Ben T Kadar as a Bizarre Puppet in the Snares of Humankind
Hungarian singer-songwriter Ben T Kadar is releasing a new video for the single "Eastern Boytoy" from his upcoming EP, in which he captures his disgust with the weariness of aesthetic trends as well as his existential crisis and feelings of social exclusion. In the grotesquely decadent video, the artist mixing R'n'B, hip-hop and trap becomes a Joker-type character who gets caught up in his own game.
Ben T Kadar is a singer-songwriter from Budapest, Hungary. His music spans between electronic pop/R’n’B with a lot of influences of hip-hop, lo-fi hip-hop and trap. His lyrics are usually self-exploring, mostly describing how he gets to know himself and his relationships with other people. His new album Brute is about the hardships of being a hotheaded young man today. The album represents this theme with a pop/hip-hop sound fused with edgy distorted synths. In his visuals, you can find funny, shocking and sometimes obscure trash elements. He released a number of collaborations with artists and electronic music producers from Germany, France, Switzerland, Slovenia and United States.
"Eastern Boytoy is the product of long night conversations with friends about everyday life in a city," says Ben of his latest single. "We talked about how all the trends and the aesthetics start to feel like they’re bleached out, how many people have become elitist snobs based on their interests, and how we’re too young to reach out for nostalgia. So I decided to write harsher lines than usual and stir things up a bit."
As he puts it, the main character feels out of place and feels the need to fit in while criticising the group he's surrounded with. "At the end, he would be okay with a sugar mommy buying him out of this reality, even that would be better than what he's in now," Ben outlines the outcome of the song's central theme. His aim was to do something controversial that pushes the message through to an audience who could relate to these feelings and conversations.
Who's pulling the strings
In the music video for the song, Botond Balogh (director), Gábor Kővári (director of photography) and Adrienn Mész (choreographer) in collaboration with Ben T Kadar created a shockingly grotesque visual. It shows a puppet master and his puppets mingling with people and "enjoying" their never ending conflicts and problems until the puppeteer himself gets caught up in one of these conflicts and falls victim to it.
After the release of his debut album in 2020, Ben went on perfecting his sound through his self-produced EP and many collaborations with artists from Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, the United States and most recently with French producer Tryt0n. His songs were featured in many blogs such as Unheard Gems, Keep Walking Music, Roadie Music Sensei Music Blog and A&R Factory. In February 2023, Ben released his new sound-defining album Brute. With the new songs, he auditioned and won his place in the National Culture Fund's seasonal mentorship program. With the fund's help, he performed at local festivals like Campus, Valley Of Arts and Kerekdomb Fesztivál and he'll be able to produce, release and promote his new upcoming EP in 2024.
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