HUNGARY

The Hungarian Final was held on February 28th at the MTV Studios in Budapest, hosted by Csilla Tatár & Levente Harsányi. Before the final there were 3 quarter finals and 2 semi finals. 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. Going to Vienna will be Boggie with the song "Wars for nothing".

Hungary once again used the successful A Dal system that has been in place since 2012 and has resulted in a good run of its songs progressing to the final. The select process was heavily influenced by jury voting as well as public voting, seen more as a 5th juror. Boggie was seen as quite the favourite from early on due to the story conveyed in her song.

This is a very small song in terms of instrumentation. The only instrument you hear in the whole of the backing track is an acoustic guitar and as the song progresses, Boggie is joined, one by one, on stage by her backing singers. In this way the song could be seen as being very atmospheric and being very different - almost a bit of an anti-song. The other half of the 'song' seems to be what happens on the back wall which displays messages in Hungarian and English about the song's theme. This may be a bone of contention during Eurovision time.

Boglárka Csemer, also known as Boggie, has come to prominence almost on a worldwide scale through a song of hers from last year called "Nouveau Parfum". Her style of singing is also quite quiet, which fits the song and has a nice vibrato, as long as she doesn't push it too much. During her performance she can come across as a little bit cold and emotionless which could affect how the teletovers perceive her.

The physical performance of the song with the backing singers and guitarist will not change and neither should the backing track. Boggie does need to work a little bit more on engaging with the camera and coming across as bunny in headlights. This all said I think they could be a little more imaginative when it comes to what they are wearing as they all come across as a bit dour and not really making that much of an effort. I can understand that they might be trying to keep her 'normal' and not too glamorous but there is a very fine line. Then there is the backdrop. Some of the messages on the back wall (if they keep it) at a little too in your face or raw. One has to remember that Eurovision as 'rules' about keeping political messages out of songs and performances and so some of these ideas may been some serious scripting or omitting.

I am really torn by this one. I appreciate the message that the song it trying to convey and I believe the song writers have tried to do this in an honest manner. One may see the song and performance as a cynical ploy to curry favour or sympathy with certain countries to gain more votes. Plus there is the fact that some could just see the whole this as a little bit too wet and gushy. As a performance it does stand out and looks and feels very different to everything else on show this year. I just honestly cannot judge if this song is potent enough to get people to vote for it.

ARTIST - Boggie

SONG - Wars for nothing

MUSIC - Áron Sebestyén, Sára Hélène Bori

LYRICS - Áron Sebestyén, Sára Hélène Bori