After shooting their postcard in Óbidos — a coastal Portuguese town known for its medieval architecture — the boys of AWS finally joined the Eurovision 2018 promo circuit at Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam.
The Hungarian post-hardcore group brought the house down as they performed “Viszlát Nyár” at AFAS Live, proving that metal can be mainstream when delivered with charisma and a message.
Prior to that the band spoke with our William Lee Adams about being, in their words, the black sheep of the contest, their genre and why it’s important to talk about death. Bassist Soma also wants you to know that “sadly” he wasn’t drunk during their recent reaction video to all 43 Eurovision songs, filmed for wiwibloggs.
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Frontman Örs told us that their song is about dealing with the loss of a loved one — in this case, his father. In Hungarian culture death is a taboo subject and they think that “if you talk about it, you’ll live a better and happier life”.
Counter to what many may think, he added that metal is actually an emotional style of music, where artists are truly honest. Writing down their emotions and problems in the lyrics helps them vent. “That’s what metal is all about,” he says.
After confirming that they’ll do the backing vocals themselves, drummer Aron explained that the song wasn’t written especially for Eurovision. Instead it was just a song they had ready around the same time A Dal submissions were closing. Then the whole thing just happened.
They also talked about their appearance. Aron said that he wears surf shorts because they let him play the drums more freely. And Örs explained that his habit of performing barefoot has roots in his childhood memories of roaming the woods as a scout. He’s always hated putting shoes on.
Later that night at the show, they took Amsterdam by surprise and earned some of the biggest applause of the night for their powerhouse metal performance. It reached its climax when Örs jumped into the crowd, where he performed much of the song. Meanwhile the band continued to rock on on stage.
After the show the waters weren’t still for long, as the group has now released the English version of their entry, accompanied by a lyric video. The meaning and message of the lyrics come through well in English — and it doesn’t sound nearly as forced compared with other translations at Eurovision.
But don’t worry: the band has confirmed that they will perform the Hungarian version in Lisbon.
You can read their statement below.
Do you think “Viszlát Nyár” will do well in Lisbon? And do you like the English version? Sound off in the comments below!
Prefer the Hungarian, but the English version is surprisingly solid. Those kinds of lyrics often do not translate well, but they avoided potential pitfalls well.
This song is fantastic!! Rock/Metal is my favourite genre and this is the best since Lordi! I want them or Estonia, Denmark and Israel to win.
Yeah, they are solid. I’d like any of the “committed to their genre” people to get the win: Hungary (metal), Switzerland (message rock), Albania (hard rock), The Netherlands (country rock), France (chanson), or Bulgaria (goth).
100% qualifier, no doubt.
Hungarian version is a masterpiece, but the English version is surprisingly very powerful too! The essence is there!
Tibor were worried about the “selling your blood” thing but I guess the translation makes it clear that there’s nothing sinister about it! 😛 The song sounds much more powerful in Hungarian, but it’s good to spread the message around, since many people don’t bother looking for the lyrics translation. Rooting for them to move to the final!
They just keep solidifying their spot as my favorite more and more…
So happy there is at least one metal(ish) song in eurovision this year. As much as I love the more generic pop/euro tunes, I do enjoy having some musical diversity in the contest. 🙂
I was not keen the first time I listened to it but it is probably the song that has grown on me the most. Just outside my top 10 now and I really like the English version too.
It made me cry – first reading the english lyrics and than watching the video in english- everything came together for me, the lyrics, the music, the emotions that the song conveys… I couldn’t help myself but cry…
I cried a bit, too. I prefer it in Hungarian but in English it hit hard. I now try to convince everybody around me to vote for them at the semis.
I prefer it in Hungarian too – but to understand the message it helped to have this experience in English. I am shure they will make it to the final. I am going to vote for them.
Loved it in the original language from the first hearing, love it even more with the sing-along version. I’m glad they’re going with the original version. The metalhead in me can’t stop listening to it, and singing it, well… I’d rather not do that. I have a TERRIBLE voice.
It’s beautiful in English too! Same shivers! Thank you for bringing this in Eurovision, I vote in semi 2 and all my votes will go to you! Kösönöm!
On my first listen, I assumed this would just an awful mess from the first beat, but gradually I realised this was actually something musical and quite beautiful. This actually has a memorable melody woven into the undisguised metal, and the singer’s heartfelt emotions and energy really do speak the lyrics. Despite hating metal/rock and similar genres, I respect this ambitious entry and really hopes it will qualify. Good Luck, AWS and Hungary!
I hated this song at the first time I listened to it but now I love it. Definitely the dark horse this year. I love both versions and hope they will qualify!
Goodluck from Holland
Prefer the Hungarian version, but actually love both versions! Definitely my winner this year, favourite Eurovision song ever!
I so hope this will make it to the final. One of the few songs that feel genuine and not written especially for the ESC. Hearing the English lyrics version and understanding the message, I love it even more. And they slayed live at Eurovision in Concert.
That’s quite inspiring. They seem like really nice people with good intentions, and they’re trying to break a taboo (pun intended) through doing what they love and that’s amazing.
Totally agree. Really nice guys and very articulate.