‘Tis the season for speculation. The latest artist to fire up their fans about a possible Eurovision participation is the Armenian Greek songstress Athena Manoukian. She has recently revealed that she would love to go to Eurovision, making fans wonder if they’ll be seeing her in the Netherlands this May.
The buzz started when Athena made a post to her Instagram story. It included a photo of some kinky boots along with a Q&A box asking her fans to “Guess what’s coming”.
For a lot of her fans, there was only one answer: Eurovision. Athena was flooded with comments wondering if she would be representing Armenia, Greece or even Germany at Eurovision 2020. A fan blog wrote up the story, which prompted Athena to respond with this post:
Athena revealed that Eurovision was very much on her wish list. She wrote, “I would love to go to Eurovision and make you all proud.”
So is Athena going to Eurovision 2020? If we’ve learned anything from previous years, it’s that confirmed artists are usually sworn to secrecy and tend NOT to drop hints about their Eurovision participation via social media.
So at best, we can only take this as a sign that Athena would very much like to go to Eurovision. We can’t fault a sister for getting in early with the promo! But will a broadcaster take note?
This isn’t the first time Athena’s name has been rumoured for Eurovision. Back in 2015, there was speculation that Athena would be one of the acts who would make up the six-piece Armenian international supergroup Genealogy, who performed “Face the Shadow” in Vienna. That rumour started in the same way — though a social media post, where Athena teased “bigger surprises are coming soon.”
Eurovision 2015 didn’t happen for Athena, but at the time she told Armenian media that “It would be an honour for me to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest.”
Athena Manoukian’s history
Athena first entered the Eurovision world in 2008, where she competed in the Greek national final for its Junior Eurovision act. Athena placed seventh with the song “To fili tis Afroditis” (“Aphrodite’s kiss”).
More recently, Athena auditioned for the 2018 series of The X Factor UK. She gave a show-stopping audition that grabbed the attention of judges Robbie Williams and Simon Cowell.
The Greek singer performed Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” for her audition, a mash-up of the original from 2003 and Beyonce’s sultry 2015 remix from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. Athena revealed she had come all the way from Greece to audition, saying, “It’s a great opportunity for me to win your heart.”
Not all the judges were impressed, but Athena made it to the next round. However Athena did not feature in any further episodes, suggesting she had either been eliminated from the competition or she chose to withdraw.
Neither Greece nor Armenia have yet confirmed their participation for Eurovision 2020, though both are expected to return. Greece is going through something of a slump at Eurovision, with the former power nation now regularly finishing on the right-hand side of the scoreboard. Armenia is also recovering from two years of non-qualifications and may be looking for a new tactic for 2020.
What do you think? Would you like to see Athena Manoukian at Eurovision 2020? Which country should she represent? Tell us your thoughts below!
I would wait first for Armenia and Greece to confirm their participation for 2020 first, before coming inti speculations about their acts. But, hey, dreaming is free, I guess xD
PS: Why hasn’t Greece have taken a shot back at Junior Eurovision? Like they stopped in 2008 (Athena’s national final) when the Greek debt crisis started but now? Could that happen at some point?
Because they just let Cyprus tap them out for a while, but now they’re out as well.
because the ratings were low, people in Greece care 100% about the adult contest
I think people are exaggerating her fame – no doubt XO is a banger, but none of her songs have particularly many streams, so I feel fans are bigging up her fame and influence
No, she isn’t ready in my opinion even though I love Athena, XO is still in my Europop rotation playlist however I just don’t think she has the strength yet as a singer/performer to have that pressure to be the representative for either Armenia or Greece. Stefania Liberakakis is a better choice for Greece and for Armenia Anush Petrosyan would be vastly and comparatively better for the two nations.
anush who? Iveta for eurovision 2020
I had never heard of “Anush Petrosyan”…checked her out and was totally horrified. This person is neither famous nor popular in Armenia.
Armenia has so many amazing talents including but not limited to Lilit Hovannisyan, Artem Volter, Rippi, Egine and then there is of course Iveta Mukuchyan who definitely give Armenia their first win with a decent song and staging.
Anush Petrosyan? hell no! Sona Rubenyan? Hell YEEESS!
Letz be honest she would totally slay shes perfect for eurovision and armenia and greece both needs to get back in the game and she is the right person to get them there
For Germany? I don’t believe that this will ever happen, but honestly, IF there is a realistic chance, we should select her immediately. I don’t wanna hear “I’m sorry, zero points” again XD
She has good potential with the right song for her energy! I hope either AMPTV or ERT (or CyBC, you know, reasons) considers her and is willing to pave their way with her.
I don’t think CyBC would get away with having her for 2020. Eleni and Tamta were huge stars in Greek music and thus were well known in Cyprus. Athena, despite her evident ego, isn’t. Moreover, after Tamta didn’t get a top 5-10 result I don’t think they’ll use the same formula for 2020.
Apparently Depi Evratesil is on for 2020? So if she was to be internally selected, it would be most likely for Greece.
I think Cyprus should send this guy who was rumored for 2019 besides Tamta.
That’s how it’s been for, like, three years now. Rumored act for Cyprus performs with established ESC acts at the MAD Awards, then, by coincidence or otherwise, there they are the next year! Happened with Eleni, happened with Tamta, now this guy who sang “She Got Me” with Luca Hanni is probably next to bat. I think he wants to do it, too!
That’s a good observation but Eleni was like plan D for Cyprus in 2018 after their national final, Helena and Tamta didn’t work out! And it was plan D in the form of queen Eleni who helped Cyprus slay their way to their best ever result and first podium finish ironically.
Also, speaking of Athena, after Azerbaijan gave Cyprus 24th place in 2017 with Hovig I don’t think Cyprus would be that enthusiastic to send a singer of Armenian descent.
I don’t know why they’d care about what one country thinks of their entrant. And maybe the juries noticed, but the televote didn’t – 11th in the semi and 14th in the final, which is better than the unanimous thumbs-down they give Armenia every year. (It also wasn’t that great a song).
I mean, Greece or Cyprus, I’d have my eyes on that guy, since he kept pace with Luca (proficient lip-syncers both) and Switzerland managed to roundly beat Cyprus at their own game this year. If you’re getting a better Mediterranean bop from frigging Switzerland, you’re gonna have to straighten things out.
There are also too many stories to count of countries managing to stumble into major Eurovision success almost by accident or running out of options. Off the top of my head: – Netta didn’t even qualify from the first round of the Israeli final – the juries saved her, and then she won. – While we’re talking about her, Helena Paprizou was Greece’s fifth or sixth choice after running through a bunch of other options (they almost sent Franz Ferdinand, how cool and random would that have been?) before she got “My Number One” and brought it home. – Stefan… Read more »
Let’s add to that list Conchita Wurst who literally Austrian delegation said they felt like was their “w(o)rst” option and then she slayed it for Austria.
Eurovision is so unpredictable! Come on who would have thought that Norway would win the televote in 2019 and FYROM would win the jury vote. Insane!
Aren’t we calling them North Macedonia now? Less of a mouthful, everyone seems cool with it.
Really nothing to be proud of on Azerbaijan’s part. To vote down an artist because of their ethnicity is plain racist and disgusting.
Armenians do the same though. There’s bad blood between those two nations.
Again, juries do. The televote isn’t necessarily giving them twelves or anything, but they’ve come surprisingly close (they put Chingiz 11th in the semi! That’s not even dead last, that’s close to a point!).
The difference here is that there is bad blood between the country of Armenia and Azerbaijan and you can make the argument that when Azerbaijan places Armenia last, it’s to the country, but to give Cyprus the last place because the singer is Armenian, that’s an indication of racism and plain hatred against a person based on their national identity.
And as Joe said, Armenian public has been receptive of Azeri entries – Chingiz finished 11th in the semi with televoters and 18th in the final.
True- I despise how Azerbaijan will automatically give Armenia the worst ranking in the contest, but it’s a fact that broadcasters have to work around. At the moment, ESC seems to escalate geopolitical tension rather than diffusing it, its original intention as a contest.
depi evratesil isnt back for 2020 thats the junior eurovision version
i support this. xo issa bop
Athena Manokian for Cyprus Eurovision representative future edition.