With the live shows for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest starting tomorrow, we thought we’d have a little go at trying to make our own jury scores for this year’s contest.
Rules
The 37 countries competing this year have been randomly sorted into seven segments. Each segment will be voted on by 5 jurors. They have assessed based on six categories: Melodic Impact, Artist Presence, Individuality, Attention Drawing, Vocal Fit, and Lyrical Impact. Exact specifications of these criteria can be found below. Our five jurors have given a score of 1 to 5 on each of the six topics, allowing each juror to give a maximum of 30 points to each song. In total there are up to 150 points available to each song. Once every song and score has been presented a full breakdown with a ranking of all 37 of this year’s entries.
Additionally, all of our jurors were asked to give one positive, and one negative comment about each song in a constructive manner.
These are our personal opinions based on the criteria outlined. This is in no way attempt to accurately predict what will be the outcome of next week’s shows and should not be taken as such.
Countries And Jurors For Part One
The five countries that make up the first segment being voted on are: Israel, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova, and Malta.
The jurors voting in this segment are: Rosie, Shiloh, Isabelle, Ben, and Euan.
Voting Criteria
Criteria 1: Melodic Impact
How lasting is the beat of the track. The more the beat stays, the higher the ranking.
Criteria 2: Artist’s Presence
If a national final is used, how their presence on stage affected the performance. If an internal selection was used, and no pre-party of other live footage is available then their presence is assessed based on their history.
Criteria 3: Individuality
How different is the song compared to the rest of the acts participating this year.
Criteria 4: Attention Drawing
How drawn in are you by the song. Are you waiting for it to finish, or completely engrossed.
Criteria 5: Vocal Fit
Assessing the vocal fit of the artist to the song rather than judging their technical ability in full. ie. X singer may have a wider range to Y singer, though singer Y may utilise the range better in their song and therefore should be ranked higher than X.
Criteria 6: Lyrical Impact
How lasting are the lyrics to you. Has listening to it left you singing the song.
The Results
Israel
| Juror 1 | Juror 2 | Juror 3 | Juror 4 | Juror 5 | Total | |
| Melodic Impact | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3.5 | 4 | 14.5 |
| Artist’s Presence | 4 | 3.5 | 1 | 5 | 2.5 | 16 |
| Individuality | 3.5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 15.5 |
| Attention Drawing | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 3 | 12.5 |
| Vocal Fit | 4 | 4.5 | 3 | 4 | 4.5 | 20 |
| Lyrical Impact | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
Positives
Ben: Her vocals are amazing, and I love the epic intro.
Shiloh: The long, drawn-out notes of “stand here like a unicorn, out here on my own” are excellent for Noa’s voice.
Rosie: Each section of Unicorn is enjoyable in itself. I particularly like the dance break section where the brass and the drums take over – this is powerful and I can picture this being very effective live!
Isabelle: I appreciate the playfulness of the concept and lyrics – it’s nice to see an artist not take herself too seriously.
Euan: The song suits Noa’s vocals perfectly, and the transitions between the different parts of the song work really well.
Negatives
Ben: It’s a bit disjointed. The 50 different parts of the song don’t all mesh together.
Shiloh: The spoken and half-sung parts, on the other hand, feel distinctly out of place and awkward. It doesn’t suit her and feels unconvincing.
Rosie: I enjoy each part of Unicorn in isolation, but the overall song feels like there’s too much going on with not enough of a strong thread to tie them together (for an alternative, Cha Cha Cha brings the first half of the song back during the second, which blends each part). Also, that’s a Centaur in the video.
Isabelle: Unfortunately, the song is very derivative, the dance break cuts and pastes so much from Spain 2022, which feels tacky, and many of the lyrics seem hollow.
Euan: The last 40ish second of the song are quiet drawn out nothingness which doesn’t leave a good impression.
Georgia
| Juror 1 | Juror 2 | Juror 3 | Juror 4 | Juror 5 | Total | |
| Melodic Impact | 4 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 19 |
| Artist’s Presence | 4.5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 18.5 |
| Individuality | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3 | 4 | 2.5 | 18.5 |
| Attention Drawing | 4.5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4.5 | 20 |
| Vocal Fit | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 23 |
| Lyrical Impact | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | 7.5 |
Positives
Ben: The track has amazing amazing amazing vocals.
Shiloh: The chorus is memorable, powerful, and absolutely tailor-made for her voice! The beat underneath the chorus is especially driving.
Rosie: What a voice Iru has! She’s an outstanding performer. I also love the instrumental of this song – the drum rhythms are so powerful and absolutely drive the song to me, while adding a uniquely Georgian element to the song.
Isabelle: The melody is terrific and really suits Iru’s voice. It’s great to hear such a memorable tune from Georgia again.
Euan: The song and Iru herself are great at creating a feeling of drama and spectacle.
Negatives
Ben: thing is known. Thing is the lyrics feel like they have been put through google translate 50 times
Shiloh: The difference between the verses and chorus is a little jarring. I think there could have been more of a transition between the two.
Shiloh: I’m aware I won’t be being original by mentioning the lyrics here, but I’m doing so anyway because they’re the weakest point of the song by far. Iru sings them with such conviction that I’m almost convinced, but ultimately it’s the block that stops me being fully swept away by this song.
Isabelle: It’s such a shame the lyrics are a word salad – it feels like a deeper message was trying to be communicated, but this could have benefitted enormously either from collaboration with a native English speaking songwriter or from having been written in Iru’s native language.
Euan: It’ll obviously be the most obvious thing said about this song, but the lack of any lyrical cohesion ruins the song.
Latvia
| Juror 1 | Juror 2 | Juror 3 | Juror 4 | Juror 5 | Total | |
| Melodic Impact | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 20 |
| Artist’s Prescence | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| Individuality | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 22 |
| Attention Drawing | 3.5 | 4.5 | 1 | 4 | 4.5 | 17.5 |
| Vocal Fit | 4 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 20.5 |
| Lyrical Impact | 5 | 3.5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 19.5 |
Positives
Ben: I love the beat and how soothing the last “aija” part at the end is
Shiloh: The last two slow lines in Latvian absolutely make this song for me. The lead singer’s voice is soft and intimate in a way that works excellently with the stripped-back instrumental and it sits in a great spot in his range.
Rosie: This song makes me cry. Lyrically, I find it incredibly simple but beautiful, and I feel like it captures the feelings of living and parenting in today’s world in a very meaningful way. When the Latvian lines come in at the end of the song, I get chills in my spine and tears in my eyes.
Isabelle: Lovely to hear a little Latvian at ESC for the first time in nearly two decades, and the singer’s vocal range is very prettily deployed here.
Euan: The last part that transitions to Latvian is hauntingly beautiful and can bring a tear to my eye.
Negatives
Ben: As much as I love this song, I have a looming fear that this wont connect with audiences because past similar songs havent.
Shiloh: There’s a dissonance for me between the music and the lyrics. I feel as though I expect something a little softer for the subject matter at hand; the instrumental feels a little frenzied especially towards the beginning.
Rosie: I’m not sure that this song has a strong enough impact on first listen to stand out in the field and encourage an audience to pick up a phone. It grew upon me wonderfully, but it took time and repeat listens for this to happen. I hope Sudden Lights will be able to elevate their staging from Supernova to give the song more instant impact.
Isabelle: The lyrics rub me up the wrong way, alas, and neither the song nor the live performances captivate me.
Euan: I feel the live performance lacks ‘something’ that will give it the required intimacy to stand out properly.
Moldova
| Juror 1 | Juror 2 | Juror 3 | Juror 4 | Juror 5 | Total | |
| Melodic Impact | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 21 |
| Artist’s Presence | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 24.5 |
| Individuality | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 20 |
| Attention Drawing | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 22 |
| Vocal Fit | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 18.5 |
| Lyrical Impact | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
Positives
Ben: The flute part is amazing, and I have the chorus constantly stuck in my head.
Shiloh: He is SO fun to watch in this performance. The composition and his performance onstage really combine to keep me excited and interested. Even though I already know how the song is going to go, I want to watch and listen to the end.
Rosie: The “folk with oonts oonts” genre has become a Eurovision staple, and it’s easy to see why. Soarele si Luna has an incredible chorus and hook thanks to Sergiu Boris that has been running round my head for weeks. It’s catchy, it’s atmospheric and it’s sure to stand out on this year’s Eurovision stage.
Isabelle: The concept has been fully realised since the NF, Pasha has stage presence in spades, and the flute solo is majestic – I adore the physical play between Pasha and his flautist in performance.
Euan: It’s a song that when you listen to with headphones on, you can feel through your entire body, which is everything I want from a folktronica banger.
Negatives
Ben: The slower ethnic songs don’t always do well with the audiences, and its very 50/50 on how they will respond to this song
Shiloh: While his stage presence definitely suits the song, vocally I think Pasha is better for songs like his 2012 entry. There’s a certain kind of charisma that he has in “Lăutar”, when I close my eyes, that he doesn’t have in this song.
Rosie: While I love the chorus of this song and generally think it’s well-structured, it does come back a few times with very little variation and can feel a little repetitive. It might have even more impact with a couple of changes to the instrumental (adding new layers of instrumentation, or emphasising different ones) to give the song a little more shape without losing its catchiness.
Isabelle: The marriage theme of the lyrics doesn’t appeal to me, personally, and I find the pagan imagery a little on the nose, especially given how repetitive the song is.
Euan: I feel like the repetitive nature of the song may rub some people the wrong way.
Malta
| Juror 1 | Juror 2 | Juror 3 | Juror 4 | Juror 5 | Total | |
| Melodic Impact | 4 | 4.5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 21.5 |
| Artist’s Presence | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3.5 | 5 | 17.5 |
| Individuality | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3.5 | 3 | 17.5 |
| Attention Drawing | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 3 | 3.5 | 17 |
| Vocal Fit | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3.5 | 18.5 |
| Lyrical Impact | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 14.5 |
Positives
Ben: As a T sax player, I LOVE the sax parts.
Shiloh: OH MY GOD, THE SAXOPHONE. Perhaps the catchiest sax we’ve had since OG Epic Sax Guy. It makes the song so much more memorable and plays really well off of the guitar part in the post-chorus as well.
Rosie: I might be about to say something blasphemous, but this song out-saxes the Sunstroke Project to me. The whole song is full of wit and humour and I can’t not smile when I hear it. Yes, The Busker, I do wanna dance.
Isabelle: The irresistible saxophone hook is one of the best pieces of instrumentation in this year’s entire competition.
Euan: The beat is infectiously energetic, and just want you want in a poppy dance number.
Negatives
Ben: While I love feeling better in my sweater, some of the lyrics are rather generic
Shiloh: Not that the guys aren’t fun to watch, but I wish the lead singer had a little more presence at the beginning. He seems nervous in the NF performance and it detracts from the chill vibes of the song.
Rosie: Dance (Our Own Party) is a song that I think a lot of people will like, but that they won’t like enough to pick up the phone and vote for. It’s a joyful three minutes, but in the semi-final one crowd of songs, I fear it is likely to be forgotten when the lines open.
Isabelle: The song, while delightful, doesn’t take us on much of a journey. I worry it may get lost in the mix for that reason.
Euan: It perhaps is a bit too ‘easy listening’ and won’t have enough impact to do well.
You can find the part two, three, four, five, six, seven, and the full results linked respectively.
What do you think of our scores? Are there any countries you’d score differently? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok as we cover the rehearsals of Eurovision 2023!
Information Source: That Eurovision Site
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