Review: ZiBBZ - Stones - Switzerland

TellyStats Rating:

7 Day YouTube Views: 154,853
7 Day YouTube Likes: 5,569

With a look resembling The Ting Tings but with a sound like Jessie J, ZiBBZ represent Switzerland with their track Stones. A powerful, beating track with themes of protest in the music video.

Stones begins with a great riff and beat in the verses, falling back to a floating chilled sound just before the chorus hits you at 100mph. It's a strong start and definitely draws you into the song. My problem lies with the chorus which (aside from the "No I ain't throwing stones" part) it almost feels they've overdone it on the noise levels, the melody and even the diction of the lyrics get lost in the avalanche of music. Also, before reviewing a track I listen to it multiple times, some songs will grow on me - but this isn't one of them, one listen is probably enough - you don't really hear anything on the second listen that you didn't already get on the first - the refrain "No I ain't throwing stones" also begins to grate after a while.

I can't help but feel that while it's not a bad song per se, it's distinctly middle of the road. If Taylor Swift herself released this track it'd surely be considered one of her weaker songs. Eurovision loves a bit of politics though and while Switzerland doesn't make overt references to any current events, the theme of the song attempts to tap into the anger and discontent many feel is brewing - can it get a few votes on this basis? My feeling is probably not as it's probably a little too generic but an idea worth considering.

Switzerland are currently last in the betting market with a price of 910/1 giving them a 0.1% chance of winning. While they definitely don't stand any chance whatsoever, it is a little harsh - the song as mentioned above sounds very 'Jessie J', it's not any worse than the music you currently hear in the charts. However it's YouTube stats are fairly disappointing, I feel Switzerland will need to be lucky on the night to progress past their semi, it may depend on their staging, whether or not they push the political theme and if the audience bites.