Since their near win with ‘Fuego’, Cyprus have been hard at work trying to recreate the same amount of broad appeal that surrounded Eleni Foureira in 2018. After last year’s 16th place finish for Elena Tsagrinou, they’ve broken away from their up-tempo pop formula, offering a mid-tempo song with traditional Cypriot elements. In this article, we’ll be looking at this year’s entrant, Andromache, her song ‘Ela’, and its chances in this year’s contest.
Who is Andromache?
Andromache Dimitropoulou, who has performed as Andromache and Andromachi, is a Greek singer who signed to Panik Records shortly after featuring on The Voice of Greece in 2015. Her breakthrough hit came in 2019 with ‘Να ‘Σουν Ψέμα’, which currently has over five million views on YouTube. After an internal selection, she was announced to be representing Cyprus in Eurovision 2022 on 6th March.
Andromache was born and raised in Germany, where she lived with her parents until she was 10 years old, when the family returned to Greece. Despite spending most of her life in Greece, she still credits her time in Germany with helping her in her preparation for the contest, saying to wiwibloggs:
“My Greek side has no programme, no organisation — I’m like floating in the sea, flying in the air. I’m like somewhere else. But the German side can do all this preparation for the contest and I didn’t know that I had this part in me. And I’m really happy that it exists somewhere.”
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A closer look at ‘Ela’
‘Ela’, meaning ‘come’ or ‘come on’, examines both the physical and psychological sides of love, seemingly from the perspective of a stable, supportive relationship, declaring ‘you could be my only one’. It could also be seen to be discussing the impact that love can have in the face of pain, asking her lover to ‘take my pain away’. Andromache has impressed that the song isn’t about love at first sight. Saying:
“If it’s not talking about love at first sight, it’s surely talking about a love where I’m so in love with this guy. And every time I look at him and he looks at me I go crazy and my body can’t stand it.”
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Much like ‘Να ‘Σουν Ψέμα’, ‘Ela’ combines traditional elements of Greek/Cypriot music and combines them with a modern approach. It is also the first Cypriot entry to feature the Greek language since 2013. The result with ‘Ela’ is an ethereal, dreamlike number that invites the listener to relive the throes of deep romance.
How will Andromache do at ESC?
Currently, Cyprus are 17th in the odds. They are performing in semi-final two in between Australia and Ireland. Australia usually do well on the staging front, and Ireland’s choreography has been tipped to be high impact this year, so Cyprus will need to get the staging right in order to make sure they stand out in between such a strong vocal (Australia) and up-tempo pop song (Ireland).
Cyprus are once again working with Marvin Diettmann and Dan Shipton for their staging, the man behind their 2021 entry ‘El Diablo’, alongside that of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic and Spain. Dan Shipton has previous experience having worked as Creative Director for the United Kingdom’s delegation between 2016 and 2018, so between them, there is a lot of experience at the helm. However, can they pull off an effective stage show that makes a huge technical arena cohesive with the ethereal nature of the song? Andromache certainly has high hopes. Speaking of her work with Diettmann, she said:
“He’s amazing. I told him, ‘You’re like an angel coming from the heavens — just giving us some light.’ He’s amazing. He has great ideas. He’s a really good guy. We feel very comfortable with him — me and the girls. It’s so important to feel good, to feel free, to talk about things you like and don’t like. We’re working great together.”
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Despite her positivity, it doesn’t feel like Cyprus are a sure qualifier at this stage, especially considering that Greece are in semi-final one, which removes an (almost certainly) guaranteed set of 12 points.
Listen to Cyprus’ entry below!
What do you think of ‘Ela’? Let us know in the comments below, and on Twitter!
