A Dal: Wiwi Jury reviews Viki Singh and Spoon 21

The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to review the semi-finalists competing in Hungary’s national selection A Dal 2017. Next up are Viki Singh with “Rain” and Spoon 21 with “Deák”. Read on to find out what we think!

Viki Singh – “Rain”

“Rain” reviews

Robyn: I really like “Rain”. Its opening is a bit slow — and Viki seems to struggle with the very low notes — but once that first chorus comes along, all is good. The faint slide guitar makes it sound like the sort of song a lonely singer could be found singing at a truckstop bar. I’m not sure if it would work as a Eurovision entry, but there’s a lot of potential in there.

Score: 7.5/10

Zakaria: The beginning sounds very promising but one minute through the song doesn’t evolve at all and sounds rather flat. By the time Viki reaches the high notes at the end, I kind of regained attention but it was too late. The song needs to be reworked, especially in the middle where nothing seems to happen. Viki has a good voice though.

Score: 5/10

William: Love is the most common theme in pop music. But it doesn’t have to be this boring! Singh Viki is beautiful (she looks like Swedish pop star Molly Sanden) and can more than handle this song. I just wish the song was a bit more original and dynamic. I don’t want rain — I want a storm!

Score: 5/10

Chris: Hungary can, should and will do better than to sing a fairly dated ballad at Eurovision 2017. Particularly one where I can’t help but feel uncomfortable the entire way through the song, because I’m wondering whether Viki will be able to hit the notes. It’s only at the end when the drama finally climaxes and we get something good, but by then the song has pretty much already lost me.

Score: 5/10

Natalie: This is probably the most beige ballad I’ve ever heard in my life. Seriously, while Viki Singh does have a fantastic voice, you can sense that she knows this song is not going anywhere. The instrumentation is so generic and the lyrics are the most predictable nonsensical mess of lovesickness ever. I still have no idea what metaphor they’re going for. It’s not necessarily bad and if it were sung by Adele it’d probably be all over the radio. But with so much creativity elsewhere I would be mind-numbed to hell if this made it to Eurovision.

Score: 5.5/10

Josh: I can appreciate the quality of “Rain” and why it would’ve qualified into the semi finals, but I can’t get past how hard Viki struggles to reach those lower notes at the start of the song. I find the build up in the middle enjoyable, but after that it seems a little flat. A reasonable effort, but not my favourite.

Score: 5.5/10

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 3 and a high of 8.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 5.88/10

Spoon 21 — “Deák”

“Deák” reviews

William: Hungarian-language pop with modern production and performers who are very easy on the eyes, this has international charm written all over it. The staging is Eurovision ready and the guys sufficiently pumped and eager. Get them to the final NOW.

Score: 8/10

Jason: “Déak” is a middle-of-the-road pop song tarted up with flashing lights, confettied drums and backing singers sporting wolf masks. However, these distractions do not disguise this entry’s failings, namely the sub-par vocals of the lead singer and the track’s lack of memorability. I do appreciate effort though and you cannot deny that Spoon 21 is making the best of what they have.

Score: 3/10

Mikhail: It is a very interesting composition — the melody, the instruments, all the cool tricks like making sounds on tin cans. That’s a cool mixture. The song would benefit from some kind of explosion, but it does work in its current form. It has its own charm.

Score: 7.5/10

Robyn: “Deák” is a vast improvement on Spoon 21’s 2015 entry “Keep Marching On”. They now feel less like a boyband conspicuously playing instruments and more like a cohesive band. That said, the “Deák” performance felt like style over substance — a bright, fun show disguising a very average song with sketchy vocals. But to its credit, “Deák” does have a very catchy chorus, something missing from a lot of songs in other national finals.

Score: 5.5/10

Chris: The staging here might be the very definition of “trying too hard”. But “Deák” holds up well as a song. Spoon 21 sell it as best they can and it just about holds together. I don’t think it holds up well either on repeat listens or viewings, but if this were to go to Eurovision, it would be memorable enough to do respectably.

Score: 6/10

Erdi: The song isn’t that bad but it’s not that good either. It starts out promisingly but the chorus kills everything — it’s so cheap. The song has a good tune but that’s not enough for Eurovision. Good luck next year, guys.

Score: 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 8.5.

Wiwi Jury verdict: 6.56/10

See our list of A Dal rankings here

Read more Hungary Eurovision news here