Cyprus in Eurovision
Cyprus' Eurovision debut came at the 1981 Contest when the group Island took sixth place with 'Μόνικα' (Monika). In total, the country has thus far competed in the Grand Final on 31 occasions from its 37 entries.
Prior to 2018, the best Cypriot results were three fifth places thanks to Anna Vissi and 'Μόνο η αγάπη' (Mono i agapi) in 1982, Hara and Andreas Constantinou's ‘Μάνα μου’ (Mana mou) in 1987 and the 2004 power ballad 'Stronger Every Minute' performed by Lisa Andreas.
At the 63rd edition of the Contest in Lisbon, Eleni Foureira came second in the Grand Final televote and runner-up overall with the fan-favourite bop 'Fuego', achieving the nation's top result to date.
Last year, Elena Tsagrinou opened the Saturday night show with 'El Diablo' and ultimately placed 16th.
2022 entry: Andromache - 'Ela'
Semi-final: Andromache will compete in 9th place in semi-final 2
My Eurovision Scoreboard ranking: 11th
Odds to win ranking: 17th
(Rankings as of 9 April 2022)
About the artist
Andromachi Dimitropoulou, who performs simply as Andromache, is a German-born singer of Greek heritage who first came to public attention when she made it to the live shows of season two of 'The Voice of Greece' in 2015.
Andromache has gone on to release eight singles (including her Eurovision entry), with her biggest hit 'Na Soun Psema' from 2019 clocking up some two million views on YouTube in the first two months following its release. The song has now surpassed one million streams on Spotify.
About the song
The song 'Ela' (Έλα) is an ethno-pop song performed in Greek and English, with instrumentation provided by Greek strings (bouzouki) and Albanian woodwind (fyell brezi).
It was written by an extensive team of European songwriters, including former Eurovision alumni Alexander Papaconstantinou (better known as 'Alex P') and Arash Labaf.
Alex P has writing credits on five past Eurovision songs: 'Yassou Maria' for Greece in 2007, 'Always' for Azerbaijan in 2009 and three Cypriot entries - 'La La Love' in 2012, 'Fuego' in 2018 and 'Replay' in 2019. Arash, alongside Aysel, represented Azerbaijan in 2009 with third-placed 'Always'.
How was Andromache chosen for Eurovision?
Andromache was announced as Cyprus' internally-selected entrant for Eurovision 2022 by national broadcaster RIK/CyBC in early March, following an agreement signed by the broadcaster and Greek record label Panik Records.
Internal selection has been Cyprus' preferred option since 2015, when the 'Eurovision Song Project' national final process was used to pick 'One Thing I Should Have Done' by John Karayiannis for that year's Contest in Vienna.
Aussievision review and rank podcast episode
Apple
Spotify
Or wherever you get your podcast.
Cyprus will compete in semi-final 2 on May 12 (European time) in Turin.