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Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

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Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Country Greece
National selection
Selection processArtist: Internal selection
Song: Feel the Party
Selection date(s)Artist: 24 January 2006
Song: 14 March 2006
Selected entrantAnna Vissi
Selected song"Everything"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Nikos Karvelas
  • Anna Vissi
Finals performance
Final result9th, 128 points
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2005 • 2006 • 2007►

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, which was held in Athens, Greece following the nation's win at the previous year's contest. The Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), internally selected Anna Vissi to represent the country for 2006. Her song "Everything" was determined on 14 March 2006 during a four song national final titled Feel the Party. "Everything" was composed by Nikos Karvelas and written by Vissi herself. At Eurovision, Vissi placed 9th, receiving 128 points.

Background[]

Main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 marked Greece's twenty-seventh participation in the Contest since its first entry in 1974.[1] It won for the first time at the previous contest in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou,[2] and had been placed third twice up to the Contest: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique and in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year.[3] Greece's least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song "Mia Krifi Evesthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus.[4]

The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event in Greece each year and organizes the selection process for its entry.[5] From 2001 to 2003, ERT held a national final with several artists, but for 2004 and 2005, it selected high-profile artists internally and set up national finals to choose their song. ERT continued the internal selection of the artist for 2006 and subsequently held a national final to select the song.[citation needed]

Before Eurovision[]

Anna Vissi and Sakis Rouvas (seen performing in 2011) took part in ERT's artist selection process.

Artist selection[]

ERT announced that they would be selecting their artist for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 internally. Sakis Rouvas was again approached by ERT in August or September 2005, however, he declined as there was no reason for him to go especially when Greece was the reigning champion (making chances of winning little to none), despite having considered it briefly.[6] Nevertheless, Rouvas accepted to co-host the 2006 contest after ERT still wanted him involved in some way, which he "found it intriguing", and that it would challenge him.[7][8] On 27 November 2004, MAD TV reported that Despina Vandi, who had previously been asked in 2005, was "seriously considering" to represent Greece in the 2006 contest after having possibly been approached by ERT.[9][10]

On 12 December 2005, Star Channel reported that Anna Vissi, who previously stated that she "never [excludes] a Eurovision Song Contest participation as long as everything is organized well", would soon be approached by ERT.[11] On 24 January 2006, ERT confirmed Anna Vissi as the Greek representative for the 2006 contest.[12][13] Vissi had previously represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 and Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, placing thirteenth and fifth respectively.[14] She had also attempted to take part in the contest in previous years, either failing to win against other artists or having deals not materializing. In a press interview, she said the final decision took so long to be announced because she was still debating entering, having to use opinion polls along with talking to her usual collaborators.[15]

Feel the Party[]

Following the announcement of Anna Vissi as the Eurovision 2006 representative, ERT revealed that Vissi would perform four or five songs during a national final, titled Feel the Party.[16] Four songs, three upbeat songs and a ballad, were ultimately selected and announced on 10 March 2006.[17][18]

Final[]

The final took place on 14 March 2006 at the Votanikos Music Hall in Athens, hosted by Giorgos Kapoutzidis and Zeta Makripoulia.[19][20] Anna Vissi performed all four songs and the winning song, "Everything", was selected by a combination of public voting (60%) and jury voting (40%).[21] The jury consisted of Mimis Plessas, Antonis Andrikakis, Dimitris Starovas, Themos Anastasiadis, Christina Politi, Evangelia Piskera, Antonis Karatzikos, Rena Kapitsala, and a ninth aggregate press jury vote consisting of Sietse Bakker (ESCToday) and Fotis Konstantopoulos (Oikotimes). Public voting was conducted through telephone or SMS. After the announcement of "Everything" as the winning song, Vissi pledged to sing the song "from the heart and give all her best for Greece". She also stated that she liked all four songs.[21][22]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured guest performances by 2006 Cypriot Eurovision entrant Annet Artani, 2006 Maltese Eurovision entrant Fabrizio Faniello, 2006 Norwegian Eurovision entrant Christine Guldbrandsen, 2006 Romanian Eurovision entrant Mihai Trăistariu and 2006 Turkish Eurovision entrant Sibel Tüzün.[23] A compilation of former Greek Eurovision entries such as "Mathima Solfege", "Stop", "I Anixi" and "(I Would) Die for You" were shown on a large screen along with a video message by 2006 Eurovision host Maria Menounos as well as personal messages from former Greek Eurovision representatives Sakis Rouvas, Helena Paparizou and Nana Mouskouri.[21][22]

Results of Feel the Party – 14 March 2006
Draw Song Songwriter(s) Jury
(40%) 		Televote
(60%) 		Average Place
1 "Beautiful Night" Pegasos (Antonis and Dimitris Papavomvolakis) 9.39% 16.32% 12.16% 4
2 "Who Cares About Love" Nikos Karvelas 24.43% 7.25% 13.72% 3
3 "Welcome to the Party" Dimitris Kontopoulos, Dimitris S. 24.27% 27.69% 26.32% 2
4 "Everything" Nikos Karvelas, Anna Vissi 35.98% 55.66% 47.79% 1

Promotion[]

Before her appearance at the contest, Vissi went on a promotional tour, singing her song in several Eurovision countries.

The first stop was Moscow on 25 March 2006, Greek Independence Day, and she attended a reception at the Greek embassy. She stayed for three days, gave seven television appearances and three newspaper interviews, and posed for several magazines.[24] Following Russia, Vissi traveled to Malta and then Cyprus where she performed at a large club in Nicosia.[25] Cyprus was followed by Albania, where she appeared at the "Albania Awards Kult", an awards show, and also gave a few interviews. The next stop was Serbia and Montenegro, followed by Romania.[24] By the end of April, Vissi had visited Sweden where she gave several more interviews to the local press.[26] Bosnia and Herzegovina was next at the beginning of May, followed by Belgium on the fourth. She met with Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Panteleimon of Belgium to whom she offered an autographed copy of her CD single "Everything" after having spoken to the media. Vissi then attended a reception at the Greek embassy before meeting up with Belgium entrant Kate Ryan, with whom she visited a chocolate museum.[27] After Belgium, Vissi returned to Greece for a break before leaving for Israel, the last stop on the tour, where she remained for ten days.[28]

On 25 April 2006, Vissi re-released her most recent album at the time, Nylon, as Nylon: Euro Edition, to include the four tracks from the national final and to coincide with the ongoing international promotional tour. At the same time, "Welcome to the Party" had entered the American market, already being played on some radio stations.[29]

At Eurovision[]

At a press conference on 16 May, Anna Vissi thanked her fans and God for everything that had been given to her. She also explained how important the competition was to her, saying that she "really, really [wants] to win". She received several gifts from journalists and fans.[30]

"Everything" was considered a favorite at the contest, placing in the top three in a majority of fan polls and first in online betting houses.[31] A British commentator for the semi-final stated that "she's massive in Greece, she's even bigger than the country itself".[32] "None of the rehearsals were attended by so many people as Anna Vissi's", noted Sietse Bakker, one of the jury members from the national final. "Not only a large amount of fans and journalists took seat in the arena [...] but the president of Greek broadcaster ERT also entered the arena to see how 'his' artist was doing".[30]

Final[]

As the winning country of the 2005 edition, Greece was automatically qualified for the final of the 2006 contest, and was drawn to present its song 16th on the night of the final, after the United Kingdom and before Finland.[12][33]

At the final, held on 20 May 2006, Anna Vissi appeared on stage surrounded by a fog effect created by dry ice. She was alone on the large stage and wore an exclusive Jean Paul Gaultier black and white outfit with black leggings. By the end of the song, she was down on her knees singing.[34] Her choreography for the final was arranged by Mia Michaels.[35] Although considered a favorite, she finished in an honorable ninth position, making Greece only one of two countries that were automatically in the final that managed a top 10 position.[36] She received 128 points, including the coveted "douze points" from Bulgaria and Cyprus.[37] The ninth-place finish guaranteed Greece a place in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.[38]

Voting[]

Points awarded to Greece[]

Points awarded to Greece (Final)[37]
Score Country
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points  Serbia and Montenegro
5 points
4 points
3 points  Lithuania
2 points  Belarus
1 point

Points awarded by Greece[]

After Eurovision[]

The day after the contest, Vissi could be seen crying in front of cameras while recounting her experience and thanking the Greek public for all their love and support.[38] She soon re-released Nylon as a dual disc with music videos, and also a remix of "Everything" by Valentino and Siganos.[40] After Eurovision Vissi went on hiatus from the Greek music industry, performing a worldwide tour for the Greek diaspora in 2007 as well as recording English-language material for her planned international album in Los Angeles, California with her then-producer Greg Ladanyi. Since the second re-release of Nylon in autumn 2006, Vissi had not released any new material until 29 October 2008, when she released the song "To Parelthon Mou" (my past) as the lead soundtrack single for the Greek movie Bank Bang.[41] On 9 December 2008 she released the album Apagorevmeno (2008) which was certified double platinum in Greece under the new 2009 thresholds, denoting shipments of 24 thousand copies, one of her lowest selling albums and lowest of the 2000s. It was certified triple platinum in her native Cyprus.[42] Her first album in the 2010s, Agapi Einai Esi, performed worse than its predecessor, being certified gold for shipments of six thousand copies and falling off of the charts after two months,[43] while her concert attendances generally did not meet expectations, despite heavy promotion.[44][45][46][47][48][49]

"When America looked too big to be won, Anna Vissi turned towards Europe. She took part in Eurovision to conquer the summit of the Alps and lost Mount Olympus too. Her tears on the evening of the contest in 2006, following her failure, showed that she was fully aware of her situation: not only had she not conquered the European audience, but she had lost the Greek one too."

Anna Vlavianou, contributor, To Vima[50]

While Vissi's popularity and commercial appeal had already begun declining by the early 2000s, as seen by the sales of albums such as Nylon —which although successful had relatively low sales compared to her other albums —[51] Eurovision was considered by a small number of reporters to have had a detrimental affect to her career. Vissi admitted that she viewed her participation as a mistake.[52] Although this was partially due to hardships faced by the Greek music industry including piracy, the financial crisis,[53] and changing musical tastes,[54] leading to a general decline of the laïko-pop scene and image-based singers,[51] her career choices, such as the pursuit of an international career at a relatively advanced age, leading to several long absences from Greece and attempting to use Eurovision as a gateway, were thought to be major components. In an article about the "golden trio of Greek pop" consisting of Vissi, Despina Vandi, and Sakis Rouvas, Anna Vlavianou of To Vima considered Vissi to have "the most vociferous" decline of the group.[50]

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