CYPRUS

The Cypriot entry was revealed on 2nd March via the premiere of the music video during a news broadcast which was then made available on youtube. Back in January, CyBC announced they had internally selected Eleni Foureira to represent them at Eurovision. The song she will perform is called “Fuego” (Fire)

As this is a music video it is limited in the clues it gives us for a possible stage performance. Most of the action happens inside a very grand looking house. There are lost of shots of staircases, corridors, banisters, candelabras and ends with a car going up in flames. There are some choreographed pieces during the song but it might not be possible to replicate them whilst singing. Eleni and her 4 backing dancers are dressed in a kind of 80s power style but most of the outfits are little more than swimsuits.

Despite the Spanish title, the song is wholly in English, apart from this one word. The song has that mid tempo Spanish vibe that seems to be very in at the moment. It starts quietly though the first verse then hits the chorus. This is nowhere near as strong as it should be and is full of oh-oh-ohing. This is also not helped by the fact the instrumental after the first chorus is initially downbeat and you lose the flow of the song almost immediately.  At the start of the song, and during the breaks between chorus and verse, the tune is a little more ethnic. There are also a lot of minimalist instrumentals during the song and it will be interesting to see how hey ‘fill’ these on stage. The tune of the verses is very similar to “If love was a crime”, in fact the structure of the song is quite similar but not quite as good.

Being a video clip, this gives us no insight to the scope or problems this faces when sung live. Personally I find the song very produced and very much for the radio and she will have to work very hard to make this look and sound good during Eurovision. I am not sure that the concept in the video would make for a good stage show. This song would not feel out of place on mainstream radio. Personally I find this quite generic and the fact that it could blend in which so many other songs means it just doesn’t quite catch my ear. And with Eurovision's recent penchant for choosing more ‘alternative’ songs over commercial successes this might not be the best of choices.

ARTIST –  Eleni Foureira

SONG – Fuego (Fire)

MUSIC - Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov, Didrick

LYRICS - Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov, Didrick

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