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 Roland Gulyás with “H Y P N O T I Z E D” and Tamás Horváth with “Meggyfa”. Did we find these songs mesmerising? Read on to find out!

Roland Gulyás – “H Y P N O T I Z E D”

“H Y P N O T I Z E D” reviews

Antranig: I really hope M I H A I isn’t following A Dal this year, otherwise he’ll start calling his songs “T O R N E R O”, “H E A V E N” or something of the sort. The repetitive chorus lyrics are really uninspiring and boring. I’d rather watch a spelling bee and see someone spell the word “H Y P N O T I Z E D” than listen to this. A very tame effort by Hungary’s lofty standards.

Score: 3/10

Barnabas: An average song inspired by Rag n’ Bone Man, sung very well. Sadly, it just gets lost in the sea of high-volume bangers and emotional ballads.

Score: 5/10

Luis: T H I S   T R E N D   N E E D S   T O  S T O P . Is this guy related to Freddie in any way? He looks and sounds like his younger brother! Unfortunately, his song is not even close to “Pioneer”. It’s repetitive and by the end there are 30 seconds of “ooh, oooh” which need to be cut down. At least it’s not another Ed Sheeran attempt.

Score: 5.5/10

Natalie: If your chorus is the same words repeated over and over for four lines, it’s not a good sign. “H Y P N O T I Z E D” is no exception – and extra lame points for that “stylised” title. This could be a nice raw acoustic song, but it’s ruined by the stupid pop influences and the incredibly poor lyrics. There’s no genuineness or soul to this, it feels processed and conformative and in the worst possible way. By the third verse “woooh woooahh yeeeah – eugh” I was lost. It’s frustrating to have so little artistry in a song like this.

Score: 3/10

Robyn: Look into the eyes… “Hypnotized” has strong undercurrents of bluesy rock, but for all of that and Roland’s theatrics, the song doesn’t actually achieve much. She got him hypnotised. Ok, cool. But now what? Is she gonna help him quit smoking? Or will he cluck like a chicken every time he hears the word “realness”? Both of those scenarios would be more entertaining than this song.

Score: 5.5/10

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: 3/10

Jonathan: 6/10

Lukas: 7.5/10

Sebastian: 7.5/10

 

 

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 3 and a high of 7.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 5.07/10

Tamás Horváth – “Meggyfa”

“Meggyfa” reviews

Antranig: The music is great, the vocals are stunning and the song itself is brilliant. Put it all together and something is missing which holds this back a fraction or two. I love the traditional sounds in this song and the Hungarian authenticity he delivers. If they can iron out some of the minor issues throughout the song, this could be one of the standout entries of A Dal 2018.

Score: 7.5/10

Barnabas: He’s the Gabi Tóth of this year for me, and I tell you why. It has the biggest support among Hungarian fans, it incorporates ethnic elements, and of course, Tamás puts down a great vocal performance, however the staging is quite messy. I hope his wife won’t be too angry when the jury will leave him out of the top four. For the sake of variety, I don’t see them leaving the chance open for the possibility of two Romani winners in a row.

Score: 6/10

Luis: The most energetic “bop dee dee dee” ever done. “Meggyfa” has a weird appeal. It’s enjoyable and you almost want to get off your seat to dance… but there’s never a moment to do it. It’s not exactly languid, but it’s neither totally upbeat. Then please, Hungarians, can you explain the dancers? Their look is as if Zara had a Mariachi collection. Tamás, you’ve bewildered me. I’m not sure if positively or negatively, but you did it.

Score: 6.5/10

Natalie: I love a nice bassline, and this song has a veeeery nice one. Tamas’ voice is so sweet to listen to, he effortlessly adds in emotion and soul, it sucks you in and makes you believe everything he says. Add that ethnic instrumentation around those guitar chords and everything, and I was sold. This is a very strong and sincere song, very hard to fault. All the elements stand on their own yet come together so well, and in such a likeable way. Surely that’s the best guitar playing in Hungary too.

Score: 9/10

Robyn: This was my favourite song going into the A Dal heats, but after the live performance, something isn’t quite right. It’s mostly down to the staging. Those dancers show up and break the magic spell Tamas has created, leaping around like two wind-up toys. The autumn leaves make no sense (though it could be worse) but the big weakness is the ending. The song finishes with 20 seconds of instrumental, during which Tamas tediously plays the spoons. He’s a strong singer and can hold his own with just the double-bass accompaniment. The staging needs to let him shine and not get bogged down with novelty distractions.

Score: 9/10

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: 6.5/10

Jonathan: 7/10

Lukas: 6.5/10

Sebastian: 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 6 and a high of 9.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 7.14/10

SEE OUR LIST OF A DAL 2018 RANKINGS

READ MORE HUNGARY EUROVISION NEWS

15 Comments
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AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

H Y P N O T I Z E D: I really like this one. Nice beat, good voice and a hooking chorus. I have to say though it gets repetitive at some point.
6.5/10

Tamás Horváth: nice melody and a hooking chorus. Makes you smile (at least me). It’s ok.
5.5/10

Phary
Phary
6 years ago

Spoon is the new milk jar.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

By the way: Viszlat nyar is the best rated a dal song by the wiwijury with a score of 7.5

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Hypnotized: 4/10
Meggyfa: 5/10
I know it’s a favorite.. but it’s got a very stop start way of singing in the chorus and has no sing-along quality in my opinion.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

H Y P N O T I Z E D: Great voice! One of the most underwhelming songs before being performed live but jumped right up for me. Glad it qualified. Song has good verses but the chorus kills it. Far too repetitive. Still, overall, a pleasant surprise. Meggyfa: This was such a lock to win before that staging. Really disappointing. Just copy the music video and A Dal is done. This would get in the top four and then the public vote would send this to Lisbon. Unfortunately, they decided to treat the song as a bit of a… Read more »

Sabrina
Sabrina
6 years ago

I really liked “Meggyfa”. The staging is not good, but they can start that all over again if the song wins. If they don’t want to send a rock act (both Leander Kills and AWS would be great), this would be my pick.

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

Horvath is clearly the people’s favorite (2 million YouTube views!) and would have them on their side if he got the ticket to Lisbon. I could even see it making the final! The juries should keep that in mind. It also just so happens that his song is excellent.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe

There are three other songs that got nine Points from the televote in the same semi as him. And while I think that 3Million views don’t lie, the juries can drag him down. Eletre kel was the song that got the most Jury Points (which I don’t get…) followed by AWS who also happen to be one of the televote favorites that got nine Points, so I think these guys are likely to make it. Now here’s the Problem: Budapest Girl, I let you run away and Meggyfa all got 34 Points from the juries and 9 from the televote.… Read more »

Vanessa
Vanessa
6 years ago

Tamas all the way

Zolipop
Zolipop
6 years ago

Hungarian here, but a dumb one when it comes to dances and traditions.
The first thing that got to my mind seeing that dance was csárdás, a traditional hungarian dance with hats, although I’ve never seen it with such ones.
http://csardas.org/uploaded/images/ViganTancoloMagyarok.jpg
It might as well be some kind of romany dance, the spoons also come from their culture. Either way, I guess they wanted some kind of medley between traditional and modern clothes.
/Sorry if anything is incorrect here/

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago

5.07 is really unfair and inappropiate for ”hypnotized” in my opinion. I would have thought that Horvath was gonna get a much higher score but I’m fine with it. I think either AWS or Horvath Tamas should go to Lisbon… They’d be the best options. AWS is my favourite, but I know that they won’t be able to beat Horvath with the televote.

vangelis vt
vangelis vt
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

If they send AWS, they will stay in the semi that’s for sure.

Weißbrot
Weißbrot
6 years ago
Reply to  vangelis vt

Nothing is for sure! Nobody would have thought that Portugal would win last year, everything is possible. You don’t always know how the audience reacts, it’s unpredictable sometimes.

Zolipop
Zolipop
6 years ago
Reply to  Weißbrot

Tamás probably won’t be in the top 4, as it is solely decided by the jury, and their favorites are: Életre Kel, Azt Mondtad, Zöld A Május, which got 37 points, and Viszlát Nyár, Nem Szól Harang with 36. So, if neither the jury nor the public changes their order, AWS have 50% to win – if they go to the top 4 and not Leander Kills – (as they were rated 9 by the viewers) , or, if it happens the other way round, it’s either Gergely Dánielfy or Leander Kills (8 points from televote each). Notice how all… Read more »

vangelis vt
vangelis vt
6 years ago

Tamás Horváth should win in Budapest and then win in Lisbon as well. With such a singer and song nothing else is important…