GREECE

The Greek Final was held in on March 6th at the ERT TV Studios in Athens, hosted by Antonis Loudaros & Elena Bouzali. In January it was announced that Demy had been chosen as their internal candidate. It was then revealed that there would be a nation finals consisting of 3 songs. The winner was chosen by televoting & 9 juries of Greek diaspora associations. The winning song  was “This is Love”

As the presentation was done by video it gives us few clues as to what one might expect on the stage in May. Demi is a very beautiful girl and at some points almost looks like a doll rather than a person. The song is mainly shot in black and white with some coloured accent of red. At some points of the video the lyrics also appear on the screen but there seems little reason or logic to why they appear. At the start we a see a grand hall with Demy sitting in a ball gown singing the song. During the chorus, the focus changes into shots of different people looking into the camera. These two ideas then flit about for the rest of the song with, again, little clue as to how these parts are connected. There are then shots of Demy outside on a set of steps, walking a cobbled streets and in some woods. Again it is all very disconnected.

The song begins as a piano based ballad but during the chorus the beat kicks in and becomes a more electronic pop-dance number. The issue I have with the construction of the song is that there are too many ‘bits’ to the song. There is a chorus and a verse but there is also a ‘pre-chorus’ which could also be a chorus on its own. If this part was just said the once during the slow part, there might have been more room to repeat the chorus or parts of the chorus again at other points. You only get to hear the chorus for the second time well past the 2 minute mark. The instrumental near the end is not only ill-placed but the badly-synthesised instruments sound very tinny.

This is a nice enough song with a good beat but it has failed to deliver on the hype this selection promised to bring. Although an up-tempo song, it feels quite dated and not quite energetic enough. One also must question why the selection was run as a video contest. I have no idea as to how this would look on stage and I can’t even judge how well she can - or cannot -  sing this. You never know, one of the other songs might have been better and more instant when sung live and might have swayed the voters. On the plus side, I am sure she will have a well produced stage show to ensure she stands out amongst the crowd, with many surprises and tricks to sway undecied voters. The pessimist in me would say that Greece have done enough to qualify but not tried quite hard enough to win.

ARTIST - Demy

SONG - This is love

MUSIC - Dimitris Kontopoulos

LYRICS - Romy Papadea, John Ballard