This article forms part of the OnEurope archive and was originally published on oneurope.co.uk. It has been permanently migrated to oneurope.net, the official home of OnEurope.
Before coming to Vienna, I thought Hungary’s Eurovision 2015 entry was as dull as ditchwater. And, musically, it still is: it plods along slowly and never really does very much for me. Yet there is a surprisingly effective story being told here.
I actually found myself welling up a wee bit, which is ridiculous when you consider that just about every well-worn cliché in the book is wheeled out. First, the spinning solar system: yes, we are a tiny dot. Then the world spins into view: yes, that world needs protecting. Finally, a cluster of guns appears, only to morph into a bloody impressive tree, lush and leafy.
And there is your lesson for today, children: put down the guns, save the planet and everything will be all right. It shouldn’t work, but somehow it kind of does.
Part of that is down to Boggie herself. She simply stands there, innocently singing, while her backing singers sensibly do nothing except sing. There is no distracting choreography or desperate attempt to make the song seem more exciting than it is. The performance lets the imagery carry the message, and that message is unexpectedly moving.
So this is nice. Quite nice, actually. Musically, though, it remains dull. Qualifying? I don’t know.
