God bless Cyprus. They ran a national final in 2015 and they have been working their way through the finalzts one by one. I will say that Cyprus is being extremely cost effective when choosing Eurovision entries. Watch out for Doody next year.
Hovig came in fourth place in the 2015 Cypriot national final with the song "Stone In A River" and he is a singer of bog standard male pop music.
Hovig "Gravity"
Because they are in the same genre, it's rather obvious to make direct comparisons to the Swedish entry this year. In all regards, Hovig winds up looking like the worst entry. No matter how much I personally dislike the Swedish entry, it is polished and professional. Compared to Robin Bengtsson, Hovig looks likes he is singing at talent night at a local high school.
Cyprus is lucky that Greece is in the same semifinal, which gives it a chance to qualify for the final. Otherwise I would say this is a sure non-qualifier. It is a completely forgettable song with a singer who can't lift it out the mediocrity.
I'm always excited to have a country return to the Eurovision fold, and it's nice that Cyprus has returned after a one year absence due to financial constraints.
The Cypriot national broadcaster put on a multi-week program, The Eurovision Song Project, to select their song and singer. The selection process culminated on February 1st, where the six survivors of previous weeks competed to go to Vienna.
What I'm disappointed in is the singer they selected and song they selected.
Giannis Karagiannis "One Thing I Should Have Done"
I get why this won the television vote. Karagiannis is a cute little hipster boy that can appeal to the twin demographic of teenage girls and gay men.
I just can't see this getting out of the semifinal. I think his looks and styling played a big part in his win, not actual quality in song or performance.
But really, most of the songs in the final were disappointing and unlikely to light up the stage in Vienna. Only one of the six finalists had a spark that could have potentially made an impact.
Minus One "Shine"
Even though is had the cliched title "Shine", Minus One gave the only performance that felt more the rather skilled karaoke. They're actual performers not wannabe performers.
All in all a lackluster winner from a lackluster final. Good luck next year, Cyprus.
Cyprus is the most recent country to have been hit by the economic crisis that has been affecting much of the continent, but unlike Portugal or Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus' national broadcaster, CyBC, decided to send an established singer in the region to Malmö.
Despina Olympiou "An Me Thimase"
Olympiou is sending a very old school song, lyrically having more in common with the Greek singers who represented other countries back in prior decades:
Nana Mouskouri "À force de prier" 1963 Luxembourg
It's a change of pace that I must confess I enjoy. Olympiou is seasoned singer and that appeals to me, just like Anouk does.
I can foresee the same problem for Olympiou as I see for the Dutch entry. I can't see countries giving high votes to the Cypriot entry, and this is compounded by the fact that Greece (who would give Olympiou twelve points) votes in the other semi-final.
Because of this, I don't see the voting going Ms. Olympiou's way, even if she gives a performance that knocks it "out of the ballpark", because it's not a rip off of something that is more modern in the contest. But hopefully with the small number of songs--16 in the semifinal--Olympiou will be able to perform on the night of the final.
My final entry of 2012 is to induct another member into the ranks of Eurovisionaries--Lisa Andreas.
In Eurovision, with all the pyrotechnics, writhing dancers, and thumping beats, sometimes the simplest song and production stands out even more.
This was never more noticeable than during the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, when Cyprus sent this song.
Lisa Andreas "Stronger Every Minute"
"Stronger Every Minute" was a contrast to the winner of the contest, with the winner being the ur-type of the pyrotechinc dance numbers that ruled the song contest in the period:
Ruslana "Wild Dances" Ukraine
But for me Andreas' understated number has much more impact that the frenzied gyrating of the winning entry. And for once, a lot of people agreed with me. Andreas placed fifth in the final that year, garnering 170 points, the most the country has ever received in the contest.
What amazes me more is that Andreas was sixteen years old at the time of her performance. Her ability to give a mature, nuanced performance at an age where I could barely differentiate my head from a hole in the ground is impressive.
Sadly, her performance on the stage in Istanbul was the high point of her career. Other than making her way to the second round of the fourth season of the UK X-Factor, her post-Eurovision information is sadly lacking, just the basic CV information.
But she is still out there performing, as of 2011 in a group called The Harmonics.
Lisa Andreas, Josh Roots, Samuel Paul Jacques "Ain't Nobody"
She's still a good singer, and were I living in Kent, I'd definitely be searching her out at one of her gigs.
While it seems to be well received, it's a generic dance tune that can be heard every Friday night at the local gay bar. The lip syncing and auto tuning on the song make me wonder if the girl can actually sing. But if she can sing--I assume for being somewhat successful in the Greek version of "The X Factor"--and they can pull together an interesting performance around here, it might very well make the finals.
