Hungary is approaching the final show of A Dal 2017. Thirty acts started the journey to Kyiv and after five shows, only eight remain. In this article we’ll take a look at those eight finalists. What can we expect from them? Who are the favourites? Obviously, we’ll also take a look at how the final will work.
The qualifiers
Many of the favourites have so far survived, but some failed to get past the hurdles. One of those examples is Spoon 21. Their song Deák quickly turned into a fan favourite, but scoring just 37 points meant they were knocked out in the semifinal. A bigger shock was Ádám Szabó. Szabó received the highest app score in the heats (an 8/10), but never really managed to impress the juries. He too was eliminated in the semifinal. The following eight acts did qualify. They’re ranked by the amount of points received in the semifinal:
- Joci Pápai – Origo
- Gina Kanizsa – Fall Like Rain
- Gabi Tóth, Freddie Shuman & Begi Lotfi – Hosszú Idők
- Leander Kills – Élet
- Zävodi + Olivér Berkes – #háttérzaj
- Gigi Radics – See It Through
- Kállay Saunders Band – 17
- Soulwave – Kalandor
Voting procedures in A Dal
In the final, we’ll see a new approach. The jury members will only vote after all eight songs have been performed. Each jury member will vote for their four favourite songs. The final top four will then go into a superfinal, where a 100% televoting method will be used.
The televoting round will be sure of quite a few votes from all around the country. A Dal has been scoring high in the ratings in Hungary, with record market shares being reported. The show has got to a point only Melodifestivalen and the Festival di Sanremo manage to achieve: It’s more popular than the Eurovision Song Contest. And that is quite an achievement for a show which only started in 2012.
Who is the favourite?
It’s tough to really call a favourite at the moment. Judging from the scores, you’d have to put Joci Pápai and Gina Kanizsa first. However, Gina Kanizsa is far from a favourite at the moment. She managed to score the maximum of 40 points from the jury, but the app voters only gave her 5 points, the lowest score of all finalists. If she makes the superfinal, which in itself is already doubtful, she is most likely cannon fodder.
On the other side, there’s Gabi Tóth, together with Freddie Shuman and Begi Lotfi. Their song Hosszú Idők was an early favourite. The scores definitely picked up in the semifinal, where they convinced all jury members, as well as the public at home. Gabi, a star in Hungary, has been in A Dal before, but 2017 might be the year she takes home the crown.
It is to be expected that the jury members will want at least one English pop song in the superfinal as well. There seem to be two options there: Gigi Radics and Kállay Saunders Band. Both have a lot of experience, with the latter even achieving fifth place in Copenhagen 2014.
The most popular song in the charts is Kalandor by Soulwave. The jury doesn’t seem to be in their favour, as they’ve had to qualify through the televoting round twice. If they are to win the competition, they’ll need to do what ByeAlex did. He also never had any jury support, until the jury members supported him in the final and gave him a place in the superfinal.
Super Saturday
We’ll have a proper Super Saturday next weekend. Besides the A Dal final, there will be finals in both Poland and Malta. And we obviously cannot forget the semifinals taking place in Sweden’s Melodifestivalen and Estonia’s Eesti Laul. Hungary would definitely be a show worth watching though. It will be a tough competition where the winner will have to fight hard for the ticket to Ukraine.
We have created a YouTube playlist with all finalists during their semifinal performance. Check it out below and let us know who your favourite is!
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