Hungary: Joci Pápai returns to Eurovision with “Az én apám”
After three qualifying heats and two semi-finals, Hungary has just selected its Eurovision 2019 representative. Joci Pápai emerged as the winner of tonight’s final show of “A Dal 2019” and will represent Hungary in Tel Aviv with the song Joci “Az én apám”. After only two years this year marks his second participation at the Eurovision Song Contest.
In tonight’s final, which was hosted by Eurovision 2016 representative Freddie and Bogi Dallos, 8 acts were competing for the ticket to Tel Aviv. Among the competing finalists were András Kállay-Saunders (as member of The Middletonz), who had achieved a 5th placing for Hungary at Eurovision 2014 with his song “Running”, and this year’s winner Joci Pápai, who represented the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev with his song “Origo”, placing 8th on the final scoreboard. Gergő Oláh and his song “Hozzád bújnék” replaced Petruska in the final as Hungarian broadcaster MTVA had disqualified Petruska from the final of “A Dal 2019” due to plagiarism.
The 8 competing acts of tonight’s final were:
- The Middletonz – Roses
- Gergő Oláh – Hozzád bújnék
- Bogi Nagy – Holnap
- Fatal Error – Kulcs
- Joci Pápai – Az én apám
- Gergő Oláh – Hozzád bújnék
- Acoustic Planet – Nyári zápor
- Vavra Bence – Szótlanság
The winner was determined after two rounds of voting. In the first phase the jury panel of the show made up of Féro Nagy, Lilla Vincze, Misi Mező and Miklós Both chose the 4 acts to qualify to the second round of the final as each jury member awarded 4, 6, 8 and 10 points to their top 4 of the competing songs. During the second round the public vote exclusively decided the country’s Eurovision 2019 act.
The Jury Voting of round no. 1 (Ranking + Points):
Therefore the 4 songs that qualified to the second round of the final were:
- Joci Pápai – Az én apám
- Acoustic Planet – Nyári zápor
- Vavra Bence – Szótlanság
- Bogi Nagy – Holnap
After receiving the most votes from the jury Joci Pápai also won the public televote in tonight’s second round of voting: The public decided to give Joci Pápai a second try at the Eurovision Song Contest after his 8th position in 2017.
