Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
| Eurovision Song Contest 2021 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Cyprus | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Selection date(s) | 25 November 2020 | |||
| Selected entrant | Elena Tsagrinou | |||
| Selected song | "El Diablo" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (6th, 170 points) | |||
| Final result | 16th, 94 points | |||
| Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) internally selected Elena Tsagrinou as its representative with the song "El Diablo". "El Diablo" was written and composed by Thomas Stengaard, Laurell Barker, Oxa, and Jimmy Thörnfeldt. Cyprus performed 8th in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, held on 18 May 2021, and placed 6th, receiving 170 points. The entry qualified for the final held four days later, where the nation placed 16th with 94 points.
Background[]
Prior to the 2021 contest, Cyprus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-six times since the island country made its debut in the 1981 contest.[1] Its best placing was at the 2018 contest where Eleni Foureira placed second with "Fuego". Before that, Cyprus's best result was fifth, which it achieved three times: in the 1982 competition with the song "Mono I Agapi" performed by Anna Vissi, in the 1997 edition with "Mana Mou" performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou, and the 2004 contest with "Stronger Every Minute" performed by Lisa Andreas. Cyprus' least successful result was in the 1986 contest when it placed last with the song "Tora Zo" by Elpida, receiving only four points in total. However, its worst finish in terms of points received was when it placed second to last in the 1999 contest with "Tha'nai Erotas" by Marlain Angelidou, receiving only two points.[2] After returning to the contest in 2015 following their one-year absence from the 2014 edition due to the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and the broadcaster's budget restrictions,[3] Cyprus has qualified for the final of all the contests in which it has participated.[2]
The Cypriot national broadcaster, CyBC, broadcasts the contest within Cyprus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Cyprus has used various methods to select its entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. In 2015, the broadcaster organised the national final Eurovision Song Project, which featured 54 songs competing in a nine-week-long process resulting in the selection of the Cypriot entry through the combination of public televoting and the votes from an expert jury. Since 2016, however, the broadcaster has opted to select the entry internally without input from the public.[4]
Before Eurovision[]
Internal selection[]
On 25 November 2020, CyBC announced that they had internally selected Greek singer Elena Tsagrinou to represent Cyprus in Rotterdam with the song "El Diablo".[5] Tsagrinou previously participated in the second season of Ellada Eheis Talento where she progressed to the semi-final. Signed to Panik Records, she was a former member of the group Otherview. "El Diablo" was written by Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Laurell Barker, Oxa, and Thomas Stengaard. Barker and Stengaard have written several Eurovision entries for various countries with the latter having written the Danish Eurovision Song Contest 2013 winning song "Only Teardrops".[6] On 25 January 2021, Tsagrinou announced on her Instagram account that the song would be released exactly one month later, on 24 February 2021.[7]
A preview of "El Diablo" was presented to the public on 24 February 2021 during the RIK 1 programme Happy Hour, hosted by Andreas Giortsios. The official preview video for the song, directed by George Benioudakis was also available on the Panik Records mobile app and website.[8] The music video was hosted on the website until 27 February; on 28 February, the song and full length music video was officially released to the public.[9]
Reception[]
Upon release, the song coursed controversy within Cyprus with many people and the Cypriot Orthodox church calling for the withdrawal of song. The church stated that the song makes an international mockery of country's moral foundations by advocating "our surrender to the devil and promoting his worship".[10][11][12][13] A protest was also held in March outside of CyBC to demand the song's withdrawal.[14]
At Eurovision[]
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 is scheduled to take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and will consist of two semi-finals held on 18 and 20 May, and the grand final on 22 May 2021.[15] According to the Eurovision rules, each participating country, except the host country and the "Big Five", consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the grand final.[16] The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, will be used. Cyprus was placed into the first semi-final, which was held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[17]
Once all the competing songs for the 2021 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Cyprus was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from Ireland and preceding the entry from Norway.[18]
Cyprus performed 1st in the grand final on 22 May 2021, and was preceded by Albania. Marvin Dietmann was the artistic director for the entry, responsible for the country's stage performance.[5]
Voting[]
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with a diversity in gender and age represented. The judges assess each entry based on the performances during the second Dress Rehearsal of each show, which takes place the night before each live show, against a set of criteria including: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[19] Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially. Jury members should also vote independently, with no discussion of their vote permitted with other jury members.[20] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the grand final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form.[21][22]
Points awarded to Cyprus[]
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Points awarded by Cyprus[]
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Detailed voting results[]
The following members comprised the Cypriot jury:[21][22]
- Andreas
- Marilena Charalambidou
- Christiana Mitella
- Alexandros Taramountas
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juror A | Juror B | Juror C | Juror D | Juror E | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Lithuania |
4 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 02 |  Slovenia |
7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 13 | |
| 03 |  Russia |
2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 7 |
| 04 |  Sweden |
5 | 13 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
| 05 |  Australia |
14 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 8 | 14 | 14 | ||
| 06 |  North Macedonia |
13 | 15 | 11 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | ||
| 07 |  Ireland |
3 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 12 | |
| 08 | Cyprus |
|||||||||
| 09 |  Norway |
15 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 1 | |
| 10 |  Croatia |
8 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 2 |
| 11 |  Belgium |
10 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 11 | |
| 12 |  Israel |
9 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| 13 |  Romania |
6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 5 |
| 14 |  Azerbaijan |
12 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 4 | |
| 15 |  Ukraine |
11 | 10 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 6 | |
| 16 |  Malta |
1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 8 |
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juror A | Juror B | Juror C | Juror D | Juror E | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 | Cyprus |
|||||||||
| 02 |  Albania |
19 | 20 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 20 | 21 | ||
| 03 | Israel |
9 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 11 | 17 | 9 | 2 | |
| 04 | Belgium |
11 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 20 | |
| 05 | Russia |
5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| 06 | Malta |
2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 07 |  Portugal |
7 | 13 | 3 | 19 | 24 | 10 | 1 | 17 | |
| 08 |  Serbia |
25 | 21 | 23 | 21 | 13 | 22 | 12 | ||
| 09 |  United Kingdom |
20 | 19 | 20 | 24 | 21 | 23 | 24 | ||
| 10 |  Greece |
1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 12 |
| 11 |  Switzerland |
15 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 11 | |
| 12 |  Iceland |
10 | 6 | 18 | 11 | 19 | 15 | 15 | ||
| 13 |  Spain |
21 | 24 | 12 | 23 | 20 | 21 | 22 | ||
| 14 |  Moldova |
12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 25 | ||
| 15 |  Germany |
24 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 22 | 25 | 18 | ||
| 16 |  Finland |
22 | 9 | 24 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| 17 |  Bulgaria |
14 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| 18 | Lithuania |
6 | 16 | 15 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 5 | |
| 19 | Ukraine |
18 | 22 | 25 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 6 | |
| 20 |  France |
3 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
| 21 | Azerbaijan |
17 | 17 | 19 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 14 | ||
| 22 | Norway |
16 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 18 | 16 | ||
| 23 |  Netherlands |
23 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 25 | 24 | 23 | ||
| 24 |  Italy |
4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| 25 | Sweden |
8 | 15 | 7 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 13 | ||
| 26 |  San Marino |
13 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 19 | ||
References[]
- ^ Gallagher, Robyn (3 August 2017). "Cyprus: Broadcaster reportedly will internally select songwriter for 2018". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ a b "Cyprus Country Profile: Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ Psyllides, George (3 October 2013). "CyBC pulls out of 2014 Eurovision song contest". Cyprus Mail. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (7 September 2019). "Cyprus: CyBC to Begin Discussions Regarding Eurovision 2020 Representative in Mid-September". Eurovoix. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ a b Adams, William Lee (25 November 2020). "Cyprus: Elena Tsagrinou will sing 'El Diablo' at Eurovision 2021". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ Agadellis, Stratos (25 November 2020). "Cyprus: It's Elena Tsagrinou to Rotterdam!". ESCToday. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ @elenatsagkrinou_official (24 January 2021). "Getting ready to shoot the video clip and I can't wait for you to listen to El Diablo... #Eurovision #ESC2021 #TeamCy #ElDiablo". Retrieved 24 January 2021 – via Instagram.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (24 February 2021). WIKI