Editorials & Opinion

Xtra Review: A Dal participants revealed

The thirty names competing in A Dal were revealed yesterday. That’s reason for us to take a look at what we can expect and who our favourites are.
Basically, for many songs, only the 20 second snippets were released. And whereas that doesn’t paint the full picture, it does give us a quite decent idea of who we can expect to be frontrunners in February or at least who I liked best from these list. I’ll be introducing you to six of the thirty songs, the six stand-out options for me.

Reni Tolvai – Fire

An often rumoured name for A Dal was Reni Tolvai. 2016 is the year where she has finally decided to enter or where she finally made the cut. Her song, Fire, is decent enough. Thankfully, this one has been released in full a few weeks ago and it’s a contemporary pop tune which would definitely be good for many European radio stations, it has a true Rihanna/Ariana Grande vibe to it. I don’t know how this would work on a stage, though. To be perfectly honest, when I saw her name, I was excited, thinking of her 2012 single Hagylak Menni. And whereas Fire is a really good tune, I had expected more. Still, this should be a frontrunner if they can make it work on stage.

Jázmin Török – Power of Love

One I don’t see as a frontrunner for A Dal is still a personal favourite of mine. Jázmin Török has only released her twenty second snippet so far, but judging on that, there’s a few good points for her. It’s an uptempo, catchy song with a true feel good feeling. Admitted, the lyrics seem to tick all the boxes of a cliche Eurovision song, but it seems to work. If the rest of this song is as good, there’s a true earworm in the making and I hope that’ll bring Jázmin high up in the rankings. You can listen to her song here.

Laci Gáspár – Love And Bass

I’m a fan of Hungarian, so it’s only logical that there’s a song in Hungarian on my list, even though the title may make you expect an English song. It’s Laci’s second attempt in A Dal and this entry is a vast improvement over what he did in 2013. With the right choreography, this’ll get quite a few Hungarians on its side. It fits in with the 70s revival we’ve seen in recent pop music. Not a bad song at all!

Kállay Saunders Band – Who We Are

It’s no surprise that this pops up on the list. András himself brought Hungary its second top five ever in Eurovision in 2014 and now he’s back and his song isn’t bad at all. Admitted, it’s not Running, not even close to it, but with the right staging, there’s another top 10 in sight for Hungary when they’d send this. András’s vocals are much harsher than they were in 2014 and the marching tune may well help this do well. Maybe his reputation will give this an extra push.

Petruska – Trouble In My Mind

Hungary tends to have some alternative stuff in their national final. The highlight for hipster music came in 2013, when ByeAlex surprised everyone by winning with his Kedvesem and then even went on to make the Malmö top 10. Well, we’re back in Sweden for 2016 and it may be an idea for Hungary to pick another alternative/hipster-like artist. Petruska is not quite as introvert as ByeAlex, but his song follows the same trend. There’s a guy with a beard, there’s a guitar and there’s a simple song which gets stuck in your head. Petruska does a good job at that one and despite not being an obvious choice, he’d probably do a good job for Hungary. His song has not been released in full, so check out the snippet here.

Passed – Driftin’

I still can’t quite believe I’m typing this. In 2015, Passed entered A Dal and turned into a televoting favourite, a jury favourite and a Eurovision fan favourite and I just did not see the hype around their Mesmerize. It was awkward, amateurish and did nothing whatsoever for me. So when I saw the A Dal list and saw their name, I sighed and prepared for twenty seconds I could hardly even finish. And then I pressed play and I was mesmerised (no pun intended). This is the improved (much improved, I should say) version of Mesmerize, it’s catchier and also a little more mainstream, it’s not aiming at the tiny market they were aiming at in A Dal 2015 only. This is a good effort, it’s like they grew up in just a year. Oddly, this band has gone from being my #30 in A Dal 2015 to my #1 for A Dal 2016. It’s quite the change, so if you want to give it a listen, here’s the snippet.

The rest

I’ve introduced you to six songs now, which means I’ve basically ignored 24. And trust me, you can be happy that I skipped some of those. Here’s the full list of participants in A Dal 2016 and you can listen to them here:

  • André Vásáry – Why
  • Anna Patai – Colors
  • B The First – You Told Me That You Loved Me
  • Bálint Gájer – Speed Bump
  • Benji – Köteltánc
  • ByTheWay – Free To Fly
  • C.E.T. – Free
  • Egy Másik Zenekar – Kéne Közös Kép
  • Fatima Mohamed – Ott Leszek
  • Freddie – Pioneer
  • Gergő Oláh – Győz A Jó
  • Group’N’Swing – Szeretni Fáj
  • Ív – Love Kills Me
  • Jázmin Török – Power of Love
  • Júlia Horányi – Come Along
  • Kállay Saunders Band – Who We Are
  • Karmapolis & Böbe Szécsi – Hold On To
  • Laci Gáspár – Love And Bass
  • Maszkura és a Tücsökraj – Kinek Sírjam
  • Misztrál – Reggeli Reggae
  • Mushu – Uncle Tom
  • Nika – Beautiful Love
  • Odett – Stardust
  • Olivér Berkes – Seven Seas
  • Parno Graszt – Már Nem Sedülök
  • Passed – Driftin’
  • Petra Veres-Kovács – Singing Peace
  • Petruska – Trouble In My Mind
  • Reni Tolvai – Fire
  • Szilvia Agárdi – It Is Love

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