The Cypriot broadcaster consider it their strongest entry ever, while Greek media reports that their broadcaster turned down that exact same song. The case bring back memories to when Denmark did very well with an SVT rejected song, although that didn’t include the same drama we now see in Greece.
The other day, Cyprus presented Eleni Foureira as their 2018 Eurovision participant. She is Greek, and quite a big name in Greece. Her song Fuego, is set to be released in February, but we know that it is written by Swedish born with Greek origin Alex Papaconstantinou, who has written Eurovision entries for both Greece, Cyprus and Azerbaijan in the past.
Did Alex first approach Greek broadcaster ERT with the song, that is now set to represent Cyprus, and did they turn him down? That’s what Greek media STAR TV claim in their Sti Folia Ton Kou Kou daytime show.
Aside from mentioning that things appear to be rather chaotic in relation to the upcoming Greek national final, reporter Giannis Poulopoulos mentioned that ERT turned down the song Fuego performed by Eleni Foureira, and written by Alex Papaconstantinou – the same song that Cyprus now has high expectations for.
Did ERT reject Eleni – with or without Fuego?
Cyprus made an early agreement with songwriter Alex Papaconstantinou, but did that agreement include Fuego? That’s a bit unclear at the moment. After he signed with CyBC, Greek broadcaster asked record labels to submit entries for a Greek national selection. Eleni Foureira’s name was mentioned to ERT, that she confirmed herself.
Eurovision is a painful story for me, all right … whoever represents us, I hope will get a great result … it really does not make sense because it’s all done for some reason! ERT might have a reason for not choosing me this year. Does not matter for me anymore.
The question is now, why did the broadcaster turn her down, and did they also reject the song, which will now be the Cypriot entry? Cyprus first opted for a national selection, but later changed to an international selection. ERT says that Eleni’s label PANIK proposed an internal selection for Greece as well, and that they heard no song.
If the Greek broadcaster is right, Eleni was probably rejected because she only wanted to be internally selected for Eurovision, and not take part in any national final. Maybe she has bad memories of 2010 where she came second in the Greek national final? No matter where the truth is hidden, the parts are drifting further and further apart as they are now bashing each other in public, and the last chapter in the story clearly hasn’t been written yet.
SVT rejected Danish top entry
It wouldn’t be the first time a broadcaster reject entries, which then ends up representing another country instead. Do you remember the Danish entry from 2010 In A Moment Like This performed by Chanée og N’evergreen? It won the Danish national selection Melodi Grand Prix, and later finished 4th at the Eurovision Song Contest. At the same contest, Sweden was represented by Anna Bergendahl who failed to bring her country into the final of contest, for the first and only time.
The Danish entry In A Moment Like This, written by the three Swedes Eurovision veteran Thomas G:son, Henrik Sethsson and Erik Bernholm. While it was strong enough to win the Danish final, and finish 4th at the Eurovision Song Contest, it wasn’t strong enough to even take part in the Swedish national selection, Melodifestivalen. The Swedish broadcaster SVT simply rejected it.
While waiting for the Cypriot entry, whether it was rejected by ERT or not, let’s remind ourselves of the 2010 Danish entry and wonder why it wasn’t good enough for Melodifestivalen? Below you find a short video clip from an acoustic version performed at a Eurovision press conference.
