This article forms part of the OnEurope archive and was originally published on oneurope.co.uk. It has been permanently migrated to oneurope.net, the official home of OnEurope.
Cyprus’s Eurovision 2015 entry is… a ballad.
No, seriously: that is the best thing I can say about it. After a Cypriot national final that took ten weeks—and which contained better songs—this was somehow chosen as the winner. It wasn’t the best one.
John—or Giannis—looks completely nonplussed while singing about a life supposedly in tatters. He gives the impression that he couldn’t give two tosses about it. That detachment might be deliberate, but it leaves the performance feeling strangely empty.
What worries me most is the lack of connection. The stage flashes and changes colour around him, yet he rarely looks at the camera. When he does, it is not for long enough to draw me in. He is meant to be saying sorry to the woman—or man—of his dreams, but he is not making that connection with me, her or him.
There are people who like that awkwardness—very vocally, at this table. I’m not one of them.
