C:Real brought some major rock edge. Barrice brought modern dance. Shaya Hansen, the pre-contest favourite, brought a high-energy, frenetic performance. But in the end Maria-Elena Kyriakou moved the nation with her emotional ballad “One Last Breath,” emerging as the winner of Greece Eurosong 2015! Next stop: The 60th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna!
Maria-Elena comes from Cyprus, but Greece has welcomed her with open arms. Prior to Eurosong she won The Voice of Greece, where she earned a reputation for pitch perfect vocals. Her performance this evening wasn’t the most original — pretty lady accompanied by piano — but she made up for that with stellar vocals and a song that builds perfectly.
Ahead of the contest our jury was full of praise for Maria-Elena. One juror wrote, “this song grows in strength as it progresses, reaching its highest highs at the very end.” Another described her song as “perhaps the best powerballad from Greece since Mando.” High praise indeed! Not all of us were fans: “Her song is a lovely but boring-to-death ballad, at least till the rock beat drops. They have also taken some features from Conchita’s “Rise Like A Phoenix”. It’s the only entry that does not include a distinctive Greek sound, and that may make the difference.”
Greece Eurosong Winner: Maria-Elena Kyriakou
This year, the Greek national final had everything: surprising acts, glamour, and humour. Mary Sinatsaki and Doretta Papadimitriou did a great hosting. And we loved their plunging necklines.
Freaky Fortune — last year’s competitors — and Helena Paparizou — the winner of Eurovision 2005 —proved they are here to stay. Freaky Fortune performed a down-tempo number, while Paparizou wowed with her rendition of “Rise Like a Phoenix”.
Our reaction
Studio versions of all songs
You can listen to studio versions of all the Greece Eurosong finalists below. Just click on their name for the video and for our in-depth review from before tonight’s contest.
Shaya Hansen – “Sunshine”
Thomai Apergi & Legend – “Jazz & Sirtaki”
Maria-Elena Kyriakou – “One Last Breath”
Barrice – “Ela”
C:REAL – “Crash & Burn”
What do you think? Did the best song win? Can Maria-Elena soar at ESC?
Boring as hell
Shaya and Apergi were the worst thank GOD Greece are not being represented by them because GREECE would have surely had last place with SHAYA and APERGI both are such prima donnas and awful singers THANK YOU GOD for not choosing Shaya and Apergi Yuck……………………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the worst songs to be ever put forward for Eurovision
Greece has the best song this year anyone who knows a little bit about quality would love Maria Elena Kyriakou and one last Breath, I am over all the dumb songs that Eurovision tends to choose for winners, it is time for some quality GREECE N1 for me this year, and to all the ones wishing the Greek entry bad don’t worry your country will come last because it is KARMA good will always win the end GO MARIA ELENA KYRIAKOU
It was the only song that could be listened be me. Other ones were just weak. Thus, a good choice. I think that the jury will not disregard her vocal, so Greece once more will probably qualify to the final. I don’t understand why so many people critisize the selected songs only because of the fact they are ballads. It is not a Greece’s fault! Every country has a right to choose what they want. If the Greek ballad had been chosen in November, nobody would have even said: “another boring ballad or sth like that”. Ok, we have many… Read more »
Wow
Maybe Greece will lose its qualifying streak.
Echoing everyone else It does sound like RLAP although it has no energy and sounds like it’s from the 90’s.
It is even worse than Moldova
i think it’s much better than the 2006 greek ballad…
Still Spain is the best entry this year together with Estonia , Italy and Ireland.
Greece i like no much this year , is ok song , maybe top 15 or 10, good luck
THANK GOD! Awesome song 🙂
You know the most boring thing about ballads are the people who crap on about there being too many ballads. Every year, the same BS. Get over it.
Congrats Maria-Elena! She was actually the only one who could sing!
yes yes yes i love it my 1 now good luck Greece from neighbour Turkey :))))
@No name, @Anthony: Bring on the ballads! The less cheese, the better.
This really sounds like “Rise like a Phoenix” at places. I think this should be audited like Cascada was in 2013. I’m not declaring plagarism since I don’t have the musical score for either song, but I think professional music auditors should conduct an examination.
Ballad songs are okay since they are generic and flexible according to the singers’ styles but I think when a country chooses to haclve a song with that genre, they are doing it just to be safe in the contest. But in Greece’s case, I would choose it over pop/dance songs like the ones they always send in the past years.
THIS IS A GOOD SONG I SEE ALL SHOW AND I BELIEVE THAT THIS NIGTH WAS THE BEST THIS SONG WIN
BUT I BELIEVE THAT GREECE MUS TO SEND KOSTAS MARTAKIS IN INTERNAL SELECTION WITH A GREAT SONG FOR JUSTICE TO KOSTAS AND BECAUSE HE CAN WIN EUROVISION EASILY
now this is the problem. The song itself is very good and lovely, although is ANOTHER female ballad. The problem with this one though it’s the fact this is unknown territory for Greece, let me explain myself, Such as Azerbaijan did last year, this kind of ballads, very much piano based don’t seem to do well, taking into account that greece such as Azerbaijan are better at pop songs and their style into adds a very special detail to the songs. If I would not know the song is from greece or Azerbaijan just by hearing it I would get… Read more »
Eh kinda boring. A 7/10 from me. Never really like Greece’s entries so I’m not surprised. At least it isn’t Thomai or Shaya.
Before tonight, Shaya and Thomai were my favourites, but after their less than stellar vocal performance, I’d say that Maria deserves the win. Nonetheless, you’ve to wonder if it will get lost among all the other ballads this year. Still, Greece is now in my top 5! 🙂
Greece always qualify for the final no matter what they send. They are mostly in top 10.
But, I wouldn’t vote for this song. The thing that I like the most about this entry is the guy playing the piano. lol 😀
By the way, where is Mario? lol 😀
Very nice entry. And what a powerful voice??? I really like it!
Good luck greece!
Top 10:
1)Italy
2)Spain or Greece
3)Greece or Spain
4)France
5)Latvia
6)Estonia
7)Switzerland
8 )Slovenia
9)Hungary
10)Netherlands
Say bye to the finals ..
Awful… Just… What a year of disasters
Oh my god…….BORING! Cyprus, Greece, Hungary = SNORESVILLE. Shaya or Thomai would have brought some much needed fun and energy to the Eurovision stage this year, unfortunately it was not to be. I hope both Cyprus and Greece don’t qualify.
I like the last minute of the song a lot. It’s dramatic.
But her performance was meh vocally and visually.
Where’s the emotion. I see no emotion.
1. Estonia
2. Slovenia
3. Spain
4. Italy
5. Malta
6. Ireland
7. Greece
8. Netherlands
9. Belarus
10. Serbia
My top 5 so far:
1.Estonia (10/10)
2.Slovenia (9/10)
3.Latvia (8/10)
4.Greece (8/10)
5.Italy (7.5/10)
Well, I have to say that I would prefer Shaya to have won…She was stunning!! Her performance was amazing! But Maria Elena was very good! Amazing voice! ( I was in the arena and it felt amazing!! )
@MTD I’d be more likely to count that as ten. Georgia is in no way whatsoever a ballad, Serbia is 50/50 (personal opinion, I guess), and I wouldn’t consider Estonia to be a ballad. Just because it’s gentle doesn’t make it a ballad, it’s a mid-tempo song.
well, she won because she SANG. The song is not boring if we want to talk about boring ballads, ireland and cyprus are the perfect examples. One last breath starts slowly and it gets better and better,with strong james bond influences. I hope that juries are going to appreciate the fact that we didnt sent AGAIN bouzouki or klarino or anything like this…
just clarify what i said earlier, i meant slower temp songs, ballads was probably the wrong word. Just think a medium to high tempo song sung by a man or group is going to stand out now (if done well)…
I actually really like the ending of this (+ gasp prefer it to Edurne’s who’s all my friends fav so far) not sure the hook is good enough though…
it’s a bit of a snoozefest, and it’s nothing original
what I like about this is that it’s not a typical Greek entry
So many upbeat Greek songs in the past have given the illusion that the country is still the land of sunshine and smiles, while this is something darker to prove that Greece is totally not alright at the moment
I think a lot of people on YouTube wanted to get rid of the traditional Greek sound as well, so this is a gateway to achieve that (more angry comments about ‘bouzouki’ than there are Aegean Isles)
Good choice, would have preferred Thomai but this is still one of the stronger ballads this year. Probably 6th-7th place for me, so far.
The live performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4h-1Dy-cJc
All the videos from the show here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC19VnzgS9LgBAlOVVjNAogA
Congratulations to Maria Elena for her performance. I hope her obvious talent will be enough to give her a place in the final which is more doubtful than ever for Greece this year. At least she is lucky there is no other female ballad in the first part of the first semi.
These are ballads, not strictly ballads as sleeping pills, but close to its definition.
Thomai and Shaya were my favorites but their performances were bad. Sharaya was pitchy and Thomai was breathy.
OK, lets count:
Ballads: 13 till now (of 23 known). That’s a lot! 10 are women among those.
Estonia (duet) / ballad
Greece
Georgia
Hungary (this is desperate)
Serbia (this is so cheesy)
Ireland
Malta
Cyprus (male)
Latvia
Switzerland
Italy (male group)
Spain
France
We can expect ballads from Montenegro, Portugal, Armenia (I think).
Azerbaijan is highly up in my odds to send a ballad. Russia, as well. Norway, maybe.
Maybe, it was better to count the “no ballad” entries. 😛
Maybe we should all reevaluate our definition of “ballad”, for example: everyone can agree that Cyprus’ song is ballad, but not everyone considers Spain and Switzerland to be ballads aswell, correct? Some food for thought.
A bit meh tbh. Her vocals are great, but the song doesn’t engage with me.
What are you saying???There are 5 ballades and this one is the strongest!!!
Ma nigga…please top 10 for sure!!!!
Better than Spain
Wow, listening to the lives was hard to do, Shaya had it in the bag and threw it away with that awful performance. I never liked Maria Elena on The Voice last season and didn’t like her song but the live performance made me like it. I think she can bring us back to the top 10 again as long as she focuses on perfect vocals and emotion in the song.
Actually…i wouldnt be surprised if Greece fails to qualify this year. The song is too predictable. If it qualifies it will end at the right of the scoreboard, 100%!
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! I can finally say something I’ve stopped saying since 1991 and 1992 … I love this greek entry! Too dramatic in parts mainly in the way she carries her vocals but in overall I am surprised with the genre the greeks decided to choose: a ballad, the one genre eurovision fans have sudden vomit attacks every time because it pains to just use their ears and not their body and feet. LOL I wonder what it’s like to be so hyperactive that way LOL I could feel actually elements from the Azeri ballad from last year and also from… Read more »
Not a bad song to be honest. I didn’t see the live performance but I had a feeling this song would win.
And yes, it is indeed the year of the female ballad when even Greece does it!
We made a really bad choice and that happened only because Elena had the best performance of the night. But…wasn’t that easy to be done? Of course it was as the song didn’t need a special choreography ! The only thing we saw was a standing Elena singing a crappy song while the other contestants had to move to every single direction of the scene singing and so it was easy for them to mess up in their vocals (example is the real winning song –> shaya with sunshine) . Even though I am greek and I watch Eurovision for… Read more »
Significant choice for Greece! Finally they choosed a ballad! I’m very happy! Sraigth in my top 5! (Shaya was my favorite but her live was bad… very bad)
Greece is such an innovative country. Thousands of years ago they were setting the bases for western society, and these days they’re reinventing national finals by putting all the interval acts at the beggining of the contest!!! Absolute brilliance.
I like the ballad, and it is something different from Greece at least, but I fear it’s going to get lost among all the other. Shaya’s song was amazing and would have given them a top 10 result, shame.
She was the best!
Great vocals and feeling in the stage.
Every year you want dance songs and club songs but in the top 10 there are always balads..such a shame to hear the same thing over and over again.
Awesome song
Another day, another ballad…
And more ballads coming from Germany and Portugal!
Funny year… Lol.
Ok maybe Italy and France also. Still all those are different types of ballads, but if you’re not fond of any kind of ballad then I understand the disappointment.
Wait, what, Cyprus is a woman? 😀