Tamta has arrived in Israel to shoot her Eurovision 2019 postcard — the tantalising tidbit that airs before she performs her song live, and which gives viewers a flavour of the singer and of a beautiful Israeli landscape.
While in the country she took the time to speak with broadcaster KAN about her birth country — the Republic of Georgia — and also her journey to Greece, expectations for Eurovision and her song “Replay”, along with the endless comparisons to “Fuego”.
Cyprus confirmed Tamta as its Eurovision 2019 act in February, and her song “Replay” dropped on March 5 — unleashing a wave of positive feelings among her fans. Her enthusiasm and joy over the entire experience was manifest during her interview.
She is happy to be competing in Eurovision: “I’m really excited, because Eurovision has been around me, or around my name actually, for so many years. To be honest, I have no expectations. Because I know how Eurovision is, I’m just happy to be part of it.”
What does she make of all the comparisons to “Fuego” — the Cypriot song from the 2018 edition which finished second?
“As a melody, as a song, I think it has nothing to do with ‘Fuego’. But even if it had something to do with it, I think it’s a great song, so I’m fine with that”.
We should point out that virtually every dance song in the 2019 competition has been compared to “Fuego” — so much so that fans have started making hilarious memes of songs that “sound like ‘Fuego’.”
I really don't know what are you hearing…
THIS IS THE ULTIMATE RIPOFF OF FUEGO! #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/d9kkiEZRIJ— Rui Gonçalves (@ruisgoncalves) March 14, 2019
Tamta comes from a mixed background and hopes for some votes from Georgia and Greece.
“I was born and raised in Georgia. I moved to Greece when I was 21. Greece and Cyprus, to me, are the same. I hope that Greece and Georgia are going to support me. As people, I can tell Cypriots are close to Georgian and Greek people. All of us are warm people and LOUD. I love loud people.”
We’re gonna get along great!
And what of shooting her postcard? “We went for the shooting to Elat. We just visited a couple of places. One was an aquarium. It was really interesting, being there with the sharks! I saw beautiful rocky mountains. I feel like home, don’t know why exactly yet. I’ll find out next time I come here, but it feels like home really.”
“Replay” does sound like fuego at times, they have things in common, but they definitely have differences. “Replay” is based on Fuego but without copying it!
Sound wise, Replay is indeed nothing like Fuego. Fuego’s beat has an ethnic edge in it, while Replay is 100% studio pop. What those two songs do have in common is their structure, which is exactly the same: A basic but catchy up-tempo beat that plays on repeat and simple, repetitive lyrics that are purposely easy to remember (with “Yea yea Fuego” / “Replay replay replay yea” being the highlight). Those two elements make both songs stick with you from the very first listen. A minute into the song, and you can already sing along because the lyrics and rhythm… Read more »
This song is much better for dancing than the Swiss song. For “She Got Me” you need to be able to dance like Justin Timberlake, for “Replay” you can just dance like a retard and it’s still gonna be fine.
yeah yeah
fuego
replay replay
yeah
yuuuuge difference ^^
Wow she seems cool, relaxed and seemingly unphased by all you all lot, who seem to go out of their way to diss her/ and the song. Its an impeccably produced banger to dance to, as she says it herself she doesnt mind if it sounds like Fuego and if you are looking for something thats deep and meaningful, look elsewhere…. If you are listening to thing for the first time and on the night, which the majority of people voting are… this stands out. Although I think the postives of you commenting like the way you all are only… Read more »
This just in: Sacha-Jean Baptiste is helping Switzerland with their staging as well. So, if the last few years say anything, one of them is gonna finish second and one is gonna place mid-table. Can you guess whiiiich??
Oh wait, this must mean there’s still one or two more. Will bet that Armenia is one of them.
we shall see whose couch Sacha will sit on during the Grand Final.
Literally the same song, but ok. I hope it underperforms, we need to send the clear message that this is a very lazy songwriting and this will not be tolerated. Otherwise we will get a new trend of countries sending rehashed songs.
Oh, c’mon girl…”Replay” is “Fuego”. It sounds the same, has the same structure and the same producer. So yeah, it has something to do with “Fuego”. And to be honest, I don’t get why people say “She Got Me” is like “Fuego”.
You’re right….She Got Me sounds nothing like Fuego. As Wiwibloggs said in their video of She Got Me, it actually sounds like Despacito and I couldn’t agree more. Greetings from Texas!
Is it just me or does she look like Victoria’s Secret angel Candice Swanepoel (the face, not the hair) in the interview?
Switzerland’s song is more Fuego than Replay !!!!
Awful haircut lol
same songwriters, same producer, same choreographer… who she trynna fool lmao
People are comparing Tamta and Eleni because they’re women, why is it that we always have to pin point strong female leads against each other? 🙁
Also why is no one comparing Victor and Sebastijan? In the recap on ESC’s channel the songs sound exactly the same when they’re next to each other but noooo nobody compares 2 males.
No they are being compared because they are two People from Cyprus Who are competing with a very similar song in two year in a row. This has nothing to do with sexism. If you think Eurovision fanbase is sexist to women in any way you are delusional
No, people are comparing them cause the 2 songs are the exact same, sent by the same country and produced by the same people. No need to raise the #metoo flags, this has nothing to do with their gender.
Actually, many people compare Victor and Sebastian as both are roughly within the same genre. Same for Kobi and Anna Odobescu, Michael Rice and John Lundvik, Carousel and Zala & Gasper… Many songs belong within the same genre, style or have similar theme, even some lyrics. That is NOT the same case as here. Replay is a non-ethnic copy of Fuego, delivered by the same people only one year after. It’s odd at best.
Fuego was terrible: a piece of industrial plastic with meaningless lyrics… but I’ll admit that Eleni is an incredible performer and I was wowed by her live show. They obviously tried to recreate the same success with Replay, which is also a terrible song. But can Tamta set the stage on fire like Eleni did? Doubt it.
I also hate it when countries achieve one good result and then send a rip-off the next year to try to recreate it: that’s lame, just be creative.
Fuego and Replay is like two variations of the same perfume: Fuego is ‘Love Potion’ while Replay is the more cuter variant ‘Love Potion Secrets’.
Well since the composer and producer are the same for both Fuego and Replay, there is no actual issue here. I actually think Replay is a slightly better “version” of the Fuego formula, mainly because the Drop is much more lively from the get-go, whereas Fuego had a four-bar “build-up” to the Drop. However, this year we also have Switzerland’s “She Got Me”, which also technically uses “the Fuego formula”. And to a certain extent, so does Malta’s “Chameleon”, but this actually adds some harmonic interest so it gets away with it better. I’m not with Salvador Sabral though –… Read more »
It’s funny how two of the four share the same semifinal (If we count Belarus). Do you think they’re gonna cancel each out? Or could at least one semi could potentially see both of the same type go through?
They could potentially both go through, since they will both stand out in different parts of the semi final. However, the other unlikely possibility is that they will split the “bop” vote and make it more difficult for themselves to qualify – but I don’t think that will happen. In both cases, the audience vote will be very high; it should be enough for both. I’m referring to Cyprus and Switzerland. Malta is a bit more uncertain, and I don’t think Belarus will qualify (sorry).
“Well since the composer and producer are the same for both Fuego and Replay, there is no actual issue here.”
No legal issue certainly. But does it excuse the laziness? Moreover, does it excuse EBU’s guideline of “no releases before September”. Or does that only exist so there would be no copyright lawsuits? Can now Spice Girls come and represent UK with a slightly revamped version of If You Wanna Be My Lover? Sure, some songs are bound to sound a bit similar in parts, but this almost IS a “replay”.
So to answer your questions in order:
Maybe (depending on how good the re-vamp is), yes, partly yes, and absolutely yes. 😀 Because, even though the ESC is called a “Song Contest”, there is nothing about it that says it has to be categorically “original song”, except when it comes to legal copyright. But fans may of course disagree.
I wouldn’t mind that much if they “borrowed” some fragments of a song, but it’s about 50% the same. And only a mere year later. If a different studio made it, it would be a copyright lawsuit waiting to happen. This way, it just shows lack of creativity, which in this case will be a factor for me personally when I make my ratings and reviews in April.
As I recall, Fuego would have got a low score for song content, but high scores for everything else. I did manage to write that review before I was advised to delete them all. This year I am allowed to comment on the music quite technically, but not to score it or to damage the artist or studio’s reputation, basically. Should be interesting.
I am interested how they know who you are and secondly, if William, Deban and company can openly destroy songs in their reviews, rate them low and then still interview people whose songs they don’t like, how come you are being censored / asked to stay “in gloves”? Professional juries also rate songs. I am sorry anyway. I am just glad you are fine and are still posting.
I think I replied to this, but got filtered.
Also She got me is a lot like Fuego. Luca Hänni knows that.
Replay (as well as Malta‘s Chameleon) will likely be decided at the semifinals if they are in the running or not.
Staging and Performance might help these two getting the maximum of two songs, that are imo nothing special (same as last year with Fuego tbh).
But I doubt that Tamta will replay Eleni‘s success (couldn‘t resist that one)
Someone made the video.
Not even similar -.- It is exact COPY. People were sued for plagiarism for much less than remixing the song. The only problem is that the producer / composer is the same..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPTqfoPjWwk
Was gonna say, it’s not plagiarism if it’s made by the same guy, lol… Who is is going to sue, himself?
well, keep telling that if it makes you happy.
Tamta is very laid back and a very nice person. She’s been aware since the first moment she decided to go with Replay that people will compare the song and herself with last year’s entry and she pointed out from the beginning she doesn’t mind. She’s a great person and hopefully we’ll see a nice staging in May! I think we should stop the nonsense and just enjoy all the songs. Every year we have to compare a song, an artist with something else. That sounds like that entry from the past, she looks like that person, his voice sounds… Read more »
She almost looks like Madonna in the picture.
I think Tamta is spot on – if we compare the melodies they are indeed different. Sure the instrumental parts and structures are very similar, but ultimately the melody is the most key aspect of any song.
I for one think Replay is far catchier on first listen compared to Fuego. I am sure Sasha’s staging will aim to be as distinct as possible from that of Eleni’s last year…
Nothing to do with Fuego? Come on!
And what about it? Sure, it’s a radio-friendly dance song and has a drop like Fuego, but that doesn’t mean they are exactly the same. Does Replay have ethnic elements like Fuego? I think you know the answer to this
of course Luca immediately realized it cause he and his team had the same idea like Cyprus XD
Exactly. Singer with song that sounds “similar” to Fuego points out song that sounds similar to Fuego. Self-awareness out of the window!
Imo, had Eleni not reached the success she did, there would be no Replay this year.
The balad she sings in the video, that sounds very nice.
Tamta, I have an uncomfortable question for you: Cyprus is Greece?
(Jamala’s political question is my fav meme of Eurovision 2019 xD)
Even better Jamala-style question for Tamta would be: ”Northern Cyprus, is that Cyprus or…?”
OMG yes! xDDD
North Cyprus doesn’t belong to the republic of Cyprus!! Turkish Cypriots would love that though but Cypriots voted no in the anan plan some years ago 🙂
The very point of this is that the question should never be asked in the context of ESC, just like the question of Crimea to Maruv shouldn’t have been.
Then let’s get all of the questions out of the way…
“Catalonia, is it Spain, or…?”
“Northern Ireland, is it UK, or…?”
“Gibraltar, is it UK, or…?”
“Kaliningrad Oblast, is it Russia, or…?”
“Kosovo, is it Serbia, or…?”
“Ceuta and Mellila… not even in Europe, seriously!”
“Sealand. Where is that?”
“Greenland… is a land far away.”
“Falkland Islands? Or is it Malvinas? Looks like I went too far away.”
Last but not least… “Macedonia, is it… erm… let me check the map.” 🙂
Oh, you missed a couple heavy ones. One pertaining to a classic Eastern rivalry and one pertaining to our host.
Well the host I have to be kind to this year, for obvious reasons. 🙂
I wonder which eastern rivalry you are referring to. Hmmm.
That’s the one.
Bandiaterra. Is it real or?
Tamta should have gone to Eurovision few years back with “Unloved”
“Replay” is not as good as “Fuego,” and it won’t be easy to replicate live on stage. I think the only replay we’ll be seeing for Cyprus is an Ivi Adamou type finish, who finished in 16th place I believe. Tamta will not have the same success Eleni had last year–which is sad, because Tamta is really quite talented and likable.
The performance aided fuego a lot and we don’t even know how replay is live. Fans predicted fuego Nq last year but what do i know…
When asked what is the meaning of her song, Tamta answered : “yeah, yeah, fire…” 🙂
Ok, unrelated but exciting for me: San Marino just revealed the staging director. I don’t remember his name, but he’s apparently the guy who choreographed the video (which looked wonderful) and also has helped with choreography for a guy you might have heard of named SAKIS ROUVAS. Dude also was one of his backing dancers in 2009. San Marino isn’t playing around this year. This is actually looking kinda promising!
Yes it does look promising! The choreography made the song for me so to speak.
Naive people bet on the Eurovision winner. Pah! Us cool kids are betting on the colour of Serhat’s jacket and hat 😀
San Marino’s low-key got a good team this year. The co-lyricist was apparently the lady who wrote one of Eurovision’s gold standard modern bops, Party for Everybody. (And that song finished SECOND!)
You are adorable, Joe! Always in for a good talk, joke or fact ^^ Just sayin’, cause people should be more friendly nowadays 🙂
Aw, thanks pal! I love Eurovision because of how friendly and inviting it is, so I try to live my life by that philosophy too. The world’s fundamentally a good place, and watching Eurovision and talking to people here reminds me that we all, deep-down, want to all sing and dance and have fun. And if any song this year sums up the Eurovision/my modus operandi (besides Spain, I suppose) it’d be San Marino. It’s like if somebody took me and made me into a song, if that makes any sense.
Nikos Marianos
I think it’s a little far-fetched to say that these two songs have nothing in common. Both songs are in a similar tempo, they’ve got a similar rhythm and most of all, they’ve got have the exact same structure (short instrumental intro, verse which leads to a bridge part in a higher key with an “ascending” kind of dynamic, chorus that ends with the hook line in an almost spoken way against a much lower instrumental background compared to the rest of the song, beat drop, instrumental break composed of computer-generated brass sounds). That doesn’t make either of the two… Read more »
She is a very nice person. GReat personality. tons of talent in her bag. She knows herself as an artist. She has a vision for every work she does. BUT you guys are unfair. She is not held to same standards with other contestants. Luca Hänni she got me is more fuego than replay. Yes replay has same structure but absolutely no common instrumentation. Replay is modern, urban, nothing orienatal about it. But She got me has exact same instrumentations. wtf switzerland has to do with eastern instruments or latin beat. At least when we do, are true to our… Read more »
I thought I was the only one who noticed that the one from Switzerland sounded a lot like Fuego with those exotic/Middle Eastern instruments. No hate though, it’s nice that Switzerland tries something which would bring them 100% to the final. But I thought that the delegation might have thought that it would have been a great idea to copy some elements (instrumental and the type of almost sensual dance) from Cyprus 2018 because it was a success back then. I haven’t seen anyone mentioning it and everyone is praising it, but I was wondering if it was just me… Read more »
Absolutely on point. Zero hate for Switzerland. In fact whichever country would Luca represent, that nation would be super proud including Cyprus. It is just the unfair comparisons public is focusing in regards to Tamta but oh well. Just like last year, we Cypriots will wait until the first semi final to gain European Public’s support 🙂
..and no sex appeal, Tamta looks more like a housekeeper
Exactly
ROFL. That’s probably one of the actual choreographic concepts!
tea
“Sounds like Fuego” meme is so lit.
To be fair, I didn’t immediately love “Fuego” on the first listen and I waited until the semis to see if Eleni could really deliver this live. I’ll do the same with “Replay”.
The criticism for “Replay” is legit though because both songs came from the same producer so it being called derivative is understandable because it is. “Fuego” itself is not the first of its kind as far as tropical dance pop songs are concerned.
The live performance in May is gonna be the one decider of them all.
I love Replay, replaying it over and over again, but I don’t think that the same formula will work again.
Re-SLAY
If it has nothing to do with Fuego, then Surfin’ USA has nothing to do with Sweet Little Sixteen.
All the same, it is a good song and she’s a very likable person. Wishing her the best.
Nah. It’s an ok song, just keep it real. Fuego was far better than this