HUNGARY 2011 - What About My Dreams?

Whee, Hungary!! Hungary is one of my favorite countries in the contest. I LOVE their song from 2005. I'm always looking forward to seeing what they'll come up with. Last year they didn't participate - they couldn't afford to because of the financial crisis. I'm not entirely sure what they were thinking with this year's entry ... because the crisis is nowhere near over yet, and if it was too expensive to compete, it'll definitely be too expensive to host ... ! :-D

IMO this is one of the best entries this year. In fact the only thing I don't like about it is that it's partly in English. (You can hear it in Hungarian here.) This song is catchy, it has a great beat, it's much more original than so many of the other entries this year ... or any year. :-) It's professionally performed by someone who really knows what she's doing. Great voice and great personality. (I mean, as a performer, obviously. :-) Lyrics that actually mean something more than just the regular boy meets girl kind of thing. What's not to like?

Only problem is that I've felt that way about other entries in the past - the first example that springs to mind is Iceland six years ago, I love that song and I could hardly believe it when it didn't even get through from the semi. At the time I primarily blamed her outfit. But obviously there were other reasons too ... to my mind first and foremost that the entry was too professional, too ... I want to say over-produced. Too slick and too commercial. It didn't have enough personality and character left to appeal to the ESC audience. Another song that happened to was Belgium's in 2006. That was a real surprise to a lot of people. Not least the Belgians. :-)

Anyway ... I think this song is wonderful, I love it, it's one of my top three favorites this year. I hope, and I believe, that Hungary will do extremely well this year. I'm worried that their song will suffer the same fate as If Had Your Love and Je t'adore. But I very much hope not. Hungary deserves nothing but praise this year. Go Hungary!! :-)

This is Kati Wolf performing What About My Dreams? by Gergő Rácz, Viktor Rakoncza, Péter Geszti and Johnny K. Palmer. This talented quartet will be competing for Hungary on Tuesday, May 10th. Good luck!!!

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

Slovenia, Hungary, Azerbaijan

Slovenia:
Sheesh, the Norwegian commentator is so stupid. She just said that this entry is instrumental. No, it obviously isn't, because that's against the rules. Gah.
Same presentation as in the national final. I thought as much. It's striking and memorable. I like what they're doing with the stage ... I like the color scheme. Good presentation.
A song that's easy to remember, great melody.
It may be too odd to get very far, but I quite like it myself.

Hungary:
Oh, the outfits ... !! o_O
It's not a bad song, but I don't have high hopes for it. There have been other entries before that have been very much like this one, and they have done badly.
Tacky presentation.
Also, probably not very smart to play it quite so gay in Russia. I'm not a racist, but. Just sayin'.

Azerbaijan:
Eek!! What the hell is this??
I know I said I thought this entry would get through, but I think I take it back ... ! :-o
Awful outfits. And they sing so badly ... ! He was much better in the video. Huh.
Bad presentation of a good song.
They may get a bunch of votes from Sweden since Arash is Swedish-Iranian.
Swedish-Iranian, and competing for Azerbaijan. See how the ÈSC is working its magic ... !! :-D

HUNGARY 2009: Zoli Adok – Dance With Me

Hungary's had a shitload of trouble getting their entry together this year. Their first choice got disqualified for some reason that my fever-addled brain can't remember right now - but locally, it wasn't fully submitted as I recall it - and then, unlikely as it sounds, the same thing happened with their second choice for some other reason. o_O I don't remember this ever happening before. Two tries, OK, maybe, but three?? Dat some heap big trouble ... o_O

Anyway, this is what they've ended up with. A poppy dance song. Supposed to be disco, but I'm not sure I'm buying that. Aand ... I kind of like this song. I have to say despite myself, because this isn't really the type of music I like, but I do kind of like this anyway. Not sure why. The chorus is kind of catchy. It has a simplicity about it that appeals to me ... at least at the moment when I haven't eaten for 36 hours. ;-) His voice isn't all that, but it's good enough for this kind of song. It has a pretty good beat and the lyrics really work with this tune. Not at all bad IMO ... although Hungary does have a lot to live up to; one of my all-time ESC favorites is their 2005 entry Forogj vílag. Now that was something else. Should have won. Damn Greeks. ;-)

This song may do pretty well (although it's far from a winner, I'm afraid) or it may totally bomb. I don't think the juries will fall for this ... and the TV audience may not either. It'll be interesting to see how things go for this song. Pretty sure we'll beat them though. ;-)

The video has some cool elements and some totally cheesy ones. I kind of like it too. :-)

This is Zoli Adok performing Dance With Me by Zé Szabó & Kasai ... they will be competing for Hungary as #11 on May 14th.



Lyrics here.

Bulgaria, Denmark, Georgia, Hungary

Bulgaria:
This is seriously cool. I love that they've gone out on a limb with a new genre like this. And the song is really good.
I like this a lot and I think they have a chance of doing really well this year. I hope and believe we'll see this on Saturday.
Regardless of the results, this song will be playing constantly all over Sunny Beach all summer ... ;-)

Denmark:
Hm, they've changed the opening ... so that it doesn't sound so much like that other song. Imagine that.
Meh, again. It's catchy and all that, but it doesn't do much for me personally. And I'm not convinced that it will for many others, either.
The presentation seems rather oldfashioned to me. Not sure this will appeal to a lot of people.

Georgia:
When the singer is blind, you'd think someone would offer to help her pick out a dress ...
A good voice, and her heart is certainly in it.
The song is not at all bad - if only I couldn't understand the lyrics, it would be so much better.
Not digging this presentation though ... starting to get a bit too obvious for my taste.
Maybe, maybe not. I think it can go either way for this song.

Hungary:
A wonderful voice.
Less wonderful outfit ...
And I wish I couldn't understand the lyrics! It's a lovely melody. The more I hear it, the better I like it. If Poland could get through, this certainly should make it too.
OK presentation, except her dress or whatever that thing is that she's wearing.

HUNGARY 2008: Csezy - Candlelight

Oh, Hungary!! I dig Hungary. :-)

They are rather ambivalent about the contest- participated for some years and then dropped out for what, seven years ... then made a fantastic comeback in Kyiv. They should have won IMO. That song was so beautiful. Then they didn't enter the next year, don't know why, maybe they were disappointed that Forogj, világ! hadn't won. But the next year, another great comeback, with last year's blues which was brilliant too. This year ... meh.

This is a beautiful ballad, ie, yawn. It's very slow and kind of soporific. She has a lovely voice, but that's not enough to save this entry. It's too boring, it has no hook whatsoever.

A little sad, because I know Hungary can do soo much better.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s0Q-O5gHgE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fle828ozk3I