It’s one of the key annual events on Greece‘s music calendar. And the 2019 edition of the MAD Video Music Awards was packed full of scorching hot performances from recent and past Eurovision acts — and a few hints about the future.
The MAD Video Music Awards have been held annually since 2016. Held by Greek music channel MAD TV, the awards honour the best in Greek music. Helena Paparizou is the queen of the awards, having picked up 25 honours — including at least one every year. Following close behind is another Greek Eurovision icon: Sakis Rouvas is the most successful male artist, with 23 awards.
And the 2019 edition of the show proved to be backed full of iconic performances, including many from Eurovision stars, along with a troupe of talented dancers. And yes, all the performances use playback — but it’s not Eurovision, their vocals aren’t being judged.
Swiss star Luca Hänni took to the Athens stage to revise his Eurovision hit “She Got Me”. He was joined by Greek pop hearthrob Vangelis Kakouriotis, who joined in with the Greek version of the song, “Pósa xérei”
Earlier this year Vangelis was rumoured to be under consideration as Cyprus’ act for Eurovision 2019. But after this performance, we’re wondering if the Greek broadcaster will now have him on their wish list.
Eurovision 2018 runner-up Eleni Foureira delivered her unique blend of Albanian/Greek/Iberian realness. She performed her recent release “El ritmo psicodelico”, and then was joined by Greek rapper 2J for their take on Daddy Yankee’s dancefloor classic “Gasolina”. Eleni also picked up the Best Female Modern award.
Cypus’ Eurovision 2019 star Tamta also made an appearance. She started off performing a chill-out, acoustic version of her Eurovision banger, but fans of the Tel Aviv energy were not disappointed. She soon did a costume reveal, and performed the familiar upbeat version of “Replay”, dressed in a men’s shirt and an iconic denim thong. We would not expect anything less.
And it wouldn’t be a Greek music event without the iconic Helena Paparizou. The Eurovision winner — who also picked up the award for Best Female Adult Artist — performed her recent single “Kalokaíri kai páthos” (“Summer and Passion”). But for this performance, Helena turned it into a steamy duet with Greek singer Jason Mandillas.
Jason may be familiar to Eurovision fans as one of the “Is This Love” swan dancers who accompanied Demy on stage in 2017. He’s now moved from dancing to singing and is another name suggested as a possible Eurovision act for Greece in 2020.
There’s history of future Greek and Cyprus Eurovision stars making duets at the MAD VMAs. Last year Tamta performed alongside Mikolas Josef, while Demy duetted with Poli Genova in 2016.
Greece’s Eurovision king Sakis Rouvas also made an appearance. As well as winning the Best Male Modern award, he proved he still very much commands the stage. Sakis delivered a thrilling performance of his recent single “Ela sto horo” (“Come to the dance”).
Watch all performances from the 2019 MAD VMAs
What do you think? Which were your favourite performances? Who would you like to see represent Greece at Eurovision 2020? Tell us your thoughts below!
You all talk about Vangelis Kakouriotis but am i the only one that i actually want to see Jason Mandilas for Greece or Cyprus? i think he is really talented and he is HOOOT !
the greek guy is so much better than luca wow
Why did none of them sing live? Boring
All MAD TV awards are like this. The only one I remember who didn’t sing live was when Serge performed Only One with Helena. It’s because when they’re all moving around they become out of breath and can’t sing properly. Given the awards are just for show and not a competition they pick the tracking rather than live. This has always bothered me given with MAD TV.
There all prerecorded
Agreed!
1) It is “Eleni Foureira”, not “Eleni Fouriera” (in the title)
2) It is “This Is Love”, not ” Is This Love” (somewhere in the middle of the article)
3) MAD Video Music Awards have been held since 2004
4) Luca Hänni is AMAZING??
Luca Hänni is lit??
Why the question marks though?? xD
eleni foureira is serving disney’s ARIEL
Also Stefania ( junior eurovision 2016 the netherlands) performed on the show! She’s still so young but people say she can represent greece in the eurovision in a few more years.
Soldi copied the clap clap from Kisses and dancing , no ?
I must say once again that ‘She got me’ doesn’t fit Switzerland at all, but sounds perfect for countries such as Greece or Cyprus. All of the songs here are the same style and I still claim that 4th place should’ve been for them.
What sort of a statement is that??? Are you saying Switzerland cannot have an upbeat dance number or a song that gets top five at Eurovision? It sounds absolutely ridiculous that you think Greece or Cyrpus should have come 4th because Luca’s song should’ve been for Greece or Cyprus. Who says Greece or Cyrpus owns upbeat songs that do well. They both have been struggling with results and didn’t delve into this style of music until recent years. Your argument makes no sense whatsoever. That’s like saying Mikolas shouldn’t have represented the Czech Republic last year because it was too… Read more »
Helena, Eleni and Tamta – all of our Queens on one evening together <3 Love this gala!
1. There is no way that Tamta sang live
2. What the heck did she wear? ?
I can never understand Tamta’s outfits, sorry.
I wonder if there are any circumstances where Vangelis Kakouriotis might consider it appropriate to do up his shirt
Dang, that Vangelis Kakouriotis is foyn!
Stefania from the band Kisses, that represented the Netherlands in Junior Eurovision 2016, also was part of an act at this award show. She has Greek roots
I hope one day Elena Paparizou would do the ESC again! I’m also wondering if maybe Peggy Zina or Natasa Theodoridou could/would do good at ESC. They’ve got A-game voices, so that shouldn’t be the problem. And they can all sing pop bangers or emotional ballads like it’s nothing.
i love sin boy but greeks would never choose him :/
Greece has a lot of great pop and the last years doesn’t use it logic.!-_-
Fuego, Fuego 2.0 and Fuego 2.0a
All summer bops!
Tamta looks so different already??
sometimes I forget how bopestic-banging is Replay
KOSTAS MARTAKIS GRECE 2020 EUROVISION OU NIKOS GANOS LOL
That’s two of us on that one. I want them to go too
Excuse my ignorance but when I read Vangelis I thought they were talking about the iconic composer. Now that would have been an interesting addition to Eurovision.
THANK YOU! F***ING THANK YOU!! As a fan of his kind of music I would L O V E if he represented Greece sometime soon!
Vangelis in Eurovision would be so cool.
They got the Eurovision representatives from Cyprus and even Switzerland in the Greek music event, but the Greek representative was not there?
After her Eurovision performance, “there’s nothing more to say to back it up”.
To be honest I don’t think Better Love fits in with the MAD VMA discography
guess she wanted to sing live
well said
What a burn
Eleni’s perfomance could have win Eurovision. The song, the choreography, the directing, everything is perfect. Let’s hope Greece sends her in 2020 people are saying that a lot
Great article, however the awards have been held since 2002 and not 2016.
Yeah, i was wondering how helena paparizou managed to amass 25 awards in merely three years…
Wiwibloggs never corrects mistakes in their articles…
The awards are being held since 2004.
“And yes, all the performances use playback — but it’s not Eurovision, their vocals aren’t being judged.”
Very sad world in which the only reason for singers to sing live, is that they are judged in a competition.
If some of them sing live, some don’t, it is the problem of individual singers, but if all singers use playback, it is obvious that the organizer asks them to.
Some shows, like the German show Fernsehgarten, only allow some of the artists to sing live. It’s kinda weird.
But a music awards show that doesn’t allow singers to sing live is a joke.