A Dal 2020 is the ninth season of Hungarian music contest A Dal, held between 1 February and 7 March 2020 at the Studio 1 of MTVA in Budapest, Hungary. This season was the first one in the history of the show not to be used as 's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, as the broadcaster decided not to participate in the contest. While various media speculated that this move was related to the rise of anti-LGBT+ sentiment among the leadership of Hungary and the broadcaster itself, no official reasons were cited by the organizers or the broadcaster. MTVA did however deny that the withdrawal was in any way related to that. Regarding A Dal, the broadcaster decided to renew the show in 2020, explaining that the focus was now on 'supporting talented musicians from the Hungarian pop scene.'
Format The competition consisted of 30 entries competing in three heats, two semi-finals, and a final. The hosts for all the shows were Lili Rókusfalvy and, for the third year in a row, Freddie; winner of A Dal 2016. All shows were broadcast from 19:35 CET on Duna.
In the semifinals and the final, the artists were allowed to choose between performing with live instrumentation or a backing track.
The voting in all rounds before the final underwent some changes for 2020, giving a lot more power to the televote (as the jury–televote ratio is now a 50:50 split). After each performance, every individual jury awarded a score from 1 to 10 to the act. They can only give one set of 10 points per show and if an act gets 10 points from all four judges (40 points in total) they advance automatically to the next stage of the show. Then, after all performances are over, the phone lines will open for ten minutes and viewers will be able to call or send an SMS (up to 25 times per show) in order to vote for their favorite entries. When the voting closes, the act with the fewest votes will be automatically eliminated regardless of how the jury voted. The jury will then eliminate another act by themselves, independently of the public vote. The voting opens again for the eight remaining acts and their votes will be converted to the same format as the jury votes with the top entries (six in the heats and four in the semi-finals) qualifying to the next stage. The final had the same voting format as usual, though: the jury voted after all performances giving scores to their top 4 (4, 6, 8 and 10 points). These top 4 acts would go on to a second round where the public vote decided the winner of A Dal 2020.
The four jury members were:
Bence Apáti: Hungarian ballet dancer, publicist, director of the Budapest Operetta Theater Feró Nagy: singer-songwriter, frontman of Beatrice and Ős-Bikini, judge in the first three seasons of X Factor Hungary (he mentored the winner, Csaba Vastag, in the first season) Barna Pély: jazz singer winner of the Artistjus award, frontman of the Hungarian rock band United, jury in the first three seasons of Megasztár Lilla Vincze: singer-songwriter winner of the eMeRTon award, Napoleon Boulevard, member of the Hungarian 2018 Eurovision jury
Alongside the main award of the contest (a monetary prize of HUF 75 million and promotion at the national radio station Petőfi Radio), the organization of the show awarded three extra awards in different categories during the final of the show: Best Discovery from A Dal 2020: Tortuga Best Lyrics from A Dal 2020: Dénes Pál - Készen állsz Best Acoustic Version: Gergő Rácz and Reni Orsovai - Mostantól
Participants The 30 participants, selected by an internal jury from 559 submissions, were revealed on 17 December 2019 ahead of a press conference the following day. A Dal 2020 entriesArtistSongSongwritersAttila Kökény "Búcsúznom kell" Lajos Havas Bogi Nagy "Maradok"Ferenc Molnár "Caramel" Dániel Molnár "Ábránd" Tamás Horvát, Dániel MolnárDénes Pál "Tudom (Készen állsz)"Denés Pál Diana "Menedék" Viktor Rakonczai, Mátyás Szepesi Fatal Error "Néma" Mihály Balázs, Bence Joós, Botond Kornyik, Dávid Rónai, Zsolt RimócziGábor Heincz "Biga" "Máshol járunk"Gábor Heincz "Biga", Mátyás Szepesi Gergő Rácz & Reni OrsovaiDue to Reni Orsovai also participating as part of Nene, the entry was deliberately put in a different heat and semifinal. "Mostantól"Máté Bella, Gergő Rácz, Szabolcs HujberHolyChicks "Pillangóhatás"Éva Hunyadkürti, Krisztina Lahucski, Zsuzsa Seprenyi, Vivien TiszaiHorus x Marcus feat. Bori Fekete "Tiszavirág"Norbert Kovács, Teodóra Nagy, Bori FeketeKati Wolf "Próbáld még"Péter Krajczár, Katalin Wolf, Eszter MajorKies "Az egyetlen"Milán Kiss, Gergely Kovács, Ádám Szűcs, Ferenc KaldenekkerKonyha "Még csak szavak" KonyhaMárk Ember "Tovább"Márk Tibor EmberMDC "Más világ"Miklós Bátori, Örs Lukács SiklósiMocsok 1 Kölykök "Szerelem"Ádám Csekő, Tamás Pulius, Ádám Horváth, Kristóf Molnár Muriel "Kávés"Bence Jobbágy, Adrián MéhesNági "Freedom – Felszállok a gépre"Brigitta Nagy, Kata Kozma, Áron Sebestyén, Attila KrauszNeneDue to Reni Orsovai also participating as part of a duet with Gergő Rácz, the entry was deliberately put in a different heat and semifinal. "Későre jár"Evelyn Boda, Péter Ferncz, József Markosi, Szabolcs Balázs Varga, Milán Vörös, Renáta Katalin OrsovaiNikolas Takács "Csendbeszéd"Gábor Heincz, Mátyás SzepesiOlivér Berkes "Visszakér a múlt"Zsolt Szepesi, Olivér Berkes, Szabolcs HujberPatikadomb "Rólad"Gábor Dobos, Attila Pap, Dániel Somogyvári, Gyula ÚjváriSzabolcs Varga "Pillanat"Norbert Szűcs, Szabolcs VargaTalk2night "Veled minden"Emil Wagner, Máté Bartók, Bence András Vavra, János KosztyuTimi Arany "Hurrikán"Timea Arany, Krisztina JuhászTortuga "Mámor tér 3."Sándor Dömötör, Ákos Kerle, Milán Tomku, Ábel Bendegúz HegyiTurbo "Iránytű"Jávor Jávorov Delov, Gábor Ruthner, György Szatmári, Balázs Tanka, Dávid VighYA OU "Légy valaki másnak"Péter Ferencz, YA OUZaporozsec "Találj rám"Bence VargaZsóka Kóbor & Patrik Polgár "Valamiért"Patrik Polgár
Shows Heat 1 Heat 1 – 1 February 2020DrawArtistSongJury VotesTelevoteTotalResult1Talk2night"Veled minden" 8 8 8 8 — — Eliminated 2Szabolcs Varga"Pillanat" 9 8 7 8 15 47 Advanced 3Horus x Marcus feat. Bori Fekete"Tiszavirág" 8 9 7 7 35 66 Advanced4YA OU"Légy valaki másnak" 8 7 9 8 10 42 Eliminated5 HolyChicks"Pillangóhatás" 7 7 7 7 20 48 Advanced6Muriel"Kávés" 9 6 9 10 5 39 Eliminated7Bogi Nagy"Maradok" 8 9 9 8 25 59 Advanced8Zaporozsec"Találj rám!" 7 5 5 7 — — Eliminated9Dénes Pal"Készen állsz" 8 6 10 9 30 63 Advanced 10Fatal Error"Néma" 10 10 9 9 40 78 Advanced
Heat 2
Heat 2 – 8 February 2020DrawArtistSongJury VotesTelevoteTotalResult1Konyha"Még csak szavak" 8 8 9 8 — — Eliminated 2Nági"Freedom – Felszállok a gépre" 7 7 8 7 16 45 Advanced 3Kies"Az egyetlen" 9 9 9 8 39 75 Advanced4Timi Arany"Hurrikán" 7 6 8 7 — — Eliminated5Patikadomb"Rólad" 7 7 7 8 — — Eliminated6 Nikolas Takács"Csendbeszéd" 9 8 9 8 28 62 Advanced7Kati Wolf"Probáld még" 9 9 9 9 22 58 Advanced8Mocsok 1 Kölykök"Szerelem" 8 8 9 8 10 43 Eliminated 9Nene"Későre jár" 10 10 10 10 — — Advanced10Dániel Molnár"Ábránd" 8 8 8 9 34 67 Advanced
Heat 3 Heat 3 – 15 February 2020DrawArtistSongJury VotesTelevoteTotalResult 1Turbo"Iránytű" 9 10 10 9 25 63 Advanced2Diana"Menedék" 7 5 5 7 — — Eliminated3Olivér Berkes"Visszakér a múlt" 8 6 7 8 15 44 Eliminated 4Zsóka Kóbor & Patrik Polgár"Valamiért" 9 7 6 7 20 49 Advanced5 Tortuga"Mámor tér 3." 8 9 9 9 35 70 Advanced6Attila Kökény"Búcsúznom kell" 9 9 8 8 10 44 Advanced7Márk Ember"Tovább" 7 6 7 8 30 58 Advanced8MDC"Más világ" 7 8 7 7 — — Eliminated9Gábor Heincz "Biga""Máshol járunk" 7 7 8 8 5 35 Eliminated 10Gergő Rácz & Reni Orsovai"Mostantól" 10 9 9 10 40 78 Advanced
Semi-final 1
Semi-final 1 – 22 February 2020DrawArtistSongJury VotesTelevoteTotalResult1Fatal Error"Néma" 9 9 9 9 33 69 Advanced2Bogi Nagy"Maradok" 8 9 9 9 19 54 Eliminated 3Horus x Marcus feat. Bori Fekete"Tiszavirág" 8 8 6 7 12 41 Eliminated4HolyChicks"Pillangóhatás" 6 7 7 6 — — Eliminated5 Szabolcs Varga"Pillanat" 8 8 7 7 — — Eliminated 6Gergő Rácz & Reni Orsovai"Mostantól" 10 10 9 10 — — Advanced 7Tortuga"Mámor tér 3." 7 7 9 8 40 71 Advanced8Nági"Freedom – Felszállok a gépre" 7 7 8 8 5 35 Eliminated9Nikolas TakácsCsendbeszéd 9 7 10 8 26 60 Advanced
Semi-final 2 Semi-final 2 – 29 February 2020DrawArtistSongJury VotesTelevoteTotalResult1Kati Wolf"Próbáld még" 9 9 9 9 — — Eliminated 2Dániel Molnár"Ábránd" 8 8 7 8 5 36 Eliminated3Kies"Az egyetlen" 6 7 6 7 — — Eliminated4Zsóka Kóbor & Patrik Polgár"Valamiért" 9 6 6 6 33 60 Advanced 5Nene"Későre jár" 9 8 8 9 26 60 Advanced6Dénes Pál"Tudom (Készen állsz)" 8 7 9 9 12 45 Eliminated 7Turbo"Iránytű" 10 10 10 9 — — Advanced8Márk Ember"Tovább" 8 8 8 8 40 72 Advanced9Attila Kökény"Búcsúznom kell" 9 9 9 8 19 54 Eliminated
Final
Final – 7 March 2020 Draw Artist Song Total Result1 Fatal Error "Néma" 4 8 — — 12 —2 Gergő Rácz & Orsovai Reni "Mostantól" 8 6 8 10 32 13 Márk Ember "Tovább" — — 6 8 14 4 Turbo "Iránytű" 6 10 10 4 30 5 Nikolas Takács "Csendbeszéd" — — 4 — 4 —6 Tortuga "Mámor tér 3." — — — — 0 —7 Zsóka Kóbor & Patrik Polgár "Valamiért" — — — — 0 —8 Nene "Későre jár" 10 4 — 6 20
Ratings ShowBroadcast timeDunaSourceAbsolute audienceShareWeekly rankingHeat 1Saturday 1 February 2020, 19:35204,0004.7%30+Heat 2Saturday 8 February 2020, 19:35211,5065.1%29Heat 3Saturday 15 February 2020, 19:35242,8065.7%25Semi-final 1Saturday 22 February 2020, 19:35218,0002.6%30+Semi-final 2Saturday 29 February 2020, 19:35218,0005.0%30+FinalSaturday 7 March 2020, 19:35271,9466.3%21
References