On Saturday night, the trio Nikoletta Szőke, Attila Kökény and Róbert Szakcsi won the third heat in A Dal in Hungary, while Reni Tolvai was eliminated for the third time. ESCDaily’s editor Robin Tas followed the show and gives in-depth reviews of all performances.
Missed the action last night? No problem! With this review, you are up-to-date in just a minute.
With six of the ten acts written in the Hungarian language, and a Hungarian folksanger, it was a cultural show. The overall quality of performances was so bad, that this third heat in the A Dal quarter finals was the worst of all heats this season. Let’s take a look at each performance individually.
According to Robin Tas, the third heat in Hungary’s A Dal was the weakest of them all:
I already can’t wait for the semifinals to start, because tonight has been rather dull so far. Former X-factor candidate Roland Gulvás came with a slow song, Hypnotized. The refrain of the song is eight times “She got me hypnotized”, almost as if the songwriter was out of inspiration.
Nova Prospect – Vigyázó (eliminated)
The evening took off with a rock/metal song from the band Nova Prospect. The five-headed strong band has an electric guitararist, drummer and a pianist on stage. She sings out of tune a lot. At the end of the performance, she literally does a cartwheel on stage. Fun fact: Miklós needed more time than the duration of the song to give his jury feedback (he was talking for 3,5 minute). Nova Prospect received 29 points from the jury and 37 points in total.
Cintia Horváth & Tomi Balogh – Journey (Break Your Chains) (5th place, qualified after jury consultation)
While the song is attractive in the beginning, Cintia Horváth ruined the song by singing out of tune in the beginning. The slow tempo song is outstanding short for an Eurovision song (2:27). This song has definitely no chance of qualifying for the finals. Citia Horváth received 31 points from the jury and 6 points from the televoters, which put her on a split first place with Nova Prospect.
Maszkura és a tücsökraj – Nagybetűs szavak (3rd/4th place, qualified)
Nagybetűs szavak is an alternative slow tempo song. Maszkura is together with a keyboard player, guitars and drums. He starts his performance sitting on the ground and you can see he is really telling a story with his song. This song is nice in the beginning, but misses a build-up and has nothing special or new. This is not a song that you want to listen three times in a row. This song received 32 points from the jury and 38 in total, which was enough to take the lead.
Roland Gulyás – H Y P N O T I Z E D (qualified through televoting wildcard)
Former X-factor participant Roland Gulyás is the first participant of tonight who plays an instrument on stage while also singing. After two slow tempo songs, this song wakes you up. The song however is very cliche and the refrain of the song is eight times “She got me hypnotized”, almost as if the songwriter was out of inspiration. The only thing that keeps you awake during the performance are the hypnotizing triangles on the background. H Y P N O T I Z E D received 27 points from the jury and ended with 35 points, the lowest score of the evening so far.
Reni Tolvai – Crack My Code (eliminated)
2018 is the third time Reni Tolvai participates in A Dal. Reni also took part in A Dal 2012 and 2016. The song “Crack My Code”is a mainstream song and also includes a rapping part. The Asian theming of the performance is well-thought, which makes this performance (not the song itself!) the best of tonight. It’s worth watching. But this song does not fit her voice and het vocal abilities, which is probably why she was eliminated. “Crack My Code” received 30 points from the jury and 37 points in total.
Ham ko Ham – Bármerre jársz (3rd/4th place, qualified)
Ham ko Ham is dressed like a Hungarian folksanger (so I assume he is). But this song is more like a Greek folk song (since they start the song with “Opa!”, a Greek expression). The song itself is okay, but not very exciting. Ham ko Ham fails to interact with the camera and only waves his hands a little bit. Altough this is typical for a folksanger, it is not a very entertaining performance. There is no doubt that this song will reach the A Dal final (because of it’s cultural value), but I don’t think this song is competent enough to win A Dal. Bármerre jársz received 30 points from the jury and ended with 38 points in total.
#yeahla feat. Viki Eszes – 1 Szó Mint 100 (eliminated)
Keyboard player #yeahla and singer Viki Eszes teamed up for the Hungarian slow tempo pop song “1 Szó Mint 100”. Vikis’ hoarse voice is pleasant in the beginning of the song, but after a minute it starts to bore you. There is a lamppost on stage but you can’t match it with the theme of the song. The song itself is not of bad quality, but the composer should have done something to prevent it from being boring, like adding some punches for Viki. With 28 points from the jury and 7 from televoting, the song ended up on a split last place with Roland Gulyás.
Andy Roll – Turn The Lights On (eliminated)
Turn The Lights On is the first song of the evening with some power. It starts with some whistling. The intro of the song makes you feel something is coming, but Andy Rolls’ voice totally misses the volume and strength to bring this song the right way. The song has almost no build-up. Andy also sings a bit monotonous. He composed and wrote the text for the song himself, in contrast to other performers tonight. That is probably why this song was not able to compete with other songs of this heat and ended on the last place with 33 points.
Tamás Horváth – Meggyfa (2nd place, qualified)
Finally a song with a good build-up and some surprises. This song stays in your head for some time. The performance is also good, with two dancers on stage. The last 20 seconds of the song, Tama’s leaves his microphone and starts dancing with them. Tamás has a strong and consistent voice, that is nice to listen to. Meggyfa received 33 points from the jury and collected 9 points in the televoting, which put him in first place with 42 points.
Nikoletta Szőke, Attila Kökény and Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos – Életre kel (1st place, qualified)
Életre kel is another slow song and the only duet of tonight between Nikoletta Szőke and Attila Kökény, while Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos plays the piano. The difference with all other singers, is that Nikoletta Szőke and Attila Kökény are the only participants who sang there song vocally stable. But that does not make it a good song. This song could better be used in a musical than to win a song contest. Életre kel received 37 points from the jury and ended up first with 44 points.
After all performances, Cintia Horváth, Nova Prospect and Reni Tolvai shared a fifth place with 37 points. The jury however had to choose who was going directly to the semi-final, and whose life depended on the televoting. The jury chose Cintia Horváth to continue to the semi finals, while Reni and Nova Prospect did not survive the televoting round.
Roland Gulyás won the televoting and is the sixth act that continues to the semi-finals.