A Little Bit Of History...
Of late, Greece have been one of Eurovision's most successful nations. In the last 6 years they have been
the favourite for victory in most polls and betting companies an impressive 4 times (2001, 2004, 2005, 2006). Each of
these year's has seen impressive results - 3rd in 2001, 3rd again in 2004, 1st in 2005, and 9th in 2006. It was solely
with poor entries that they failed to achieve good placings in 2002 and 2003 - proving that the song actually does count.
Winning it in 2005 with what really was the best song of the contest brought Eurovision to Athens, and Greece were
hoping for the double but Anna Vissi only managed 9th place. Nonetheless, they still qualified and will be in this year's
Final.
Singer & Song
Sarbel Yassou Maria
Haven’t we heard this so many times
before? Particularly in 2004 and 2005? Greece have chosen to send sexy Sarbel
to Eurovision with Yassou Maria – something that sounds so like ‘Shake It’ which Sakis sang to bring Greece
as close to glory as they had been for a second time. I do like the song –
it’s just starting to get a little safe, that’s all. It’s a
catchy stomper with that greek flavour and drum beat which should appeal across the board, reeling in plenty of votes to secure
Greece with another top ten placing. It’s
catchy and appealing, and should be a good performance with plenty of dancing and teasing choreography. Not a bad entry, but just not the most original, but Greece
should do well with it.
Prediction
Grand Final: Top Ten 7th-9th
While being totally unoriginal, it's hard not to see a Greek entry like this ever not appealing enough across the board
to pick up enough points to make the top ten. I'd be surprised if this won, but it could be a contender. I hope
not, there are better, more original entries this year, but Sarbel should give a strong performance and comfortable make the
top ten, qualifying Greece yet again into the following year's Final.
Prediction after Semi-Final
Middle of the Road: 13th - 14th
I think it's bland, but Europe might disagree with me and this could go top ten quite comfortably. The draw isn't
great though, and I don't think there's much substance to this at all.
Review of Eurovision Performance
This was always going to be one of my
least favourite performances despite being a good song, good looking boy and reasonable singer. The thing I didn’t like about this was how bland and repetitive it was – we’ve had this
from Greece before, and I was hoping for
something a little different. Sarbel sang well and the routine looked well. I wasn’t fussed on the outfit, it hardly complemented him the way jeans and
a vest top did Sakis, but it’s still easy to see how this would have appealed across the board and ended up in the top
quite comfortably. Despite being wrong on the prediction, I did say it could
comfortably make the top ten, so I’m considering that as a close!
