Throw on something red, white and green and get ready to say szia! The third heat of A Dal — the Hungarian national selection for Eurovision — has gifted us another six semi-finalists to review. First up are Gigi Radics with “See It Through” and Soulwave with “Kalandor”. How will the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — react? Read on to find out…

Gigi Radics – “See It Through”

“See It Through” reviews

Robyn: Gigi has a great voice, but why has she been given a song that sounds like something Beyonce would have rejected in 2003 for sounding too hokey? “See It Through” will appeal to fans of the “why sing one note when you can sing 12 notes?” style, but if this went to Kyiv it would get lost amongst all the other emotional lady ballads.

Score: 5/10

William: I’m pretty sure my sister wore that dress to her prom in 1997. The dated wardrobe reflects the song, which seeks to channel Whitney Houston, but ultimately comes off as very karaoke. This isn’t down to Gigi — her voice soars. It’s that the production, the melody and the shape are so “we’ve heard it all before”. My score is a five — and every point is down to Gigi, not the lacklustre tune.

Score: 5/10

Chris: This feels like it’s a battle between Gigi and the song the entire way through. The song strives to be a big number and Gigi goes for her most “impressive” vocals to match it. Unfortunately that means everything is going full force for three minutes. There’s no real peaks and troughs here and it just becomes a bit too much.

Score: 5.5/10

Mikhail: Let me put it out there right away — we’ve heard it all a million times before…There is just nothing in it to grab my attention. Gigi’s voice is nice, but that’s about it. The song itself is bland, it has no identity and it manages to be a ballad without any emotion behind it. I’m tired just thinking about it.

Score: 4/10

Jason: Gigi has a great voice, and she works it out on “See It Through”, which is a decent ballad with a lot of potential. But guurrl, we need to talk about that outfit. We’ve seen a lot of questionable style throughout national final season (*ahem* Dinah Nah), but nothing as bridal (cheap bridal) as Gigi’s getup. Hasn’t she ever seen Say Yes To The Dress? The wraparound satin skirt is bad, but that lace top with the puffy sleeves deserves its own show.

Score: 7.5/10

Erdi: I really liked the song. This year we might have many ballads, but “See It Through” is one of the songs that I really would like to see in Eurovision. This song might be a good option for Hungary.

Score: 9/10

In the Hungary Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for six reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Antranig: 9/10

Bernardo: 6/10

Dayana: 6.5/10

Forrest: 5/10

Josh: 4.5/10

Jordi: 8/10

Jovana: 6.5/10

Luis: 5/10

Natalie: 6.5/10

Sami: 5.5/10

Sinan: 7.5/10

Zakaria: 7/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before calculating the average score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 4 and a high of 9.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 6.25/10

Soulwave – “Kalandor”

“Kalandor” reviews

William: The rest of the field want to convince us they are stars. Soulwave seem content just to do their thing, which makes their indie pop song so friendly and inviting. There’s a whiff of nostalgia and wistfulness here that makes me want to wallow in the past — a healthy exercise every now and again. The song isn’t right for Eurovision — it’s not high-impact enough. But I’m pleased to take a step away from screaming divas and over-styled Bieber wannabes.

Score: 6/10

Sami: The studio version is nice enough and has done well in the Hungarian singles charts. Sadly, because of the shaky live performance, it won’t win A Dal. I still like the song — it’s very easy to listen to and very radio-friendly — but it’s not really made for the big stage. Maybe they could surprise us all in Eurovision, but first they need to fix those live vocals to impress the judges.

Score: 6/10

Robyn: These guys came last in the first round of voting and only made it to the semi-final through the televote lifeline. And while it’s a nice enough song (with shades of the original folky version of “Kedvesem”) it just doesn’t work. The big problem is the lead singer. For someone who is delivering what seems to be a very upbeat song, he looks so deadly serious that he could be fronting an ’80s goth rock band. If these guys want to make the final, they’re going to have to lighten up.

Score: 6/10

Chris: There’s a kind of naivety about Soulwave that’s charming, but it’s not really enough to engage me. It’s not quite as effortless, as it were, as “Kedvesem” and it causes a slight disconnect. Good vocals and it’s a song I could listen to again, but I feel that there are some songs that would overwhelm it at Eurovision. Frans too showed that even with all the hype, a song like this doesn’t quite work at Eurovision.

Score: 6/10

Antranig: “Kalandor” is really warm and cute for three minutes but it never gets anywhere beyond that. It is a delightful entry and Soulwave have a lot of potential as a group but it’s not one of the more memorable A Dal entries. I praise them for a very good effort, but unfortunately this will end up being filler — albeit very enjoyable filler.

Score: 6.5/10

Luis: This is closer to a YouTube copyright-free background video than a Eurovision entry. They are called Soulwave, but I can hardly feel a breeze, and very little soul. The song itself is not bad at all, but it’s a) not memorable and b) too plain. You’ve already heard in 30 seconds what they offer in three minutes.

Score: 4/10

In the Hungary Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only room for six reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Bernardo: 5.5/10

Dayana: 6.5/10

Erdi: 6/10

Forrest: 4/10

Jordi: 6/10

Jason: 6.5/10

Josh: 6/10

Jovana: 7.5/10

Mikhail: 4/10

Natalie: 6/10

Sinan: 6/10

Zakaria: 3/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before calculating the average score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 3 and a high of 7.5.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 5.69/10

See our list of A Dal rankings here

Read more Hungary Eurovision news here

11 Comments
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Rich
Rich
7 years ago

What a voice!!! Gigi all the way……to Kiev!

AngieP
AngieP
7 years ago

“See it through” is a beautiful song. I really like the chorus. But it’s forgettable.
“Kalandor” is sweet song. I like it’s in Hungarian. But it gets repertitive.

Skandar
Skandar
7 years ago

@eurovision6 What is your favourites in a Dal?

eurovision6
eurovision6
7 years ago

The jury is awful and will ruin the chances for Hungary in Eurovision this year by contributing to send the wrong song.. such a shame since Hungary had about 4-5 songs I might have voted for at Eurovision..

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
7 years ago

Before the heats, Gigi’s was a song that I thought had the potential to blow everything away if she nailed the vocal. I don’t think she quite manages it. It is more competent than amazing and she does sound like she is over-singing it in places. It is not the best ballad in A Dal.
Soulwave is just the type of music I have little time for. There is nothing special about it and I would not notice it if it was being played somewhere. The live vocal was pretty poor. Disappointed that the voters saved this one.

#Budapest2018
#Budapest2018
7 years ago

Kalandor is a song i would pay for. It’s nice, calm, feel-good, relaxing pop song. I also love that it’s in Hungarian. The lead singer should improve his vocals a lot. He also should look happier while singing this. It’s not that serious! Good luck to Soulwave!

cheesecake
cheesecake
7 years ago

I hate Gigi’s song, how did she win her heat?
“Kalandor” is such an amazing song, although it struggles live – just like all my favorites in A Dal (David Henderson, Chase, Spoon 21, …)

Héctor
Héctor
7 years ago

‘Kalandor’ deserves a higher score in my opinion… the guy should improve his live though.

Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

Gigi’s song would never pass the semi-finals lol it’s a below mediocre ballad

Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

Gigi’s song is disgusting. It lacks rhythm and everything about it is messy, I don’t understand how the juries voted more for her than for Gabi Tóth. Also in Hungary she has the fame of believing she’s Beyoncé, but the girl is more like Camila Cabello without the vocals. Kalandor is great but the live version is disappointing.

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

“See It Through” is beautiful, but also a bit dull. It would get swallowed by stronger ballads at Eurovision. “Kalandor” is monotonous and boring and the live performance was not good at all, the lead vocalist looked like he was going to have a heart attack.