Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Greek-Dutch singer Stefania was internally selected by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) with the song "Last Dance", written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, ARCADE, and Sharon Vaughn. Stefania was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Supergirl" before the event's cancellation.

Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Country Greece
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 18 March 2020
Song: 7 January 2021
Selected entrantStefania
Selected song"Last Dance"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (6th, 184 points)
Final result10th, 170 points
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2020 • 2021 • 2022►

Greece was drawn to compete in the first half of the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 20 May 2021. The draw order was unchanged from the canceled 2020 edition. They qualified for the final, which took place on 22 May.

Background
Main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2021 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty times since their debut in 1974.[1] The nation has won once, at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece managed to qualify for the grand final with each of their entries for several years. Between 2004 and 2013, the nation achieved nine 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. In the 2018 contest, Greece failed to qualify for the second time with Yianna Terzi and the song "Oniro mou" finishing 14th in the semi-final. Greece returned to the grand final in the 2019 contest with Katerine Duska and the song "Better Love", placing 21st with 74 points.[1]

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 shut down by a government directive and replaced with the interim Dimosia Tileorasi (DT) and later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster.[2][3] During this time, from 2013 through 2015, the Greek television station MAD TV organised the selection process.[4] On 28 April 2015, a legislative proposal that resulted in the renaming of NERIT to ERT was approved and signed into law by the Hellenic Parliament; ERT began broadcasting once again on 11 June 2015,[3][5] and shortly after confirmed their intentions to once again participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.[6]

The Greek broadcaster has used various methods to select the nation's entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals, to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. On 18 March 2020, the day of the 2020 contest's cancellation, ERT was one of the first four broadcasters (the others being the Netherlands' AVROTROS, Spain's RTVE and Ukraine's UA:PBC) to confirm their participation in the next edition and to announce their continued cooperation with their 2020 artist, Stefania.[7]

Before Eurovision
Greek-Dutch performer Stefania was selected as the entrant for Greece.

Song selection

With Stefania already selected to represent the country in 2021, it was announced that the same team responsible for the songwriting and the choreography of the 2020 entry would also be used for the 2021 contest, and that the song would be selected internally.[8] On 14 December 2020, ERT revealed the names of the people who comprised the jury panel involved with the selection of the song. The jury consisted of music composer and ERT board member Dimitris Papadimitriou, and music producers Petros Adam and Yiannis Petridis.[9] All three were members of the previous year's jury panel. As it was announced, the jury panel planned to select the Greek entry before 2021, while the song would not be released before March 2021.[9]

Songwriters Dimitris Kontopoulos, ARCADE and Sharon Vaughn,[10] submitted at least four potential entries to ERT for consideration.[11][9] On 18 December 2020, an Instagram post by Stefania on the official account of the Eurovision Song Contest revealed the name of one of the song candidates, "Adrenaline".[12][13] Three weeks later on 7 January 2021, "Last Dance" was announced as the title of selected song,[10][14] with its release planned for 10 March.[15]

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 took place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and consisted of two semi-finals held on 18 and 20 May, and the grand final on 22 May 2021.[16] 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.[17] The semi-final allocation draw held for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 on 28 January 2020 was used for the 2021 contest, which Greece was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 20 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[18]

Once all the competing songs for the 2021 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 4, following the entry from Czech Republic and preceding the entry from Austria.[19]

Greece performed 10th in the grand final on 22 May 2021, following the United Kingdom and preceding Switzerland. Greece finished 10th, receiving their first top 10 placing since 2013.

Fokas Evangelinos was announced as the artistic director for the entry, responsible for the country's stage performance.[20] Stefania was joined on stage by four dancers: George Papadopoulos (stage director for the Greek entry at the 2014 Contest[21]), Nikos Koukakis, Markos Giakoumoglou and Costas Pavlopoulos.[22]

The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Greece on ERT with commentary by Maria Kozakou and Giorgos Kapoutzidis.[23] At the end of the second semi-final, Greece was the ninth country of the ten to be announced announced as having qualified for the final.[24]

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 a diversity in gender and age represented. The judges assess each entry based on the performances during the second Dress Rehearsal of each show, which takes place the night before each live show, against a set of criteria including: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[25] Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially. Jury members should also vote independently, with no discussion of their vote permitted with other jury members.[26] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the grand final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form.[27][28]

Points awarded to Greece

Points awarded by Greece

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Greek jury:[27][28]

  • Xenia Ghali
  • Athena Konstantinou
  • Fotis Sergoulopoulos
  • Adam Tsarouchis
  • Ioannis Vasilopoulos
Detailed voting results from Greece (Semi-final 2)[29]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  San Marino3372221092
02  Estonia99491310113
03  Czech Republic155141137415
04  Greece
05  Austria148151241314
06  Poland7761099216
07  Moldova21111112112
08  Iceland113106104765
09  Serbia51257158374
10  Georgia810913141411
11  Albania10638756210
12  Portugal6481486583
13  Bulgaria422553856
14  Finland11161615161638
15  Latvia1214123121212
16   Switzerland131113461147
17  Denmark161511161115101
Detailed voting results from Greece (Final)[30]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Cyprus33121112112
02  Albania1211129101747
03  Israel921213191522
04  Belgium1410141238318
05  Russia412816792101
06  Malta869845683
07  Portugal1719221241619
08  Serbia13161812171916
09  United Kingdom23231522212424
10  Greece
11   Switzerland1115317161474
12  Iceland2141618151311
13  Spain21182024112023
14  Moldova5564321021
15  Germany24252419222520
16  Finland19171925182256
17  Bulgaria625593812
18  Lithuania20224781113
19  Ukraine1671723210165
20  France1131013146538
21  Azerbaijan108111061292
22  Norway22202214202114
23  Netherlands25242520132325
24  Italy15113151274210
25  Sweden1892311251815
26  San Marino747654717

References
  1. "Countries – Greece". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  2. Savaricas, Nathalie (11 July 2013). "Greece's state-run TV service resumes with a blast from the past". The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  3. Maltezou, Renee (28 April 2015). "In symbolic move, Greece to reopen shuttered state broadcaster". Reuters. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  4. Ανακοίνωση Δ.Σ. - 15.1.2013 (Press release) (in Greek). Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT). 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
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  6. "Συμφωνία ΕΡΤ - Forthnet για τα στιγμιότυπα της Super League" (in Greek). Enimerosi24. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
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  8. Lee Adams, William (4 October 2020). "Greece: Stefania is recording possible Eurovision 2021 songs in Athens". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  9. Argyriou, Yiannis (14 December 2020). "Ελλάδα: Η ΕΡΤ προχωρά την διαδικασία επιλογής του τραγουδιού μας για την Eurovision 2021! ΑΠΟΚΛΕΙΣΤΙΚΟ" (in Greek). Eurovision Fun. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  10. Gallagher, Robyn (7 January 2021). "Greece: Stefania will sing "Last Dance" at Eurovision 2021, with an 80s pop sound". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  11. Christou, Costa (15 September 2020). "Greece: Stefania to present four potential entries for Eurovision 2021". ESCXtra. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  12. @eurovision (18 December 2020). "Greece's @stefania_ is totally getting ready for #ESC2021!". Retrieved 18 December 2020 – via Instagram.
  13. Argyriou, Yiannis (18 December 2020). "Ελλάδα: Με το "Adrenaline" η Stefania στην Eurovision 2021;" (in Greek). Eurovision Fun.
  14. "Eurovision 2021: Με το τραγούδι "Last dance" και τη Stefania η Ελλάδα". To Vima (in Greek). 7 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  15. Adams, William Lee (22 February 2021). "Save the date! Stefania's Eurovision song 'Last Dance' set for March 10 release". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
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  19. "Semi-Final running orders revealed". Eurovision.tv. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
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  21. "Eurovision 2014: Yiorgos Papadopoulos announced as the choreographer for the Greek entry". Bizz News. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
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