The second round of EuroChallenge was held tonight in Cyprus. The ten songs that were still in the competition were reduced to six that qualified for the final of Eurovision Song Prtoject, Sunday the 1st of February. One of those six will represent Cyprus in Vienna in May.
After two months we now know the contestants that will fight in the live national final of Cyprus for the right to represent their country at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. The expert jury (the same as in EuroChallenge 1) decided today the six entries which will be presented in the live final of Eurovision Song Project next Sunday, 1st of February.
For once more time Alex Panayis (Cyprus 1995,2000), Helena Patroklou (Cyprus 1991), Despina Olimpiou (Cyprus 2013) and the radio producer Tasos Trifonos with the help of the two judges from abroad, Christer Bjorkman (Swedish Head of Delegation) and Dimitris Kontopoulos (famous greek composer) listened to the ten songs that went through EuroChallenge 1 very carefully, and voted for the songs they think has what it takes to make it to the Eurovision Song Contest.
The three singers of the jury gave advices to the contestants based on their previous experience in the contest. After that TV viewers had the chance to hear each entrant performing a cover version of a past Eurovision song before performing his entry. The running order was as follows:
- Doody with Magic
Doody sang again his song which is penned by his brother Konstantinos Christoforou (Cyprus 1996, 2001 and 2005). It’s a pop song with rap elements. The problem with this song it’s that is a song more for junior Eurovision than for the senior edition. His vocals were weak as seen in the previous auditions.
- Nearchos and Charis with Deila Den Agapo
This is the only duet of the night and the only song with half french lyrics. Despite the young age of the singers, they gave a really strong performance. The judges liked the song, if they improve the french pronunciation we might have a strong contestant here.
- Christos Rialas with Meine
Christos has a really strong voice, but as the judges said his song is not suitable for the Eurovision Song Contest. Meine is a greek folk song, difficult for the average European ears. Christos got amazing comments for his voice, but not for his song.
- Minus 1 with Shine
Shine is the only rock song of the night. Minus 1 gave the same performance as in the previous auditions. The song seems to be one of the favourites to win the whole thing, however this is a very risky choice because it’s a hard rock song which usually doesn’t do well in the contest.
- Giannis Karagiannis with One Thing I Should Have Done
Giannis is a young singer chosen by the composer of the song Mike Connaris. One Thing I Should Have Done is a slow ballad in the same style as Stronger Every Minute (The Cypriot Eurovision entry from 2004) which is also written by Mike Connaris. This is the biggest weakness of the song because everyone compares it with to Lisa Andreas‘ song.
- Hovig with Stone In A River
Hovig gave an amazing performance again. His song is about peace and humanity. Again he stand out more with his performance than with his song. A really interesting proposal.
- Panagiotis Koufogiannis with Without Your Love
The most emotional song of the night. Panagiotis gave a really confident performance full of expressions and pictures. Panagiotis is a really good singer and this can really bring Cyprus to a top ten place. Great comments from the judges once more time. Favourite for winning.
- Christina Tselepou with In These Arms
In These Arms is a really descend ballad and Christina can really sing very well. The only problem again here is that is a common sound especially within the Eurovision Song Contest circles.
- Ioanna Protopapa with Beat Of My Heart
Ioanna is very sure about her skills and her voice. A dance pop song here, the most eurosong of the night. Fans really like this, but the judges think that these type of songs don’t have a future in the contest anymore.
- Pieros Kezos with Said It All Before
Pieros gave a very professional performance again, but the judges think that his song is a little bit old fashioned, however all of them gave him very encouraging comments.
The six songs that quallified for the cypriot final are:
- Panagiotis Koufogiannis with Without Your Love watch here.
- Hovig with Stone in a River watch here
- Nearchos & Charis with Deila Den Agapo watch here
- Minus 1 with Shine watch here
- Giannis Karagiannis with One Thing I Should Have Done watch here
- Doody with Magic watch here
After the announcement of the six finalists the lines opened in Cyprus and people can vote until next Sunday, the first of February, when the Cypriot national final will be held.
You can watch the Cypriot national final next Sunday 1/2/2015 at 21.05 CET here.
You might also like to read:
EuroChallenge 1:10 songs continue in the Cypriot marathon.
In my view
As i had already said Cyprus has a really interesting national selection this year. CyBC gave the opportunity to everyone to present his proposal for Eurovision. However this method had a lot of negative sides as well. People should take part in the whole process, not only in the final. Televoting will last for 9 days! In a small country like Cyprus this is very weird because the results can really be mixed up. Despite all that we enjoyed great voices and some good songs. I think Cyprus this year can really make it to the final. Two or three songs has the dynamic to bring Cyprus in the final, after Ivi with La la love in 2012. Panagiotis Koufogiannis and Minus 1 are the favourites based on polls and comments in youtube and twitter. No one can be sure for the results, I think that it’s a really open final, and an unexpected result can happen.
The opinion expressed in "In my view" are those of the author and are not necessarily the one of EuroVisionary.com.
