It’s the Eurovision down season, and don’t you for a second think we’re going to stop speculating, arguing, and pushing our heated opinions. Our latest series looked at the national finals of Eurovision, and discussing how we would reform the national finals of Eurovision. This time we’re creating national finals from scratch; continuing with Cyprus.
In part six of this series Molly, Angus, and Kittens discuss how they’d create a national final for Cyprus.
Do we think that they will return to a national final, and would we want that?
Molly
Not really since they seem to be going down the road of choosing internally. I feel like they will continue with this route unless they get a bad result in the future from doing this. However, in 2024 and 2023, they qualified, so this won’t change their process unless things fall apart in how they choose an artist. Some of their more popular results have been through an internal process, for example, with Eleni Foureira.
Personally, it would be cool to see a national final from Cyprus however if something works then why fix it? I feel like this is the case when it comes to an internal selection. Having a national final could mean that the performances brought to Eurovision may not be as successful since Cyprus has seemed to perfect its strategy of picking its entries internally.
Angus
CyBC seems to be more than happy to select internally, and I do understand why. Regardless of what you think of the quality of the songs they selected, Cyprus has been (mostly) a solid mid-table performer in Eurovision since they abandoned their national final in 2015. Especially for a smaller country like Cyprus, a national final can be a big investment. Based on what the country is sending in, it doesn’t seem that the broadcaster and the domestic music scene are all that interested in taking on the financial, competitive, and artistic risks. After all, the last time that Cyprus sent in anyone that started in the Cypriot music scene was Hovig in 2017. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Besides, as even his biography shows: the draw of Greek talent shows simply seems to be overwhelming.
I understand the whys behind this, and a national final to call their own might help the domestic music industry immensely. But all this also makes envisioning or wanting a national final that feels like it is its own thing pretty difficult. It could work and if it did I would love to see it, but I see more obstacles than anything.
Kittens
Like the others, I don’t really see Cyprus switching in the immediate future. A non-NF process is quicker and cheaper, especially for smaller countries with smaller music scenes. I’d love to see them incubating their local talent and putting that forwards, but their entries have been kind of one note for a while – ‘Fuego’ was both a blessing and a curse. It’s a shame that they seem to be less able to take those risks, and if they’re not careful they will stagnate over time.
What would our dream national final look like?
Molly
It would be similar to San Marinos National Selection where artists from different countries around Cyprus such as Greece get involved in the national selection since I am not sure that there would be a big enough pool of artists just in Cyprus itself to be able to sustain a national selection with just artists from Cyprus. I think they could bring some major talent over if they had a national selection from seeing the artists that had been done internally.
I would like to see bigger staging with Cyprus similar to shows such as Melfest however a smaller show could also work with Cyprus’s submissions always being closer to being more focused on dancing so not much of the stage setting is needed for most of the performances however the stage does need to accommodate this so I think a staging similar to Melfest could help with this aspect.
Angus
I think Cyprus would be best off trying a few song selections. Internally select an act that has an EP or even album’s worth of songs that can go to the contest, and then have those songs compete over one or, if needed, multiple shows to pick a winner. This gives the broadcaster the freedom to still pick who they want, and we can still support local artists by having one of them being an opener or interval act.
Kittens
Fantasy mode, I would say that incubating or encouraging a variety of artists with different sounds would probably give them the most success. Sending the same thing repeatedly will only work for so long. A small, ESCZ style final, with good production values could do wonders, build hype, and show off the Cypriot music scene.
Coming out of fantasy mode, this takes a lot of budget and change. But who knows, with Greece starting out on a selection process journey again this year, they might find the momentum to move forward. But until then, keep doing internal selections… And don’t be afraid to take a risk.
Cyprus’ Eurovision Journey
The Mediterranean nation made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981, where Island participated with the song “Monika” and place 6th. Since then, Cyprus has participated 40 times (33 of which where they qualified for the Grand Final).
In 2024, CyBC internally selected Silia Kapsis to represent them in Malmö with the song “Liar”. During her participation in Malmö, Silia qualified for the final, before going on to finish in 15th place with a total of 78 points. The juries gave Cyprus 34 points, whilst the televote awarded Silia 44 points.
What do you think about our reforms? As always, let us know what you think by commenting down below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky for all the latest Eurovision news!
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU
Tim J