It’s the sunny Eastern Mediterranean country that is returning to a national final after two years of internal selection. Now the selection process for Cyprus‘ national final is underway, with Sweden’s Christer Björkman flying in to join the audition panel.

Björkman was joined by choreographer Charis Savvas and songwriter Alex P — the dream team who will be behind Cyprus’ entry for Lisbon.

Broadcaster CyBC’s official Facebook account showed the three men sitting around a table, enjoying coffee. They were seen with notepads, apparently already hard at work.

Auditions for the #EurovisionFinalists begin today! Who will compete to perform our eurovision entry this year?

Posted by CYBC: Eurovision Cyprus on Thursday, November 23, 2017

In September, CyBC confirmed that the Greek-Swedish songwriter Alexander “Alex P” Papaconstantinou would write the song for the winner of the national final. He’s previously co-written hits for Latin stars Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias and Marc Anthony. He was also behind Cyprus’ entry for Eurovision 2012, Ivi Adamou’s “La La Love”.

It’s expected that Alex P will deliver another upbeat tune for Cyprus to perform in Lisbon, so the national final will be structured to find a singer who can deliver in that style.

While Charis Savvas hasn’t been confirmed as the choreographer for 2018, it is expected he will return to this role. Savvas also choreographed and produced the staging for Hovig’s “Gravity” in Kyiv.

This isn’t the first time Christer Björkman has been involved with Cyprus’ national selection. In 2015, the schlagermaster general took time out from his Melfest duties to be part of the Eurovision Song Project jury.

The 2018 selection panel will pick a shortlist of acts who will compete at the national final in January. But we won’t hear the song for Lisbon at the national final. Acts will instead perform covers of popular songs to give audiences an idea of their talents.

Once the winner has been selected, Alex P will tailor his composition for the winner and they’ll be all set for Lisbon.

Cyprus at Eurovision

Since 2015, Cyprus has always qualified for the grand final at Eurovision. However, they have consistently placed down the right-hand side of the scoreboard, perhaps not delivering the results the broadcaster has hoped for.

In 2015, CyBC held a national final, the Eurovision Song Project. The winner of that was young singer Giannis “John” Karagiannis, who went to Vienna with the simple ballad  “One Thing I Should Have Done”. It placed 22nd.

The Eurovision Song Project proved to be a talent bank fo CyBC to draw upon. In 2016, third-placed act Minus One was internally selected. Their song “Alter Ego” — co-written by the Swedish maestro Thomas G:son — placed 21st n Stockholm.

In 2017, it was the turn of Eurovision Song Project fourth-placed act Hovig. In Kyiv, he performed “Gravity” — also written by Thomas G:son. It mirrored Minus One’s result, also placing 21st in the grand final.

CyBC will be hoping that the winner of the upcoming national final combined with Alex P’s song will be enough to get Cyprus onto the left-hand side of the scoreboard.

What do you think? Who would you like to see competing in the Cyprus national final? What sort of song should Cyprus send? Sound off below!

READ MORE CYPRUS NEWS HERE

15 Comments
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AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

The good thing is that the song will be adapted to the artist, so he/she will have the right song which showcase his/her voice and suit his/her personality and style.

To be honest, I want an up-beat song because what I see so far is a temdance to slow tempo songs.

All the best to our friends in Cyprus!

No thanks
No thanks
6 years ago

Again? Can’t they do anything on their own. *laughs*

E.16
E.16
6 years ago

wow this Swedish man, Christer is really bringing his Swedish manner across Europe, and I really hope that the North of Cyprus is able to compete, and they maybe allow that to happen. but it looks like we have a good team this year. hopefully the song is not in English and in another language, so hopefully we have something different for next year

Benito Bonito
Benito Bonito
6 years ago

So Christer Bjorkman is now in Cyprus, then in Switzerland because he will work for Switzerland NF too, and also Sweden. What else?

Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

I feel like the Swedish songwriters’ contribution is good if you want a cute easy-listening bop but with zero artistic personality or whatever. Basically Cyprus’ latest Swedish-penned entries, which qualified but didn’t do sparks on the scoreboard.

Geo
Geo
6 years ago

Is Christer Björkman some kind of Eurovision God? He’s omnipresent…. I don’t understand the despair of some countries… They should have their own music experts… Where are the musical traditions from Cyprus if every year they call the Swedes? Their songs written by Swedish producers, now Sweden’s HOD is also there… Their only goal is passing the semifinal, coz on the Final they score low (in spite of the Swedish help)…

L'oiseau
6 years ago

This approach might work if a good song is found, but IMO, only Sweden does it well (up until know…). Also, it does not capture the mood of the moment, which is for more authenticity and for more artistic added value. So, I am not very enthusiastic about it, but hoping for the best.

Jo
Jo
6 years ago

12 from Sweden to Cyprus.

Monique
Monique
6 years ago
Reply to  Jo

Don’t count on that. Sweden gives their neighborly points to either Norway, Denmark, Finland or Iceland… Depends on which of these 4 are passing the semifinal…

Jo
Jo
6 years ago
Reply to  Monique

The jury though. Remember Azerbaijan 2016. And I think La La Love got the 12 too.

Monique
Monique
6 years ago
Reply to  Jo

In 2016 both the jury and the televote of Sweden gave each 12 points to Australia. In 2012 Cyprus indeed received 12 points from Sweden…

Jo
Jo
6 years ago
Reply to  Monique

I remember some controversy with one these typical Melfest singers in the jury being friend of Samra’s. Azerbaijan’s got 10 points from Sweden, I believe.

Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago
Reply to  Jo

La La Love was already a hit in Sweden, while Miracle and Walk on Water were nowhere to be seen on their charts, so.

Josh McK
Josh McK
6 years ago

If I remember rightly… didn’t Christer irritate/upset a lot of audtionees last time he did this for Cyprus?

Lewis Griffiths
6 years ago

What a strange way to pick an entrant for ESC.. They’re making the same mistakes as Germany for me – Focusing too much on the performer and not enough about the whole package and most importantly the song itself!