She’s one of Greece’s biggest popstars and her name is rarely far from Eurofans’ lips. But judging from a recent interview, Eleni Foureira won’t be heading to Eurovision anytime soon.
Speaking on local television, the songstress opened up about her crushed song contest dreams. “Eurovision is a painful story”, she tells the interviewer, “but everything’s fine”.
And while the diva claims to bear no ill will, “I wish whoever goes to Lisbon well”, the Greek broadcaster’s actions leave her puzzled. “There must be a reason why the people at ERT didn’t select me”, she says, “everything happens for a reason”. She concludes by insisting that “there is no problem, it’s fine”.
Eleni doesn’t elaborate further, so we don’t know if she entered or considered entering Greece’s revamped selection process for Eurovision 2018.
You can watch the interview below, with the Eurovision comments coming near the end.
Eleni has a rich history with Eurovision, and even enjoyed a massive chart hit with her cover of Nadav Guedj’s “Golden Boy”.
However, her relationship with the song contest stretches back almost a decade. Foureira made her first appearance at the Greek national final in 2010, when she featured as a guest vocalist on Manos Pyrovolakis’s entry “Kivotos tou Noe”. It came second to Giorgos Alkaio’s “OPA”.
In 2013, Eleni performed an iconic version of “Wild Dances”, duetting with none other than Ruslana. The two divas gave great hairography, and the association with Eleni and Eurovision was strengthened.
Most years, Eleni’s name comes up as a potential act for Greece — and we’ve even featured her in a wishlist or two.
In January 2016, Eleni was reported as saying she’d be very happy to represent Greece at Stockholm, but that ERT were looking for a different type of artist and song that year. Argo certainly took the country in a new direction, securing Greece its first ever non-qualification.
Shortly after the contest, Eleni released her rejected entry “Come Tiki Tam”.
Eleni might have ruled out a trip to Lisbon, but plenty more Greek artists are eager to follow in Demy’s footsteps. The deadline for submissions has been extended until tomorrow, 27 October.
What do you make of Eleni’s comments? Is ERT treating her unfairly? Or would you rather see someone else flying the Greek flag at Eurovision. Let us know in the comments below.
They were nationalist pigs…she wasn’t chosen because she was Albanian
Go Eleni,you gave them a big lesson
Eleni is the best!!! she HAS to
she is an incredible performer and the world needs to see her talent!!!
Why doesn’t she go with Cyprus? Cypriots are also Greek.
She is famous in Cyprus as well.
The Composer of the Cypriot Entry will be Alex P. (who composes POP music).
So this is ideal for her!
You guessed it John!
They didn’t select her because she is from Albania.
They doesnt pic her cause greece dont have the money to host a contest
Listen to “Come Tiki Tam” !!
Does that honestly sound like a winner to you?
The song is like a big joke, didnt get it. But with her as an artist and with the right song it may be prommising for esc
Sorry guys, but I don’t see what the fuzz is all about. I never saw her perform, but her material is really nothing extraordinary (and I am trying to be polite…)
Jamala had the best structured song EVER.The first 4 or 8 lyrics were in english and contained everything about the message. After that, the audience is relaxed because they understood what is all about, and the singer has the freedom to do whatever want, even sing in tatar, and audience could enjoy tatar language now, in the second half of the song.
My guess is that Eleni wants to go to Eurovision with an English language song, whereas ERT wants a Greek language song this year.
Regardless, nothing was stopping her from entering this year’s Greek final. Given the rather low caliber of artists who have entered, I’m pretty sure Eleni would by half way to Lisbon by now.
mean*, of course
She is a real performer. Sings, dances and makes good music. They are crazy for not sending her.
It doesn’t matter they don’t have other good performers as well 🙂
“She is a real performer. Sings, dances and…”
Wait a minute. She LIP SYNCS.Now I’m not a master of the EBU rules, but I’m PRETTY sure she will not be allowed to lip sync, at the Eurovision stage. She can keep ”performing” at the nightclubs in Athens,tho.