If you stay ready you ain’t gotta get ready. And with a September 25th artist reveal, Cyprus is most definitely on it and ready to slay Eurovision 2024 in Malmö.
The island nation that gifted us Eurovision legends like Eleni Foureira and Tamta, has confirmed that rising star Silia Kapsis will sing at Eurovision 2024. Her song has been written by the Greek composer Dimitris Kontopoulos — who you’ll know from countless Eurovision hits (including Stefania’s “Last Dance” and Ani Lorak’s “Shady Lady”). Word has it that Silia’s song is fresh.
Details about her song will be released at a later date.
For now, please dive into her official biography.
“Silia is a singer of Cypriot and Greek descent, born and raised in Sydney, Australia. She has been performing since the age of 4, and has had extensive training with elite artists at the top of their respective fields.”
“Silia has been awarded numerous accolades, including the Bobby McCloughan Creative Arts Award (130 Anniversary Award) at Claremont College, The St Vincent’s College Madame Christian Scholarship for Singing and more recently, been a recipient of the Village Nation Performing Arts College Scholarship for an all-round triple threat performer.”
“As a Singer. Silia has been the lead singer for the Australian Youth Performing Arts Company (AYPAC) and recurrent lead singer at numerous high-profile events worldwide, including being the solo performer for Hollywood Star, Alex Russell at his exclusive 30th Birthday Event in Los Angeles.”
View this post on Instagram
“Performing however, was just the beginning. Her love for music flourished into releasing her debut song, Who Am I?, which she primarily wrote and composed at the age of 12. Silia then went on to release her second song, No Boys Allowed in March 2023 with her latest song, Disco Dancer being released in May 2023. Her next single is set to be released in late 2023.”
“As a Dancer. Silia has danced with world-renowned choreographers, performing in their global dance showcases in Australia and the USA, was selected for the ImmaBeast Dance Company in Los Angeles, danced with Stephen tWitch Boss on the Jennifer Hudson Show and was featured in a dance documentary produced by Taboo from the Black-Eyed Peas. Throughout her dance career, Silia has also been awarded numerous awards and scholarships including the prestigious BuildaBeast 2019 Sydney Scholarship.”
“As an Actor. Silia was cast as the lead role, Zoe, in her debut short film, Pearly Gates, has worked on various television projects for Nickelodeon. More recently, Silia has been one of Nickelodeon’s regular Nick News Hosts, which saw her team get nominated for a Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Award in 2023.”
Many of you who complain about dimitris kontopoulos and his songs not being good enough don’t understand one thing. Kontopoulos writes songs that will have the potential for a powerful staging and a good live performance on the eurovision stage. Kontopoulos doesn’t necessarily write songs that are to be played on replay on spotify. That’s why many times the dream team finishes in the top 10 because they present a well rounded and well calculated live performance.
Noa Kirel WANNABE… Next!
As a Cypriot, I am not only embarrassed by the increasingly generic artist and song selections every year, but by the lack of anger in Cyprus over the fact that the NATIONAL broadcaster doesn’t even consider Cyprus-based singers, and goes shopping for talent in other countries. Cypriot singers regularly win most Greek talent shows, yet apparently, none of them are good enough for CyBC, and there’s no uproar about the fact that local talent is continuously ignored. I’m sure Silia is a lovely person, but on earth would a no-name Australian singer whose biggest performance happened at a college show… Read more »
I feel sorry for Cyprus songwriters, it is always the same team which is outdated and old fashioned.
I mean, it’s early days and hard to judge before the song is out but yeah, I don’t think either of the artist announcements “helped” at this stage. It’s not like either is Noa Kirel and that level of star power.
I get that as fans, we are a bit starved for news at this point but this is just increased scrutiny on these announced acts. Revealing the dream team is behind the songwriting side is also a complete hype killer, too.
Competitively, Mustii may not be a slam dunk, but I’ve really enjoyed digging into his music during this lean period. He seems like a cinch to be one of my favorite 2024 artists. Cyprus is offering quite a bit less, but I suppose it was a backup plan since the ‘Fame Story’ approach fell through.
Probably more ‘damage control’ than ‘backup plan,’ actually
NEWS: Sweden’s Eurovision commentator has urged the EBU Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl to reconsider the Big Five’s direct access to the Grand Final
Swedes scheming together, uh oh we’re in for big changes now that Sweden hosts!
The constant Swede-phobia around here can be tiring.
Not really Swede-phobia, since it’s just news.
“Scheming Swedes” is a bit of a sinister spin to put on poor Carolina Norén.
Carolina is a Eurovision commentator, and both she and Martin are Swedes.
If EBU Executive Supervisor would be from Azerbaijan and we’d hear years later how that person would’ve had private talks (several times) with the Azeri Eurovision commentator about X change for Y -country/countries it would be scheming Azeris, right?
It is actually a rare case when I have to say, Good job, Sweden, good job! Although it is merely an idea and not an official confirmation, it would make the contest much fairer if all but the last winning country (I see what Martin did there with the phrasing “winner and host countries only”, as in, the UK 2023, which would have had to compete although they were the host country and not the winning country) had a direct ticket to the grand final.
It’s the financial constribution that gave them this right, there’s no official information all together how much they pay, but you can probably guess that countries like Germany, France, Spain and UK might withdraw due to high costs and low viewing figures considering poor results.
This article is from 2011 and merely from one person’s point of view, but it’s a lot to remember:
https://www.escdaily.com/the-cost-of-not-having-the-big-45/
Financial contributions to the EBU is literally the only valid argument that is left out there for… as long as I remember. I mean, DO IT! These sayings, “If I don’t get candy, I’ll make a scene“, are long past due. You cannot send a good song for the competition; why even bother paying for an extra mile then and expect to be treated like a Princess? I do not know how the payment contributions are decided, but I believe it should be on a pro rata basis. If that is not the case, then it should be changed. Having… Read more »
It is done in the pro rata principle already, and because of their large payments it was seen as a valid reason to give them this advance in the first place. Having them possibly withdraw means higher costs for others, and while B&H, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Andorra, Slovakia etc. have stated that the current costs are already too high, what would happen with more larger costs?
Smaller ESC, higher ticket prices, more costs to the host country or something else.
Its a commentator. How much influence do you think she has?
Apparently quite a lot, since she lobbies her personal bias in private conversations.
It was a personal wish, when they asked her. She of course know she can’t change anything. Only the reference group as a whole can change things.
She can of course propose It but it still is not her choice
I am probably gonna get a load of hate from this comment however aren’t most of the comments jumping the gun too soon because how do you Dimitris Kontopoulos isn’t planning to write a upbeat pop song? He has written “Hold Me” from Azerbaijan, “Scream” for Russia and “Karma” for Albania. Silia does showcase she can sing slow songs well because check her out on YouTube covering “I have nothing” from Whitney Houston. Even if she does have a bop with a dance break in it. What is wrong supporting her as I am sure she has been working hard… Read more »
Remember when Greece and Cyprus sent ethnic entries? I miss those times.
Remember when countries sent songs in their own languages? I miss those times.
Me too !
Remember when Cyprus sent Singera who actually live and work in Cyprus? hahaha
Remember when performers could actually *sing* with “skill*? Ohhh, missing those times …
Sam Ryder is a great singer Duncan Laurence as well same goes for Barbara Pravi, but contemporary music is not just about singing it’s the whole shabang, but I’m with you I allso miss those times ??
Remember when the event called Eurovision wasn’t the playground of certain “names”? Ohhh, missing those times …
Remember when Türkiye was participating and deliverying original stuff? Ohhh ohhhhh …
I wonder if dance breaks are going to be the new Eurovision trend which lasts for a few years -such as the “Eleni” trend (which overlaps the one I’m talking about). Channel triggered this trend last year, so in the 2023 edition we had Noa and Blanka. Maybe we’ll have more examples next year. It’s interesting, though.
Don’t forget Brunette from Armenia.
Yes, you’re so right!!!
Welcome to Eurovision, Silia. I hope you enjoy the experience, and I look forward to hearing the song.
Evidently, the comments on this post come across as not being the most positive representation of the Eurovision fandom. I think the best way to clear the air this time is to ask everyone: What brought us to this comments section?
Hi, purple! It’s me, Colin! New username, new email, still me. 😉 Good question. This board has spread through so many topics. Some of us worry that Silia might get an entry not meant for a minor (seeing Cyprus’ track record since 2016 onwards), but then again, it’s probably a futile worry. Some people are debating on so many diaspora performers for Cyprus. It’s not bothering me, but I can see that some people are taking it seriously. Also, some people seem to be bothered by Kontopoulos. The man had some duds, sure, but also some good songs. I just… Read more »
I have no problem with diaspora, as long as they are selected fairly. An open submission process would be better than whatever this was.
eurovision legends like…Tamta. Right.
I saw they tried slipping that in without us noticing…
”Word has it that Silia’s song is fresh.” ???
Dimitris wrote like 2 listenable songs for esc. The rest of them were awful. I’m not expecting much, tbh.
I’m hearing Greece is thinking of giving it 12 points
I’m sure this will be yet another basic & bland pop song from the so-called dream team. I expect nothing groundbreaking, unique, or exciting.
Silia seems like a great performer for her age though! I hope her participation at Eurovision launches her career.
I suspect a basic and bland song, heavy reliance on pre-recorded vocals, but also a dance break, so voters will fall for it.
What were her merits and the reasons why they chose her? Shes is clearly not a powerhouse vocalist, and she has just started her carieer which means she didn’t show and prove what she can do (if anything). She is not known to Cypriot people (who pay for her participation), so this is clearly a dirty business led by her manager and parents. Stop this nepotism once for all! Stop usimg ESC for selfpromotion only and doing it with others people money! She won’t do anything at ESC by the way.
She had influential composer behind herself
It’s in the article.
she is 1/2 Cypriot though, more than last years act Andrew who just had a grandparent from there
her mom is cypriot, her dad is greek
I ain’t shocked to find out Cyprus is desperately trying to replicate the success of Foureira’s “Fuego”. However, it’s been 7 years. Do I want too much, asking for a bit of variety? Sadly, I expect the success of 2023 dancebreaks is very much working like an inspiration. It’s the year I started to root for any song, literally, for the victory, which is ready to shake the europop standard of “slaying” radio edition songs.
I’m starting to get worried that Eurovision 2024 is going to be the “Eurovision Dancebreak Contest.”
I thought I’m the only one who’s afraid of this. I like Israel last year, but I don’t like how it’s going to kickstart a trend of turning a “song contest” into a “dance contest”.
but if you have too many songs of a similar genre at Eurovision, they’re all gonna cancel each other out, and that could lead to some more unique and entries reaching for the top, because their votes won’t be as cannibalized.
Don’t forget in 2021, we had a bunch of dance bops in the final and other than Malta in Greece in the top 10, most of them flopped, even the most well liked ones by the fandom like Cyprus, Serbia, and San Marino because the votes for those songs were split all over the place.
That is not what I am worrying about. While the national selections’ season is my favourite part of Eurovision, I hope for more variety in the event as well. Enough is enough with safe choices. I do not want to wait for a year to witness songs that are no different from the regular radio songs I hear for the remaining 300 days in a year. Sure, outstanding songs may pop up at the top, but that alone does not increase the quality of the contest overall.
At some point, the people in charge stopped seeing the contest as an annual music event. To them, it became a light entertainment reality show. The more commercial the better. Appeal to the masses, popularity is what counts, not quality. A union of public broadcasters somehow became a Simon Cowellesque for-profit production company. Sad, very sad.
It’s not been a music competition for about 20 years I’m afraid. The rules were explicitly changed sometime in the mid-2000s to make it clear Eurovision was a TV show first, the songs comes second.
You say flopped and yet that was a pretty average result for Serbia and one of San Marino’s best ever placings…
“Cyprus is most definitely on it and ready to slay Eurovision 2024 in Malmö.”
Why are young female singers expected to “slay” at Eurovision, why can’t they just perform?
because all young female singers slay at eurovision, females are always better at everything
Like Duncan Laurence, Sam Ryder and Kaja ?
Because the writer is gay.
I’m gay, and I don’t need young female artists to “slay.” I just want them to sing.
Sorry, so far I didn´t like the ESC songs written by Kontopoulos and I doubt in the singing skills of Silia ….
I dont see the issue. So they are giving diaspora a chance? Arent diaspora Cypriot too? Or should only natives represent?
Ar least she and Andy have more connection to Cyprus then Eleni who had none.
The song might not be a winner, we have to see, but she is there to represent and I wish her the best.
Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldovan or Romanian diaspora throwing in a vote or two for their acts – good grief!! How dare they?? Pearls clutching everywhere!!
Armenian, Cypriot and Greek diaspora – sseexxyyyyyyyy!!
Ok? So they shouldnt choose diaspora acts cause other diaspora might vote for them?
You cant really stop people to vote for whoever they want.
Noooo. That’s not the point. Point is in the different way “diasporas” of Europe are viewed, some heavily criticized, some heavily praised.
Yeah, most people vote the way they want. If it wasn’t for the juries …
Personally, I take every 8-12 point from a neighboring country with a grain of salt. Of course, if everyone votes for Norway, Sweden doing so isn’t as alarming, but if their only 10 points come from Sweden, while others hardly give them anything, it’s a sign that most likely, these points are somewhat biased. However, as we can’t ever be 100% sure, for legal purposes, all of these points are equally valid. Sadly, I can’t think of an actually fair system when it comes to neighbors and diaspora voting.
You cant really stop people from voting on neighbours though. And why would you?
With Europe chances are likely one of your neighbours have the best song. So should you not vote for it just because ?
You indeed can’t, and that’s why I say that the perfect system of voting does not exist. In some years, I have voted for my neighbors, if I thought that they had one of the best songs. I don’t vote for them by default. Sometimes, I have my neighboring countries as NQs, and wouldn’t ever vote for those songs. Some people, however, vote for their neighbors / country of birth every time regardless of the song. It’s impossible to have a fair system that differentiates between motivations, thus, this imperfect system is still the best one.
Professional “juries” do show bi-a-s all the time. When it comes to the public vote people’s hearts and choices belong to themselves.
I agree. The juries should be held accountable for each vote, and ”neigborvision” should be held under a bigger loop for them. You can’t control who the public votes for, not you should. I’m just saying that I’m underwhelmed that some people vote entries based on country alone. For me, it should be primarily about the song, but not everyone agrees, which is okay. Every reason is valid.
I don’t think every reason is valid. It’s silly to vote for Finland instead of Sweden because Sweden has already won six times and Finland has only hosted once. For example. Or “I’ve already been to Stockholm, I’d like to try Tampere this time” to use another example. Etc.
I wonder how Cypriot musicians feel about being snubbed and how the common folk of Cyprus feels about his country being represented by diaspora foreigners. They should be mad.
It’s maddeding and undignified and sad.
So what, we don’t care about cypriot musicians
An Aussie representing Cyprus 2 years in a row, interesting choice
Good luck to them, hopefully they give us a worthy contender for the crown
Y’all wanted Cyprus to stop buying Swedish song, y’all got your wish granted lol
Is this the first time ever that Cyprus has the Dream Team working on their entry?
amazing choice, many tiktoks to come then
top 3 confirmed (although not winning because i feel confident for Belgium with King of Dark Pop Mustii)
I like Mustii but his voice isn’t very strong live, so I won’t call him a winner just jet, let’s wait for the song first.
there is still time to work on your live vocal skills though, but he has talent
I miss the days when the Greeks and Cypriots would send something modern yet ethnic. Nowadays both are just giving us generic anglo-fied songs. I always worry about sending super young contestants without the benefit of having been put through at least the grind of a reality talent show with audiences and cameras. I felt awful for that poor Greek kid this year. He gave his all but it felt the Greek broadcaster had little support for him.
not exactly literal poor greek kid though, we all know why he got selected, super rich shipping billionaire family
and btw i thought Victor gave it a good go for 16 yrs old, and he doesn’t let his flop bring him down but continues to make more music, his follow up song The 968 Paradox is nice either, a greek lewis capaldi and nothing wrong about that, but maybe it just wasn’t something for eurovision
This is why the victories of Salvador Sobral and Maneskin are so important. No Dream Team, no Swedes involved, no cookie cutter pop.
I absolutely agree with you. But don´t forget to mention Kalush Orchestra.
Stefania is not a bad song but I’m afraid that Kalush Orchestra’s victory will always be questioned because of the pity televote, just like Jamala in 2016.
Support to and solidarity with Ukraine by the public do not equate to pity vote.
i’m ok with another bop from cyprus, but the “dream team”??? i’m not feeling it
Kontopoulos is an absolute legend, show some respect pls
The battle of the legends. Could it be Ralph Siegel for Deutschland, please?
tbh I never heard of him, ?????
Another child for the adult Eurovision. Ugh.
No way you are calling her a child…
She litch gonna be 17 by the time the contest happens and a 17 year old is both physically and mentally an adult.
She’s 16 now. A child when she agreed to this. Legally needing a parent’s permission. Also our brains don’t stop developing until we are in our 20s.
17 is a teenager 18 is an adult imo
I am always wary when a kid under 18 participates at ESC. Why can’t 18, an age of legal adulthood, be a bar for ”an adult ESC”? I hope that she gets an age appropriate entry. That said, still, as it is so, welcome to the ESC family, Silia, and all the best.
They fall within the minimum age requirements for participants taking part in Eurovision.
that’s true and I remember j’aime la vie
hopefully she isn’t going to serve superg!rl, that one was BAD and this is my fear considering her young age
There is no “age appropriate” stuff in Eurovision no more. Just look at the “act” that the two Romanians seemed to convey on the Liverpool stage in 2023 at the age of 19 or so. Part of the cortex (brains) still develops at that age.
Even if there’s only a small age difference, it’s a key one. At 19, Theodor is legally an adult, able to enlist in the army, serve a full jail sentence in the adult jail if he’d ever commit a crime, run for the Mayor of some town, and own businesses and properties, among other things. Even if he is really young, at this point, legally he answers for his own actions, and saying he can or cannot appear half-dressed on stage can be seen as condescending and infantilizing. Especially since contests like Miss Universe and such have young women of… Read more »
True.
Not the dream team again…
She could come with well-produced dance track that would sail to the final, but I highly doubt she’s gonna be contender for win. Let’s be real Cyprus is not winning Eurovision 2024.
We kinda knew this three weeks ago already, but hey, confirmation! Wishing her luck, and hope her song is good. If not, well, she’ll at least go down as another Australian repping Cyprus at ESC lol
All of this is as fresh as fax machine, nothing new under the Austr.. Cypriot sun
It’s getting annoying how Cyprus and Greece keep sourcing diasporans for Eurovision. It’s insulting to the local talent.
fun fact: there hasn’t been an actual cypriot on eurovision stage since 2017. not even the dancers are from there.
At least they managed to get someone to represent them quite fast. As read elsewhere, Ireland seems to struggle and they extended the submission period close to end of October.
Nor songwriter.
A member of the Greek diaspora won ESC for Greece. Another won it for Luxembourg.
There’s really no rule that explicitly states that broadcasters must source their representatives from strictly within their country’s borders. That alone evens out for all participants.
Whenever someone mentions Cyprus in Eurovision, my first association is suprisingly not Eleni. For all great reasons I remember their 2000 entry “Nomiza” by Voice. It only finished 21 out of 24. But their voices, the song in a native language, the misterious looking performance, everything screamed TOP 5 for me. They were one of the best (in my opinion) in one of the worst Eurovision Years. That year Eurovision was held in Sweden too. I hope they give this young lady an opportunity to perform in the native language. I miss hearing more native languages in the competition. Just… Read more »
I think English is her native language so yes they are giving her the opportunity:)
Based on what she’s released so far (looks like all of three songs), I’m not feeling it so far.
She is my winner already omg
This sounds really really boring.
Prove me wrong Silia…
How did this come to be? I don’t understand the process. What’s the deal with Australians using Cyprus as a backdoor to the contest?
Before 2018, Cyrpus’ best result came from a diaspora member from the UK and had lived in Cyprus for a time.
I have no problem with diaspora representing any country.
Her appearances are cheap and childish.
I think that you could have right with this opinion.
Because insulting Eurovision artists is so cool to do, isn’t it?
She has a modern contemporary sound. Cypriot diaspora is global. A new artist, she is most certainly welcome to Eurovision next year. I hope she can sing well live. All her videos so far are very autotune evident. Good luck and I hope you send a great song.
Worry not. Recorded backing vocals and “clever” camera shots can make anyone sound good. It happened elsewhere, why would SWEurovision be any different? I’m of course not talking about the subject matter of the article.
Andrew Lambrou didn’t use recorded “backing” vocals in Liverpool, he used recorded primary vocals. Even worse.
Much worse.
He really made a mockery of the pre-recorded vocal rules.
But thirsty Europeans saw his muscular arms and fell over themselves to vote for him. Sigh.
His song was good, vocals were good and staging was very good. I had no problem with where he ended up on the scoreboard.
Not every song has to be edgy and daring in order to do well
“Vocals were good.”
Yes, partly because no one took advantage of the pre-recorded vocal rule in 2023 as much as Andrew. Friends of mine were close to the stage in the jury final and they said it was clear he wasn’t doing a huge amount of heavy lifting vocally.
The likelihood of Swedish chreo and staging and dancing in SWEurovision … like it never happened before hahahah! Borinnnnnnnng.
Ok! Perfect profile to become the f a n w a n k of the next season, I can see it already….
And always the same songwriters again and again in this Esc world it’s so tiring.
Look, i have a soft spot for Cyprus, but…can’t they find someone based in Cyprus? I mean, I know it’s a small island, and half of it is kinda ineligible, but there has to be someone.
Silia father is Cypriot so idk why u complaining
Hatzigiannis is still very much active in the industry, had summer hits recently too
you know from his ESC entry ”Yenesis”
It´s one of my favourite ESC songs from Cyprus.
Another singer from Australia it seems. But I still have a lot of confidence in Cyprus. They know what they’re doing. If they won’t do well this year, then there’s always next year to incorporate a super cool national final. It’s a shame this year’s one didn’t work out and I highly expected it to produce good talent for Eurovision, but at least Cyprus are killing it with their internal selections! Silia’s song being written by the same person who wrote Shady Lady and Last Dance is a sign that the song will either be super catchy and/or well written.… Read more »
Also, just found out she’s only 16, so her talent will be very fresh, that’s for sure!
Then could the jesc 2021 winner be on the cards too??
Dude … mate … so funny and so “unexpected”!!
Who???
Silia Kapsis. Si.. li…a Kap… sis.
look up ”Disco Dancer” or ”No Boys Allowed”