József "Joci" Pápai (; born 22 September 1981) is a Hungarian singer, rapper and guitarist of

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

descent. He represented

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944 (song), 1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

with the song "

Origo Origo may refer to: * ''Origo'' (album), an album by the band Burst * ''Origo'' (moth), a genus of moth in the family Gelechiidae *Origo (pragmatics), a concept in pragmatics * "Origo" (song), the Hungarian representative for the Eurovision Song Co ...

" finishing in 8th place. He represented Hungary again at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 contest with the song " Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broad ...

with the song "". However he failed to qualify for the grand final being the first Hungarian entry not to since returning in 2011.

Career

Pápai came into contact with music early as his older brother had started writing songs and playing guitar at the age of four. He was influenced by music of the

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Buzz ...

and

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War i ...

, and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, pop,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, and R&B music. His public debut was in 2005, when he was a part of the second season of the TV2 show

Megasztár ''Megasztár - Voice of the Year'' was a Hungarian a music talent show that started in 2003 on TV2. While it is widely considered an unlicensed clone of the British television show ''Pop Idol'' (and sometimes even referred to as ''Hungarian Id ...

, where he was eliminated in the consolation rounds, but was interviewed by the Budapest daily tabloid

Blikk ''Blikk'' (Blink) is a Hungarian daily tabloid newspaper published in Budapest, Hungary, owned by the Swiss media company Ringier. It is one of four tabloid dailies on the Hungarian market including ''Színes Ász'', ''Bors'' and ''Ripost''. Hi ...

. Afterwards, he started to produce his official debut. His first big success was ''Ne nézz így rám''. In 2006, he collaborated with rapper

Majka Majka, Slavic-language feminine given name, originally a diminutive of the name Maria or Maja, it can be a spelling variation of Mayka. Given name * Majka Jeżowska (born 1960), Polish singer * Majka Olkowicz, Majka (soap opera) character * Maj ...

with ''Nélküled'' and ''Nekem ez jár'', but his greatest success came in 2015 with ''Mikor a test örexik''. He then released a song in collaboration with

Caramel Caramel ( or ) is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard. The process of caramelizatio ...

and Zé Szabó titled ''Elrejtett világ''. His last collaboration with Majka appeared together with the pop-funk song ''Senki más''. On 8 December 2016, it was announced that Pápai would be one of the thirty acts participating in the 2017 edition of

A Dal ''A Dal'' (English: The Song) is an annual music competition in Hungary organised by the national broadcaster Duna and was the national selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest between 2012 and 2019. The contest was introduced in 2012. ...

, the national selection for

in the

with the self-penned "

", in which he progressed to the final and won the competition, giving him the right to represent Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, coming in 8th place overall. He competed again in the 2019 edition, with the song "". He won that as well and represented Hungary again at the

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. This time, however, he failed to qualify from the semifinal.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

External links

Pápai Joci on MédiaKlikk
* 1981 births Living people 21st-century Hungarian male singers Hungarian rappers Hungarian guitarists Male guitarists People from Tata, Hungary Hungarian Romani people Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2017 Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2019 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Hungary 21st-century guitarists Hungarian male musicians {{Hungary-musician-stub