A Dal: Wiwi Jury reviews Zävodi + Olivér Berkes and The Couple

The third heat of the Hungarian national selection A Dal is behind us, which means that we have another six semi-finalists. So now it’s time for the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — to review them all to see who — if any! — deserves to follow in Freddie’s footsteps at Eurovision. Finally we look at Zävodi + Olivér Berkes with “#háttérzaj” and The Couple with “Vége van”.

Zävodi + Olivér Berkes – “#háttérzaj”

“#háttérzaj” reviews

Robyn: If there was a “Love Love Peace Peace” drinking game, the burning fake piano would be the “drink the whole bottle” item, because who would seriously do that? These guys, that’s who. But aside from the textbook Eurovision kitsch, “#háttérzaj” has a cool jazzy feeling, but it’s not quite captivating enough. And to be honest, I’m not quite getting why Olivér has transformed himself into Benny Andersson.

Score: 5/10

William: If I was evaluating light shows and LEDs, this would get a 10. But I’m reviewing the song and it leaves me feeling like I’m five seconds from a coma. Not even the overused trope of a burning piano (Melodifestivalen 2013, Eurovision 2015) is enough to stir me. And is anyone else creeped out that all hipsters are starting to look the same? Piano man = the singer.

Score: 3/10

Luis: This is “Rock’n roll kids” from 1994 adapted to 2017 by two Hungarian hipsters. Also, burning pianos don’t take you really far at Eurovision. The whole performance is quite OK and the song is enjoyable. Except for that random cry in the middle of the song, which was quite unpleasant. We can all agree this is not going to be Hungary’s entry, can’t we?

Score: 4/10

Antranig: This song starts off very mediocre and it never gets any better, although he absolutely kills that big note. Funnily enough, I was thinking of The Makemakes during the performance and then the piano was set on fire just to complete the effect. Being compared to a song that finished on 0 points is never a good thing and I can’t see this doing any better.

Score: 2.5/10

Sami: So boring. Maybe there is a strong message in the song, but I obviously don’t get it when not speaking Hungarian. This song is just so predictable, so uninteresting and even though Olivér has a nice voice, I hate all the jazz mannerisms. The third heat had better songs that should have qualified over this.

Score: 3/10

Chris: Whoever thought bad 90s piano jazz needed to make a comeback needs to be evaluated. This borders on unbearable towards the end, even without the burning piano. The positive spin on it is that at least Oliver’s vocal is well matched to the genre, so he’s able to make that bit work. Also: hashtags in song names. No.

Score: 4.5/10

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

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 1 and a high of 8.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 4.47/10

The Couple – “Vége van”

“Vége van” reviews

William: The title of the song made me think a truck filled with broccoli and carrots was about to pull up. Instead we get three minutes of a blonde woman in apparent pain contemplating something deep. Given the lack of melody or dynamism, I’d prefer her to work out her issues in private rather than on screen. I’m just not feeling it.

Score: 2/10

Robyn: I cannot look at the title of this song without thinking of a mobile greengrocer. But Google tells me “Vége van” means “It’s over” and the song reflects that sadness. But then so does Finland’s “Blackbird”, in a way that’s far more musically and emotionally captivating. “Vége van” feels like the kind of mild sadness that can be fixed with a good cup of tea.

Score: 5/10

Chris: God, this is frustrating. Don’t tease me with some weird electronic-marching band and then never have a payoff to it. There’s no high note, no tempo change — it’s like an actively worse version of “Never Give Up On You”. Her vocal is captivating, but that’s all that kept me going by the end. A real shame.

Score: 4/10

Josh: Another dreary ballad. What a surprise! What “Vége van” lacks is a strong hook to lure me in, and it fails to build to a different level. A monotone, flatlined song that probably should’ve been eliminated in the heats.

Score: 2/10

Natalie: The tinkly piano sets the stage and the drums draw me in. It’s intense whilst staying genuine, and emotional but still subtle. Even the most monolingual person in the world should be able to tell there’s something very heartfelt happening here.

Score: 7.5/10

Zakaria: Everything about this performance screams ordinary. The only good point is how it showcases Hungarian as a language. Apart from that the song fails to catch my attention as I found myself staring at the wall with no reason at the end of the song.

Score: 3.5/10

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

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 2 and a high of 7.5.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 4.97/10

See our list of A Dal rankings here

Read more Hungary Eurovision news here