Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Cyprus is simple and effective, no need for major effects. Except it's shot in black and white for the first part of the song before going color and apparently they are still trying to figure out what colored light spots they want to. John looks nerdy in a good way and sings with emotion. Intensive and intimate. Me likes. Finalist? Hopefully so but once again the close ups and his live performance when it matters is crucial. 

All the entries in the second semifinal have now been heard and seen on stage. The first technical rehearsals are over and even if there are still changes to be made for the second round of rehearsals they are minor ones so the act is pretty much what we have seen so far. If we check  Oddchecker  as it was before rehearsals (May 10) and this morning (May 15) there aren't any major changes. The biggest climber is Latvia going up six places to 13th. Lithuania and Cyprus go up 2-3 places in the mdtable but for the rest it's more or less the same. This semi includes both the number one, Sweden, and the bottom one, Portugal. Both keep their standings. Then the droppers. Many talked nicely about Poland, including me, but the betters aren't convinced as it drops four places to 28th. Two highly praised and popular entries Norway (dropping three to 9th place) and Israel (dropping three places to 20th) both are actually going down.... Let's see how things change after toda...

It's a simple little song, a good one, so why not keep it simple in staging, too? That's exactly what Cypriots have done and hooray for that. John is just standing next to his microphone looking smart and singing his song while the backdrop is dark with little tiny lights here and there that keep changing color with some smoky effect when appropriete. Perfect. I am so hoping Cyprus makes the final and shocks a few fans with a top-10 finish. This is music. Oldtime charm and elegance. Well done.

When John Karayiannis performed his jazzy take off all but jazzy Eurovision 1984 winner Diggiloo diggiley who would have thought a classy video and rather marvellous recorded version of it would follow? Not forgetting the golden shoes, of course! The Herreys performed earlier this year in London's Eurovision greatest hits their winner again - one of the highlights of the evening! 

As always some Eurovision entries have been remixed to get the growds go wild in EuroClub and here are some of them - what do you think? Better than original? I think sometimes they add to the song and make even the original sound more interesting, sometimes they are pretty useless - even if always a nice addition anyways. Out of these I like particularly Serbia and Israel, and the Cypriot one made me like the original even more.....

Giannis aka John Karayiannis (20) won the Cypriot national selection with One thing I should have done . Not everyone's favorite at first, not even by this blogger's. But, once I managed to stop comparing it to Lisa Andreas' Stronger every minute (same composer Mike Connaris, btw) and heard this fantastic remix , I was sold. One of the most underrated songs this year, no doubt. 

The endless marathon in Cyprus is coming to an end. Ten songs and artists remain in the race after the first Eurochallange round. Next week they will be cut to six ahead of the final on February 1, 2015. The whole lot is rather mediocre, I'm afraid, but I have a feeling we might get that duet in Vienna which would be okeyish if it stays non-English. Koufogiannis has a sort of weak vocals charms going on, same kind that has made Enrique Iglesias to sell millions of records. The other song in Greek by Rialas has also some charm, so does Tselepou and we can't forget Hovig. And if they want something that we surely won't expect from Cyprus it could be Minus one. And then there's Stronger every minute , part 2 aka One thing I should have done . The original worked well but not sure if this remake would do the trick....  Doody – Magic Nearchos Evangelou and Charis Savva - Deila den agapo Christos Rialas – Meine Minus one – Shine John Karagiannis – One thing I sh...