No one can deny the beauty of this song. His vocals are perfection throughout. Now he's the frontman of Kállay Saunders Band, bringing something completely new to the music industry table. He represented Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 and came fifth overall with 143 points. This year was one of the toughest since there were quite a few amazing songs entered. András Kállay-Saunders brings an emotional performance piece as we watch a narrative showing the life of abusive parents. This music video for "Running" is a stunning portrayal of the lyrics.
András Kállay-Saunders was born in New York City, United States. He is half American and half Hungarian. He spent time in Hungary in 2010 and saw a television commercial for Megasztár. He applied and came fourth in the fifth series. He went on to release some singles and started recording an album. He's album wasn't released and instead, he took part in and won A Dal 2014, the Hungary national selection for Eurovision 2014. Since then he created his band Kállay Saunders Band, who released a debut album. They took part in A Dal 2016 but came fourth, and therefore didn't represent Hungary in the Eurovision 2016. They have recently released new single "#GRIND" which I reviewed for CelebMix. This song was written by András Kállay-Saunders and István Tabár.
The music video is on point throughout. There's a performance piece and a narrative piece, both are flawless from start to finish. There is also a dance choreography scene which is developed into the narrative.
The performance side of things is so full of emotion, it's clear András Kállay-Saunders cares a lot about this song. The song was inspired by one of his friends who was an abuse victim. He feels every single word deep inside, whilst unleashing it for us all to see.
As for the narrative, we follow a group of kids walking through a forest. Focus is on a young girl who watches her parents have an argument that escalates to her father coming upstairs into her room and beating her. We watch as she struggles with her life and ends up running away and being with a group of kids in the forest.
The dance scene is intercut beautifully. We watch the contemporary dance which is inspired by being abused. It totally sets the piece apart, although the full scene isn't shown because there is so much in this music video as a whole. As the dancer is unmasked, we see she is bruised, another victim of abuse.
There's strength in unity and that is what this video shows. It definitely brings awareness to this issue and the fact that he brought it to the Eurovision stage is just something magical. I'm excited to see where his career will take him, no doubt Kállay Saunders Band will knock it out of the park in the next few years.
Compact Disco may not have been the obvious choice, and maybe it was something extremely different for Eurovision, but sometimes different is what wins. Look at the year Lordi won. I blame the fact that this was performed second, it was forgotten after a few other songs, hence the disappointing 24th, however they did better than the UK. Compact Disco is comprised of 4 members who are: Behnam Lotfi, Gábor Pál, Attila Sándor and Csaba Walkó. I'm sure I've heard of them before, and after further research, they have attempted to hit the UK with their songs, but with not a lot of luck. I hope this band finds it's breakthrough as they clearly deserve it. Maybe Eurovision was their shot, but it didn't work for them either. Let's hope they don't give up.
"Sound of Our Hearts" single cover is amazing, I love how they've incorporated Europe into the design. The song was written by the band and it's about taking care of one another. The music video links in perfectly, and I love how it's done. This song is definitely one of my favourites, but I had to listen to it again to make sure, I think I forgot what it sounded like until today, and I was surprised it didn't do better, however I don't think I was the only one to has forgotten the song.
The music video is narrative, however it works well with the song, and I don't really know how anyone can dislike it. It's also a perfect representation of the whole world, not just Hungary, and that we do need to care for one another a lot more.
I like how there are two different people, one is high-profiled and complains about everything, the other is a humble homeless man, that's just trying to get through life. you feel really sorry for the homeless man, whereas the person with all the money should quit complaining, there is others out there who are going through worse.
I like how it's been edited as they are both doing the same things, only in totally different ways, such as at the start one goes to the sink and washes himself, whereas the other has to trek all the way to the river to wash. And what about food, one has to ask and eventually look in the bin whereas the one with all the money, is complaining about what he has got. It's a great representation of people today, and it just gets me mad, everyone takes things for granted without realising it, I know I do, but this makes me understand that there are others out there who are just not as lucky as I am, and I feel really bad for them.
Overall I love the message of this song along with it's video, it's portrayal is amazing and I hope people will see this and understand it. I'm trying to find bad things about this but I just cannot find one. There may be better Eurovision music videos out there from 2012, as I haven't seen them all I'm not sure, but this has definitely become my favourite, you can't beat a true representation of the world, and attempt to make a difference. This should have done better in the Eurovision at Baku, Azerbaijan.
