Punk rockers went pop, and a male opera singer did too, but in the end only one act could win A Dal — Hungary’s national selection for Eurovision 2016. After a marathon selection with no less than six shows and two rounds of voting in the final, Freddie has emerged as the winner with the song “Pioneer”.
Reaction: Freddie wins with “Pioneer”
The contest took place in two parts. During the first part the jury rated each of the live performances, and the four acts with the most points advanced to a super final. Those four acts were: Freddie, Gergó Ólah, Kallay Saunders Band and Petruska.
In the super final power shifted to the people, with a 100% televote system determining the winner.
Freddie – “Pioneer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arkxAQWd9p8
Ahead of tonight’s show, our Wiwi Jury was filled with praise for Freddie. Here’s what one juror wrote:
Oh my, this is heaven. I’m addicted to Freddie’s raw voice, which sounds really good on “Pioneer”. I’m so glad that the live version isn’t a letdown. In fact, it’s way better than expected. I like the staging and of course I like Freddie. 2014 was a great year for Hungary, but this is even better than “Running”. They’ll have another top-five entry if they choose this.
Running order
- Mushu – “Uncle Tom”
- Parno Graszt – “Már nem szédülök”
- Olivér Berkes & Andi Tóth – “Seven Seas”
- Petruska – “Trouble In My Mind”
- Gergo Oláh – “Gyoz a jó”
- Freddie – “Pioneer”
- Kállay Saunders Band – “Who We Are”
- André Vásáry – “Why”
How was the show?
Through an hour and a half, the eight acts paraded in the stage. We say body painting, violins, sand, a Buddhist monk,… After all of them had performed, it was time for the jury to announce their points. This is how the results were like:
After that, it was time to vote! While Hungarians cast their votes, producers welcomed two Eurovision stars of yesterday: Eurovision 2009 winner Alexander Rybak and last year’s Hungarian representative Boggie.
Over the past few days, wiwibloggers Mikhail and Judit have been running around MTVA’s studios in Budapest interviewing the finalists and the winner. You can watch them all in our playlist below.
And after that, Freddie (the jury, the Wiwi Jury and the fan favourite) was declared the winner. This is how he reacted…
Are you happy with Hungary’s result? Tell us below!
Freddie is a hunk and I love his raw voice sound.
Is there anyone who knows the brand of the vintage sweater he was wearing when he won? I would love to bye that one!!
he’s got the look nice song and voice can easily b one the frost winner for Hungary
@Robyn: I know I’m late on this, but I wondered about the same thing. I don’t know Hungarian, but I’m also guessing that they had a problem with the sound system, and they allowed KSB to perform again. I was expecting something more dramatic to go with the song, and I didn’t get it… …And that’s why I graded the performances this way: Freddie 9.338, Petruska 9.325, KSB 9.238 (9.188-sound malfunction performance), Gergo 9.225, Mushu 9.113, Parno Graszt 9.100, André 8.988, Olivér and Andi 8.838. Freddie needs a much more dramatic stage performance to go with his song, or he… Read more »
Not worth shouting about. I’m sure he’s only being liked for his looks (so hopefully they’ll change for Justs tonight).
i don’t like this song at all. but freddie is one gorgeous man tho so whatevs.
Freddie is good but he needs to work on his English. At the moment this song is a great candidate for this year’s ‘misheard lyrics’ videos. For example: “A million lies in a billion simples. It’s only Sia. We cull the violin-er.” 😀
I’m sure it’s a great song otherwise. x
@Briekimchi
Greta has the best song so far, so it would be fair. It would also be the first time my favorite wins the Eurovision. Most often it is a song which I have in top 10 or 15, but not the 1’st choice.
my Top changes every day!
my today’s top 5:
1.Spain
2.Italy
3.Hungary
4.Ukraine
5. Iceland
12 points: Germany
10 points: Austria
8 points: Italy
7 points: Cyprus
6 points: Iceland
5 points: Spain
4 points: Switzerland
3 points: Hungary
2 points: Ukraine
1 point: Norway
Not feeling it. Not a winner. Would have preferred Gergo Olah.
With each decent entry being passed over (KSB, Simone etc.) I am becoming more convinced that Greta could do it this year!
I like how he commands the stage and the song is alright.
Let’s see how it will look on the big stage.
so far ;
12 PTS ITALY
10 PTS ICELAND
8 PTS UNITED KINGDOM
7PTS MALTA
6PTS AUSTRIA
5PTS UKRAINE
4PTS BOSNIA
3PTS SLOVENIA
2PTS MOLDOVA
1PT HUNGARY
I don’t think is outstanding, even being a good song.
We don’t have the winner of this year, yet.
I usually like this kind of voice, but he needs to improve it.
Good one, Hungary.
TOP 10 of 22
1.Ukraine
2.Norway
3.Spain
4.Germany
5.Hungary
6.Belgium
7.Cyprsu
8.Denmark
9.Belarus
10.Georgia
…
17.Slovenia
18.Italy
19.Albania
20.Malta
21.Ireland
22.United Kingdom
Poor song. Good looking singer
I think this could win eurovision, it has everything
The staging is very good, voice is nice on the low parts, but I can’t understand what he is singing. For me it sounds uuu…owowo..oooo…million….uupp…haaa and then drums. It is finalist but that’s about it.
Eurovision Song Contest 2016 is SNOOZE FEST 2016.
This is the worst edition so far. We’re halfway already to revealing the complete list of entries and none of the songs are as good as the previous years. This year is a complete downgrade of last years’ high caliber entries.
Majority of the selected songs so far are damn weak and boring.
The only potential entry this year is ICELAND.
He’s hot, that’s all. He can’t sing.
This guy and his song are so overrated…
Maybe he’ll sound better in Stockholm but I’m personally not convinced. He’s incomprehensible for a lot of the song too. A Dal’s low audio quality might not have helped him, on the other hand.
I like it. One of the best chosen so far, if not the best.
The best final produced a mediocre winner.
Oh well, good luck Hungary!
Great lyrics and nice song! For one, Hungary did it good. Best of luck!
He is impressive but might be too generic for ESC 2016.
I wonder how long the bookmakers will pull absurdity, that he is not favorite of ESC 2016???
So this is the one everyone claims is the winner? While dub-step- drums undoubted is a new sound and it will do well, it reminds me so much of Arm MP3 and “Not Alone. And I have the same feeling for Freddie as I had with Aram: Being hyped only to end up not winning it. Very bland tune IMO,and the staging needs a lot of work to do. Hungary did much better with “Running” and that didn’t win, so why would this?
Someone bring him a cup of camomille tea for his hoarse voice
Wasted opportunity. Again. :/ This song is absolutely spiritless.
Second version was little dull, but he is CLEAR WINNER of Eurovision with first or third version of his entry!!! GAME OVER!!!
1. Italy
2. Ireland
3. UK
4. Ukraine
5. Hungary
6. Denmark
7. Cyprus
8. Belgium
9. Germany
10. Malta
11. Moldova
12. Spain
13. Iceland
14. Austria
15. Bosnia Herzegovina
16. Finland
17. Switzerland
18. Albania
19. Georgia
20. Belarus
MASTERPIECE!!! WE HAVE A WINNER OF EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2016!!! HUNGARY!!!
Are people mesmerized by the guy’s looks? He’s got a raw voice, I’ll give you that, but he sings out of tune most of the time.
I can see this qualifying, but not for its musical quality.
Work on that staging, it’s horrible… The song is great, if they come up with a good concept for the staging it might even finish in the top 3
I’m not feeling it. It’s too bland
The song’s average, but his hoarse voice makes it hard to bother listening to it.
LOVE IT.
Very bland, song doesn’t work for him and he’s not an amazing singer anyway. Will flop.
So, a bland song won over something that could have made an impact in Stockholm. Childish Hungarians. I guess this is Boggie 2.0
He’s got the looks, he’s got the voice, he’s got lyrics about “a million hearts of a million people”, all he needs is a great stage show to become the Polina of 2016:-) I think this will be an easy top-5 for Hungary. Well done!
My top-17 so far:
#1 Ukraine
#2 Austria
>>>#3 Hungary
#4 Switzerland
#5 Spain
#6 Cyprus
>>>#7 Finland
#8 Malta
#9 Denmark
#10 Iceland
#11 Germany
#12 Ireland
#13 Belgium
#14 Bosnia Herzegovina
#15 UK
#16 Georgia
#17 Belarus
I don’t dislike the song itself, but the only thing I can concentrate on is his desperate need of cough syrup
Yes he needs to improve, especially on the staging and on the diction, cause to be honest I can’t understand much but he has all the keys to have a perfect product product for Sweden. I think this year I will be supporting Hungary ! 🙂
A Dal was awesome this year and superhappy with this! Freddie will fly right to my number one and he will stay there. Good job Hungary!
It’s good, I was hoping for “Who We Are” though.
My new favourite!!!!! ANOTHER year in the final for Hungary!
In terms of the song, it was the best choice for Hungary but the performance needs major improvement. His staging is a bit bland but I really like his voice. It should pass to the final.
@charles
xD i know songs are most important but in my opinion he also had the best song.
What a great choice from Hungary! Probably the best vocals i’ve heard so far. Another year in the final for sure 😉
He seems a bit nervous, and his actions are little bit overacted compared to last 2 performance
No surprises there, good for Hungary. They chose well (unlike Finland…), although I personally don’t like the song and his voice irritates me. But I see the hype, so I guess he’ll do well in Stockholm