Jessica is really good vocally though and very charismatic.
Scores
| Dominik | 6.5 | Nick | 4 | Tim | 10 |
| Hlynur | 4 | Riccardo | 5 | Tom | 9 |
| Lisa | 10 | Rigmo | 6.5 | Vincent | 7 |
| Luke | 10 | Rodrigo | 5.5 | Wiv | 4 |
| Matt | 8 | Ryan | 9.5 | Yassia | 8 |
| Miki | 4 | Sami | 7 | ||
| Nathan | 7.5 | Simon | 3 |
Therefore, the average score for Australia is 6.76.
Leaderboard
Australia reaches 5th place with a score of 6.76.
- Finland – 7.66
- Bulgaria – 7.63
- Germany – 6.95
- Ukraine – 6.92
- Australia – 6.76
- Lithuania – 6.50
- Albania – 5.50
- Belarus – 4.97
- Moldova – 4.92
- Montenegro – 4.71
- Georgia – 4.18
- Iceland – 4.18
Tomorrow, it will be the turn of Latvia to be reviewed.
Do you agree with our reviews of Australia? What are your thoughts on We Got Love?
Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA!
Comments on The Xtra Files 2018: We Review Australia’s ‘We Got Love’ by Jessica Mauboy!