HUNGARY

The Hungarian Final was held on March 2nd at the MTV Studios in Budapest, hosted by Gábor Gundel-Takács, Éva Novodomszky & Márton Buda. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where the long list of 18 was reduced to a final of 8. The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting. In the first round the top 4 were chosen by an "expert" jury and in the second round the winner was chosen by televoting. The winner of the ticket to Malmo was ByeAlex with the song "Kedvesem" ( Sweetheart).

ByeAlex is on stage by a guitarist and backing singer. Alex is stood up with a microphone stand while the guitarist is sat to his left on a stool and the backing singer is revealed behind them after about a minute. The background of the "A Dal' stage was very flexible and made even entry very different. For this act the floor is a turquoise colour while the background was filled with strange cartoon creatures. ByeAlex is dressed in a preppy kind of way, in a sharp grey suit, red tie, glasses and woolly hat.

 

The song is a folksy guitar led ballad Alex has a very unique voice which is quite whispery. Some may find this quite difficult to listen to as you have to work hard to tune in on his words, however it fits the style of the song and makes is stand out as a track. As the song progresses other instruments come in but stays on the quiet side. The whole performance is quite static and most of the movement is done through the graphics on the back screen. I feel these work well and look interesting. But if they were to replicate this for Malmo they may want these images to be more of a narrative of the song rather than random images.

The song is completely in Hungarian so is difficult to understand and the theme of the song doesn't really come across in the performance. This said, the tune and the title of the song is well repeated and you find yourself joining in quite quickly. Personally I feel that during the final minute os so, the beat should be more prominent which might make people clap along and get involved a little bit more as well as ending on a high.

Like many songs chosen this year, this is a case of 'nice song - but who will vote for it?' Although it will not help its chances of gaining votes, I am hoping it will stay in Hungarian. The song is pleasant and catchy and will stand out amongst the power ballads and dance numbers. Will possibly appeal to the older viewers. Not sure if this is a finalist or not.

Artist - ByeAlex
Song - Kedvesem (Sweetheart)
Music - Alex Márta, Zoltán Palásti Kovács, Zoohacker
Lyrics - Alex Márta