The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has landed in Budapest and is ready to review the 18 acts competing in the semi-finals of Hungary’s national final A Dal 2018. First up, we take a look at Ceasefire X with “Satellites” and Gabi Knoll with “Nobody to Die For”. Were we in orbit all the way around either of these two tracks? Read on the find out!

Ceasefire X – “Satellites”

“Satellites” reviews

Antranig: It is always quite risky entering a song with a title so similar to a Eurovision winner. The comparisons are bound to come and they’re unlikely to work in your favour. Putting that aside, I can feel the emotion and message of “Satellites”. As a song on its own, it feels personal, reaching out for a lost love. It is easy to connect with and while it’s unlikely to reach Lena’s atmospheric heights, it is a beautiful entry in its own right.

Score: 7.5/10

Barnabas: It is kind of a letdown that from such a gifted singer I had to hear this kind of bland love song that just cannot stand out from the rest of the competition, and sadly the good vocals can’t compensate the weaknesses of this entry, including the overused comparison with space and satellites. A mediocre package.

Score: 5.5/10

Jovana: “Satellites” is one of those songs that are very contemporary and could be appealing to the non-Eurovision listeners, but that also works well for Eurovision. Ceasefire X has a great voice and a charismatic onstage presence, and the choreography from the music videos could look really good on the stage in Lisbon. But it is not really wow. If it goes to Eurovision, I predict it the middle of the scoreboard in the final.

Score: 7/10

Luis: Ceasefire X sounds similar to Lighthouse X, and that made me cringe. Hopefully, this has nothing to do with that. “Satellites” is a nice little song, sung by a voice who could deliver something much better. That’s the most exciting thing about this entry: his voice can work wonders and gives the song some dynamism and texture. Otherwise, it would come across as a clichéd and uninteresting entry.

Score: 6/10

Natalie: There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of power in this song. A bit too much, perhaps, at times. It is really enchanting when the chorus starts and his rich voice cuts through all the music, but towards the end, it does feel a bit like he’s trying too hard. It goes from really touching to a quite tiring. And, honestly, I wish there was a bit more than the same swishy emotive background. Still, a good song — for the first minute at least.

Score: 6/10

Robyn: “Satellites” is a sweet love song — though his astronomy metaphors need a little work. But more importantly, there’s something lacking in the performance. Somehow Ceasefire X doesn’t quite connect with the audience in the way the song deserves.

Score: 6/10

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: 4.5/10

Jonathan: 7/10

Lukas: 7/10

Sebastian: 8/10

 

 

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 4.5 and a high of 8.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.5/10

Gabi Knoll – “Nobody to Die For”

“Nobody to Die For”

Antranig: Gabi Knoll is my spirit animal and “Nobody to Die For” is exactly what Hungary needs. Dark, moody, electronic pop served up with plenty of attitude on stage. Rather than destroying her chances, Gabi’s vocal flaws give the song an extra flavour. Give this a bit of a revamp and power up the choruses and this could be the banger of Eurovision 2018. She might have nobody to die for but I’d die to see her on the Eurovision stage.

Score: 9.5/10

Barnabas: An interesting piece of dark pop, discussing a not-so-popular theme in pop music — in this case, the one of being single, and the “perks” of it. The whole feeling is quite mysterious, however the live performance didn’t really convince me. Those vocals have to be more accurate, otherwise viewers may cringe over it.

Score: 5/10

Jovana: Eurovision has become accustomed to ballads with electronic beats, but “Nobody to Die for” still manages to sound fresh. The rhythm of the chorus and the beat that follows it give it a note of novelty. Gabi Knoll really nails it this time with her vocals, which colour the song with a touch of mysticism.

Score: 8/10

Luis: I don’t get the concept of this song. Is she talking about being cool just for the sake of it? And why is there a papier mâché bull on stage? And a giant disco ball on the screen? Why does she keep repeating “this is alright” when it’s raising so many questions? Extra points for the attitude and the craziness, but seriously, I need her to clarify what she wants to express with this.

Score: 6/10

Natalie: Yes, this song is very scary. As you should expect from someone who shamelessly replaces words with numbers. Seriously, there is some awesome production here. That creepy bassline is used to great effect, and Gabi doesn’t let herself shine over it. The only problem is that is might be a bit repetitive, and to be honest, despite being so bold, it’s hard to tell what the song means. But I would really love to hear a song like this at Eurovision, it’s seriously cool.

Score: 8/10

Robyn: In an A Dal year that is dominated by Hungarian-language entries, it’s refreshing to hear an English-language pop song that’s mostly just about showing up and being cool. “Nobody to Die For” has a moody electronic sound that delivers loads of attitude. Gabi’s vocals aren’t the strongest, but the song doesn’t require a pitch-perfect performance. She sells it and it works.

Score: 7/10

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: 5.5/10

Jonathan: 7/10

Lukas: 6/10

Sebastian: 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 5 and a high of 9.5.

WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.56/10

See our list of A Dal 2018 rankings

READ MORE HUNGARY EUROVISION NEWS

6 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

“Satellites” Good first half, then it’s gets repetitive.
4.5/10

“Nobody To Die For”: Before the live shows I really liked this one. It’s modern, up-beat, beautiful voice. However the live performance was underwhelming.
6/10

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

In short, both are decent. Gabi’s song is about a 7.5/10, Ceasefire’s is around a 6.5/10.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

CeasefireX: Decent song, bit uninspired. Poor live performance.
Gabi Knoll: Enjoyed the song. Edgy but not a winner. Poor public vote reception.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Satellite: 8.5/10
Nobody to die for: 6.5/10

Blackquill
Blackquill
6 years ago

You should review AWS next! (It’s also my favorite, so I hope it gets good ratings)

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Blackquill

They are being reviewed in the order of qualification!!