IRAN V NIGERIA
Guest referee:
Jarri Van der Haegen — Founder & Editor, Disco Naïveté
Omid Keshmiri — ‘In Sedaye Ghalbe Mane’
“I could easily imagine the judges on The Voice Iran hitting that red button right when they hear Omid Keshmiri's voice: it’s big and masculine with a bassy timbre (if you’re into that sort of thing) and really does surprise you at first listen. He would win the battles the the same reason and do quite well in the live shows because he looks like a young Ricky Martin giving you a naughty 'you’ve been a bad boy' look. He might even win the damn thing (and for all we know he actually did). 'In Sedaye Ghalbe Mane' is a true genre-binding pile of nothing — 'opera meets trance' may seem like a good on paper (not really), but not so much in real life. It was also uploaded to YouTube by someone called MajesticPersian, which makes it look like it’s some kind of forward-thinking electronic thing you will love. It’s not. (PS: Far more enjoyable with the audio turned off.)"
Mavins feat Don Jazzy, Dr Sid, Dr Sid Tiwa Savage, Reekado Banks, Di'ja, Korede Bello & D'prince — ‘Dorobucci’
“'Dorobucci' by Mavins comes with no fewer than seven (SEVEN!) guest features and is apparently some kind of 'all-star' thing à la G.O.O.D. It starts with a funky layer of various instruments that just goes on for the entire 4 minutes and 25 seconds. I'm not really sure who this Mavins person running things is, but it doesn’t really matter as they found a way to make everyone sound almost identical with the use of auto-tune. I’ve heard quite a bit of bad usage of Auto-Tune in pop music, but this may set a new record. It’s quite sad, as I really do think the features from the likes of Tiwa Savage and Reekado Banks (who surely must be the Nigerian answer to Tirzah and Azealia Banks with such fierce names) could have been far more interesting if they actually sounded like themselves. According to the comments, Tiwa is really killing it (but then again most people only know it’s her because she’s the only one mentioning her name), but I'm not really feeling the 'vibe'."
Jarri's full time score:
Iran 4 — Nigeria 5
Now you can vote for your own favourite.
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