Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Oniro mou" written by Aris Kalimeris, Dimitris Stamatiou, Yianna Terzi and Mihalis Papathanasiou. The song was performed by Yianna Terzi. A national final was scheduled to be held in order to select the Greek entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Five entries were to compete in the national final on 22 February 2018 where public voting would exclusively select the winner, however "Oniro mou" performed by Gianna Terzi was announced as the Greek entry on 16 February 2018 following the disqualification of four of the entries.

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country Greece
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)16 February 2018
Selected entrantYianna Terzi
Selected song"Oniro mou"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Aris Kalimeris
  • Dimitris Stamatiou
  • Yianna Terzi
  • Mihalis Papathanasiou
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify
(14th, 81 points)
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Greece was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 8 May 2018. Performing during the show in position 14, "Oniro mou" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Greece placed fourteenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 81 points.

Background
Main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2018 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-eight times since their debut in 1974.[1] The nation has won the contest on one occasion in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Greece has managed to thus far qualify to the final with each of their entries. Between 2004 and 2011, the nation achieved eight consecutive top ten placements in the final. To this point, Greece in 2016 with Argo's "Utopian Land" failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever, being absent from the grand final for the first time since 2000 and marking Greece's worst result at the contest. Greece returned to the grand final in the 2017 contest with Demy and the song "This Is Love" placing 19th with 77 points.

The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event within Greece and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ERT had been in charge of Greece's participation in the contest since their debut in 1974 until 2013 when the broadcaster was shutdown by a government directive and replaced with the interim Dimosia Tileorasi (DT) and then later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster.[2][3] Following the January 2015 Greek legislative election, a draft proposal was initiated to reinstate ERT as the public Greek broadcaster. On 28 April 2015, the draft was approved and signed into law by the Hellenic Parliament, resulting in the renaming of NERIT to ERT; ERT began broadcasting once again on 11 June 2015.[4][5] ERT confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 6 September 2017.[6] The Greek broadcaster has used various methods to select the Greek entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. In 2017, the Greek artist was selected via an internal selection, while the song was selected via a national final.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 1 October 2017, the Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) announced that they would be selecting their act and song via a national final.[7] On 4 October 2016, ERT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their proposals until 20 October 2017, which was later extended by one week to 27 October 2017. Artists were required to be signed to record labels, while songs were required to be performed in the Greek language and contain a native sound.[8][9] 20 entries were submitted following the submission deadline. An eight-member artistic committee reviewed the received submissions and selected five entries to participate in the national final, which were announced on 8 November 2017.[10] The artistic committee consisted of Anastasios Symeonidis (chairperson), Petros Dourdoubakis (songwriter and radio producer), Dimitris Ktistakis (conductor), Alexis Kostas, Mihalis Messinis (composer), Andreas Pylarinos (conductor), Giannis Spyropoulos (orchestrator) and Tsaras Pantazis (radio producer). On 14 November 2017, "Idio tempo" performed by Duo Fina and "Baila jazz" performed by Tony Vlahos were disqualified from the national final as their songs did not contain a native sound.

The national final was scheduled to take place on 22 February 2018, hosted by Panagiotis Kountouras and Nikos Pitanios where the three remaining entries were to compete.[11] The winner was to be selected exclusively by public voting through telephone or SMS, however on 15 February 2018, "Min ksehnas ton ilio" performed by Areti Ketime and "Apo tin Thraki eos tin Kriti" performed by Chorostalites were disqualified from the national final as the artists' respective record labels did not pay the €20,000 amount requested by ERT, used exclusively to finance the Greek entry (staging, promotion and music video).[12] ERT therefore confirmed the remaining entry, "Oniro mou" performed by Yianna Terzi, as the Greek entry for the 2018 contest on 16 February 2018.[13]

Preparation

The official music video of "Oniro mou" was presented on 8 March 2018 during the ERT1 programme Sto Dromo gia ti Lisavona, hosted by Duo Fina.[14] The video, produced by Panik Records in collaboration with ERT, was directed by Sherif Francis and featured a guest appearance by actor Dimitris Vlachos.[15]

At Eurovision
Yianna Terzi at the 2018 Eurovision Blue Carpet event

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Greece was placed into the first semi-final, held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[16]

Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Greece was set to perform in position 14, following the entry from Austria and before the entry from Finland.[17]

The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Greece on ERT1, ERT HD and ERT World as well as broadcast via radio on ERA 2 and Voice of Greece with commentary by Alexandros Lizardos and Daphne Skalioni.[18] The Greek spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Greek jury during the final, was Olina Xenopoulou.

Semi-final
Yianna Terzi during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Yianna Terzi took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 3 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 7 and 8 May. This included the jury show on 7 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Greek performance featured Yianna Terzi dressed in a flowing white gown with wide sleeves and performing on stage with her hand painted blue. In regards to the blue hand, Terzi states: "The song has a reference 'in the blue'; blue represents the blue sky of Greece, the ocean, what Greece is known for. And because it is a diaolgue between Greece and Greeks, and devoted to the country, I wanted to symbolize the Greek blue." The stage lighting transitioned between blue, red and orange colours throughout the performance, which also featured the use of a wind machine.[19][20] Yianna Terzi was joined by four off-stage backing vocalists: Evgenia Balafa, Giannis Lafis, Irini Psyhrami and Victoria Chalkitis.[21]

At the end of the show, Greece was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Greece placed fourteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 81 points: 53 points from the televoting and 28 points from the juries.[22]

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Greece and awarded by Greece in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Greece
Points awarded to Greece (Semi-final 1)[23]
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Cyprus
10 points
 Azerbaijan
8 points  Armenia  Cyprus
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points  Macedonia
3 points
2 points   Switzerland  Armenia
1 point  Belgium

Points awarded by Greece

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Greek jury:[25]

  • Nikos Graigos (jury chairperson) – artist (performer), music producer
  • Yiannis Nikoletopoulos – artist (percussionist), author of lyrics, composer
  • Ares Anagnostopoulos – artist manager
  • Ilenia Williams – music journalist, TV presenter, radio producer
  • Margo Enepekidi – performer, musician, composer
Detailed voting results from Greece (Semi-final 1)[23]
Draw Country Jury Televote
N. Graigos Y. Nikoletopoulos A. Anagnostopoulos I. Williams M. Enepekidi Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Azerbaijan1112211283
02  Iceland18181817171818
03  Albania4324538210
04  Belgium15131416151612
05  Czech Republic71010689256
06  Lithuania1611418181113
07  Israel115512107492
08  Belarus1314157913101
09  Estonia5233421038
10  Bulgaria249535647
11  Macedonia878978317
12  Croatia986866516
13  Austria14121311121415
14  Greece
15  Finland12151713111514
16  Armenia17161615141765
17   Switzerland31712141610111
18  Ireland1091110131274
19  Cyprus6671147112
Detailed voting results from Greece (Final)[24]
Draw Country Jury Televote
N. Graigos Y. Nikoletopoulos A. Anagnostopoulos I. Williams M. Enepekidi Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Ukraine23172124212215
02  Spain25252019222424
03  Slovenia26182423202325
04  Lithuania17201616151818
05  Austria20192217172020
06  Estonia91012538374
07  Norway24121113101583
08  Portugal21222322252526
09  United Kingdom22242621232622
10  Serbia667979219
11  Germany1313218191192
12  Albania5556647210
13  France8197166511
14  Czech Republic10111010111347
15  Denmark14262526262114
16  Australia1223194141421
17  Finland16211515181923
18  Bulgaria1814181291665
19  Moldova43422210101
20  Sweden786343817
21  Hungary1914855613
22  Israel2781187456
23  Netherlands1541320121216
24  Ireland11151714131712
25  Cyprus32311112112
26  Italy19161252410138

References
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  3. "Greece's replacement public broadcaster launched". dw.com. Deutsche Welle. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
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  5. "Greece's state broadcaster ERT back on air after two years". bbc.com. BBC News. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  6. Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (6 September 2017). "Greece: ERT confirms participation in Eurovision 2018". Esctoday. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  7. Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (1 October 2017). "Greece: ERT kicks off preparations for Eurovision 2018 with potential national final". Esctoday.
  8. Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (23 October 2017). "Greece: ERT invites 10 Greek record labels to submit entries for NF". Esctoday. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
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  10. Argyriou, Giannis (8 November 2017). "These are the five finalists for the Greek final!". infegreece.com (in Greek). INFEGreece. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  11. Argyriou, Giannis (February 2018). "Αποκλειστικό: Ανατροπές στον ελληνικό τελικό! 22 Φεβρουαρίου η διεξαγωγή του, με ζωντανή ερμηνεία των τραγουδιών!". infegreece.gr (in Greek). Giannis Argyriou.
  12. van Lith, Nick (16 February 2018). "Two acts seemingly disqualified from Ellinikós Telikós". ESCXTRA.com. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  13. Noutsos, Angelos (16 February 2018). "It's Gianna Terzi for Greece in Lisbon". ESCXTRA.com. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  14. Kostikas, Giannis (27 February 2018). "Eurovision ΕΡΤ: Στις 8 Μαρτίου η παρουσίαση του video clip της ελληνικής συμμετοχής!". INFE Greece (in Greek). Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  15. "Αυτό είναι το βίντεο κλιπ της Γιάννας Τερζή για το "Όνειρο μου"". getgreekmusic.gr (in Greek). 9 March 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
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  18. "Ο Αλέξανδρος Λιζάρδος και η Δάφνη Σκαλιώνη σχολιαστές της Ελλάδας στην Eurovision". infegreece.gr. 30 March 2018.
  19. LaFleur, Louise (30 April 2018). "Greece's Yianna Terzi delivers on the rehearsal stage". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  20. Malam, Luke (3 May 2018). "Day 5: Yianna misses the high notes for Greece – PREDICTION & REVIEW". escXtra.
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