The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the 18 songs competing in Hungary’s national final A Dal 2018. Next we listen to Maszkura és a Tücsökraj with “Nagybetus szavak” and Nikoletta Szoke, Attila Kökény and Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos with “Életre kel”. Did these songs give us life? Read on to find out!

Maszkura és a Tücsökraj – “Nagybetus szavak”

“Nagybetus szavak” reviews

Antranig: This is a good entry for the sake of variety but it doesn’t do enough to be able to contend with many songs in A Dal which really own their genre. “Nagybetus szavak” was built to have a great performance and unfortunately the first live performance had no wow factor. The song could do well for Hungary but it needs big, memorable staging.

Score: 5.5/10

Barnabas: Some indie realness is channelled here, and the unique personality of frontman Szabolcs Biró is shaping the whole thing. However, this isn’t an outstanding effort, rather just something I’d listen to in the elevator.

Score: 5.5/10

Natalie: Those moody blues chords… they’re nice. I loved the chemistry between the two singers here, Mohamed in particular knows to deliver a sweet bluesy tune. Despite being a languid song, it also never gets boring. They keep mixing up the delivery, the instruments, and the singers complement each other so well. I’m sure it won’t appeal to everyone, but this is a solid, genuine song, and I hope it does well.

Score: 7.5/10

Robyn: There’s a lot of entertainment value in the “Nagybetus szavak” performance, but the song itself isn’t up to scratch. It sounds like “spooky” music from a 1990s video game, designed to be repetitive to save on bytes. But there’s no excuse for that in 2018. The song quickly becomes monotonous and unenjoyable.

Score: 5/10

Sebastian: A tired song straight from a bygone era, “Maszkura és a Tücsökraj” is dated and monotonous. Perhaps it may have meaning for Hungarian speakers, but to a non-native speaker, it’s a noisy mess. Points for the brave combination of top hat and mustard pants

Score: 2.5/10

In the A Dal Wiwi Jury, we have 10 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Bogdan: 2.5/10

Jonathan: 4.5/10

Luis: 2.5/10

Lukas: 4/10

 

 

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 2.5 and a high of 7.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 4.21/10

Nikoletta Szoke, Attila Kökény and Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos – “Életre kel”

“Életre kel” reviews

Antranig: To sum up “Életre kel” in two words: dated ballad. The chemistry between the performers is mostly strong and they are able to harmonise well together. However, the song feels like it was written for the early years of Eurovision. Some may appreciate the nod back to the past but for me this is dated and has no place at Eurovision 2018.

Score: 3.5/10

Barnabas: And there we have it, a song that should be in a musical, performed on Broadway. It’s put together very well, but it lacks that strong final chorus these numbers usually have. A well sung but bland package.

Score: 5.5/10

Natalie: Smooooooth! I have to say I’m completely new to Hungarian jazz, but this song is a nice starting point. It’s soft, enchanting and pretty easy to lose yourself in. Those voices, even though they don’t vary, are hard to get bored of too. The only thing I would like is a bit more passion, even when the song picks up a bit halfway through, it still misses a bit of grunt and attitude just to give it that extra flavour.

Score: 6/10

Robyn: “Életre kel” creates a wormhole back to 1986. There you can have the experience of being a bored business traveller, sitting in a hotel wine bar, chugging down wine coolers and wondering how much thicker shoulder pads will get. If you’re not into that experience, “Életre kel” is just going to sound dated and boring.

Score: 5/10

Sebastian: With an intro that sounds like an ’80s game show prize showcase, “Életre kel” is a sweet jazzy duet that is unfortunately very dated. The strengths of this entry lie in eye-catching cosmic staging, Nikoletta Szoke’s flawless vocals and a nice touch with the piano work. But the song goes nowhere.

Score: 3.5/10

In the A Dal Wiwi Jury, we have 10 jurors but only room for 6 reviews. The rest of our scores can be found below:

Bogdan: 2/10

Jonathan: 5.5/10

Luis: 4/10

Lukas: 4.5/10

 

 

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 2 and a high of 6.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 4.5/10

SEE OUR LIST OF A DAL 2018 RANKINGS

READ MORE HUNGARY EUROVISION NEWS

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AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

Nagybet?s szavak: Nice beat and that’s it. Nothing special.
4.5/10

“Életre kel”: It’s fine. However, I’m not a fan. It’s dated and boring.
4/10

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

Nagybetus Szavak: I hate this. The worst song in A Dal yet it qualified and got the easier semi-final draw. This is one of those where I am surprised that it was performed by professional musicians. If I heard them performing this on the street, I would make a noise complaint to my local council. Életre Kel: I like it but the jury went too strongly in on this. There is a real danger that this is going to knock out a much better song from the semi-final. For a song that is a pretty simple duet, the vocals are… Read more »

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

Oh no, both Songs are so boring and bad :/ It’s good for Hungary that they have enough amazing Songs to cover the bad ones up.

Zolipop
Zolipop
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

Yeah, except Életre Kel is one of the jury’s favorite and will probably land in top 4 :/

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Nagybetus szavak : 3/10
Electre kel : 4/10