Hungary: Wiwi Jury reviews Roland Gulyás and Tamás Horváth

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:

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:

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

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