Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

Eurovision Song Contest 2012
Country  Greece
National selection
Selection process Ellinikós Telikós 2012
50% Televoting
50% Jury
Selection date(s) 12 March 2012
Selected entrant Eleftheria Eleftheriou
Selected song "Aphrodisiac"
Finals performance
Semi-final result Qualified (4th, 116 points)
Final result 17th, 64 points
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2011 • 2012 • 2013►

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, which was held between 22 and 26 May 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) announced their selection plans on 30 January 2012 which included lower budgetting cost due to the ongoing debt crisis affecting the country.[1] Among the costs that the broadcaster sought were recording and production of the candidate song. Universal Music Greece were the only label who accepted these terms.[2]

The four competing acts Cassiopeia, Dora, Eleftheria Eleftheriou, and Velvet Fire, were presented on 28 February 2012 through the national broadcasters official Eurovision website, Facebook and Twitter pages.[3] The national final took place on 12 March 2012 at the Athens River West shopping mall. The winning song chosen to represent Greece was "Aphrodisiac" performed by Eleftheria Eleftheriou, which was selected using a combination of jury and televoting.[4] Following the national final, Eleftheriou embarked on a promotional campaign with the majority taking place via the Internet.[2]

On 25 January 2012 at the Semi-Final Allocation draw, Greece were scheduled to compete in the first half of the first semi-final which was scheduled to take place on 22 May 2012.[5] It was at the Running Order draw on 20 March 2012 that Greece were confirmed to perform third during the semi-final. Greece finished in 4th place in the first semi-final with 116 points and qualified to participate in the Grand Final at the Baku Crystal Hall on 26 May 2012.[6] At the aftershow semi-final qualifiers news conference, a running order draw took place for the ten qualifiers to determine were each country would perform during the grand final. Eleftheriou randomly selected 16th position and was to perform after Denmark and before Sweden. Greece achieved 64 points from a combined jury and televote finishing in 17th place.[7]

Background

Prior to the 2012 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-two times since its first entry in 1974,[8] winning it in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou,[9] and having placed third three times: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique; in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas; and in 2008 with "Secret Combination" performed by Kalomoira. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year. Its least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song "Mia Krifi Evesthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus.[10]

The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), is in charge of Greece's participation each year, including the selection process for its entry.[11][12] Although its selection techniques have varied over the decades, the most common has been a national final in which various acts compete against each other with pre-selected songs, voted on by a jury, televoters, or both. In most cases, internal selections have been reserved for high-profile acts, with the song either being selected internally or with multiple songs —by one or multiple composers— performed by the artist during a televised final. One of the more unusual methods was a reality television talent competition format inspired by the Idol series that ran for many months in 2004, ultimately being scrapped. The notability of the participants has also varied, from previously unsigned acts to established music superstars. Since the 2010s ERT has used national finals with generally less-established acts. In late November 2011, ERT's assistant public relations spokesperson confirmed the country's participation in the 2012 contest due to the contest's popularity.[13] ERT also stated that their budget for this year's event would be further lowered significantly compared to previous years.[13][14]

Before Eurovision

Selection procedure

ERT officially announced their selection plans on 30 January 2012, with the broadcaster further reaffirmed that they would be participating in the contest at the most minimal possible cost due to the Greek government debt crisis affecting the country.[1][15] To achieve this, the broadcaster took a different approach compared to previous years, seeking to share a majority of the costs of participation with a major record label. Among the costs ERT sought for the label to cover, were the costs of recording and production of the candidate songs, promotions including the production of the winner's promotional CD, wages for creative and artistic professionals, as well as covering the trip and accommodations in Baku.[2] The only label to accept the terms was Universal Music Greece, leading to an agreement between the broadcaster and the label to organize the selection process.[13] On 23 February 2012, ERT announced that four undisclosed acts would compete in a national final to be held on 12 March 2012. A draw to determine the running order was held on 4 March 2012 at a media event hosted by ERT and Universal Music Greece.[2][16] A draw to determine the running order was held on 4 March 2012 at a media event hosted by ERT and Universal Music Greece.[17]

Songs

The candidate songs were released on 28 February 2012 through ERT's official Eurovision website, Facebook and Twitter pages, though the names of the artists and songwriters were concealed in order to place emphasis predominantly on the songs.[3] Two days later on 1 March 2012, the songs started playing on ERA radio stations. On 4 March 2012, ERT and Universal Music Greece held a reception, inviting all mass media to meet the acts of the Greek national final.[17] On 5 March 2012 all details were made known, and preview videos of the songs began airing on television.[18] Additionally, Universal Music Greece released all four songs as Music downloads on the same date.[19]

"Baby I'm Yours"

Dora chose the song "Baby I'm Yours", written by duo Hush Hush, which consists of Franc, and Ilias Pantazopoulos, with lyrics by Nektarios Tyrakis.[20] Tyrakis is best known for writing lyrics for Greece's 2004 entry "Shake It", as well as Belarus's 2005 entry "Love Me Tonight".[20] Dora had previously tried to represent Greece in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006 at age fourteen, but placed fourth in the national final.[21]

"Killer Bee"

The band Cassiopeia chose the song "Killer Bee", composed by Christos Dantis with lyrics by Leonidas Chatzaras.[18] Christos Dantis is best known for writing Greece's winning entry "My Number One" in 2005, as well as his participation in the 2007 Greek national final.[20] Cassiopeia was formed shortly before the national final, and consist of three girls Elena, Naya, and Maria.[20]

"No Parking"

The band Velvet Fire chose the song "No Parking", written by George Samuelson and Leonidas Chantzaras.[20] Velvet Fire was formed in late 2011, and consist of George Alex and May Sokolai.[20]

"Aphrodisiac"

Eleftheria Eleftheriou chose the song "Aphrodisiac", written by Dimitris Stassos, Mikaela Stenström, and Dajana Lööf.[18] Dimitris Stassos is best known for writing Spains 2009 Eurovision entry "La noche es para mí".[20] Eleftheriou emerged as a participant from the second season of Greek talent show The X Factor.[22] She also tried to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, but a week before song presentations her song was leaked onto the web by an unknown party, thus disqualifying her.[4]

Results

ERT and Universal Music Greece held a national final on 12 March 2012 at the River West stage, located at the Athens River West Mall.[23] As in past years, the winning song was selected using a combination of televoting and jury voting at a 50/50 split.[23] The five member jury consisted of radio producer and head of ERA Marina Lahana, conductor Andreas Pilarinos, head of public relations of ERT Foteini Giannolatou, and radio producers Mihalis Tsaousopoulos and Tasos Trifonos.[24] The final was televised on ERT's ET1 and ERT World, as well as on the official websites of ERT and the Eurovision Song Contest at 22:00 local time.[23][25] Maria Kozakou, an ERA radio DJ who also provided commentary for the Contest in 2011, hosted the show along with Giorgos Frantzeskakis. The show featured many guest performances by Eurovision participants, inducing Ivi Adamou of Cyprus, Sofi Marinova of Bulgaria and Anggun of France.[23] The show also featured performances by Greece's 2011 Eurovision entrant Loukas Giorkas, as well as Universal Music Greece roster acts Giorgos Sabanis and Christos P.[23]

The national final lasted about two hours, and ERT's broadcast scored a 10.8% viewing share according to ABG Nielsen Hellas, down from last year's 17.4% share.[26][27] During the broadcast, #Eurovisiongr became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.[28] Reactions to the national final were mostly negative, with many media personalities and viewers criticizing the choice of venue, poor production, lack of vision, poor hosts, and use of playback vocals instead of live vocals.[29][30] ERT had used playback performances in years where there was only one artist, such as 2005, 2006, and 2009. This was used as a means to ensure that all of the songs would be given an equal performance by the artist and they would not favor a certain composer or song; however, in this case, viewers felt it did not allow them to choose the artist who would give the best vocal performance on the actual night.[31][32] Many also commented that Eleftheriou's song and performance was reminiscent of past entrants Elena Paparizou and Kalomira.[33] Despite the many complaints, others applauded the broadcaster's efforts to take part in the contest with a limited budget, and its clever choice of using a shopping mall's natural setting as a backdrop as opposed to a dark studio as was the case the previous year.[34] Former entrant Sakis Rouvas also commended the broadcaster for continuing on a tight budget and commented that the result of production should have been expected as it was "a sign of the times", referring to the Greek government-debt crisis.[35] An estimated 24,557 televotes were cast in the final, 14,172 coming from SMS votes and 10,385 from phone in votes.[24] All proceeds from the televoting went to a charitable organizations "Kivotos Tou Kosmou" (Arc of the world), "Paidika Horia SOS" (Children's villages SOS), and "To Hamogelo Tou Paidiou" (The smile of a child).[24] Eleftheria Eleftheriou was the overall winner of the night, winning both the jury and televote in a landslide victory.[24][36]

 Results of Ellinikós Telikós 2012
Draw Artist Song Songwriters
1 Dora "Baby I’m Yours" Hush Hush (Franc, Ilias Pantazopoulos), Nektarios Tyrakis
2 Cassiopeia "Killer Bee" Christos Dantis, Leonidas Chantzaras
3 Velvet Fire "No Parking" George Samuelson, Leonidas Chantzaras
4 Eleftheria Eleftheriou "Aphrodisiac" Dimitris Stassos, Mikaela Stenström, Dajana Lööf

Promotion

Following the national final, Eleftheriou plans to embark on a promotional campaign, the majority of which will be via internet.[33]

At Eurovision

During the Semi-Final Allocation draw which was held on 25 January 2012, it was announced Greece was scheduled to compete in the first half of the first semi-final on 22 May.[5] On 20 March 2012 the Running Order draw was held, which determined the order of which the participants performed. Greece was set to perform 3rd in the first semi-final.[37]

The choreography used during the event was different from its initial performance when the song was first presented at the selection procedure.[33]

The song eventually advanced into the grand-final that was held in May 26. Greece performed 16th on the final line-up. At the end of the show, the song only finished in 17th place with 64 points. Since Greece has been known to be the most successful country in the contest after the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004 and had placed within the top-ten position after advancing into the finals every year, this record was eventually broken. Eleftheriou came fifth in the televote in the Semi-Final 1 and third in the jury voting.

Points Awarded by Greece

First Semi final[38]

12 points Cyprus
10 points Albania
8 points Romania
7 points Russia
6 points Moldova
5 points Iceland
4 points Belgium
3 points Ireland
2 points San Marino
1 point Denmark

Final[39]

12 points Cyprus
10 points Albania
8 points Serbia
7 points Romania
6 points Sweden
5 points Azerbaijan
4 points Russia
3 points Italy
2 points Moldova
1 point Ukraine

Points Awarded to Greece (First Semi-Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
  •  Cyprus
  •  Romania
  •  Azerbaijan
  •  Ireland
  •  Moldova
  •  Montenegro
  •  Albania
  •  Belgium
  •  San Marino
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
  •  Iceland
  •  Italy
  •  Russia
  •  Denmark
  •  Israel
  •  Spain
  •   Switzerland
  •  Austria
Points Awarded to Greece (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
  •  Albania
  •  Cyprus
  •  Romania
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
  •  Azerbaijan
  •  Ukraine
  •  Moldova
  •  Serbia
  •  Russia
  •  Turkey
  •  Belgium
  •  Israel
  •  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  •  Bulgaria
  •  Georgia
  •  Germany

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Kontogiannis, Dimitris (22 August 2012). "Greek cuts to be deeper than trailed". Financial Times. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Toronidis, Theofilos (17 November 2011). "ERT begins preparations". ESCDaily. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 Pozzi, Renee (23 February 2012). "Four entries to be previewed February 28th". ESCDaily. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  4. 1 2 Staff (10 May 2012). "Representing Greece is Eleftheria Eleftheriou with the song 'Aphrodisiac'". BBC. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  5. 1 2 Escudero, Victor M (25 January 2012). "Results of the Semi-Final allocation draw". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  6. ↑ Staff (22 May 2012). "Eurovision Song Contest 2012 - Semifinal 1 results". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  7. ↑ Staff (26 May 2012). "Eurovision Song Contest 2012 - Final Result". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  8. ↑ Staff. "Eurovision Song Contest 1974 – Year page – Eurovision Song Contest - Moscow 2009". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  9. ↑ Staff (21 May 2005). "Eurovision win for Greek singer". BBC Online. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  10. ↑ "History by Country: Greece". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  11. ↑ Paravantes, Maria. (11 June 2005). Joy In Greece Over Eurovision Win. Billboard 117(24), 17-17. Retrieved on 16 January 2009.
  12. ↑ Staff (18 December 2009). "Eurovision 2010: Οι 10 ελληνικές υποψηφιότητες" (in Greek). ERT. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  13. 1 2 3 Staff (25 November 2011). "Σήριαλ τέλος: στην Eurovision και το 2012 η Ελλάδα" (in Greek). Star Channel. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  14. ↑ Papanikolaou, Natassa (24 November 2011). "Μυστικές" συζητήσεις για την Γιουροβίζιον 2012 (in Greek). Ethnos. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  15. ↑ "Eurovision με χαμηλό κόστος" (Press release) (in Greek). ERT via Typologies.gr. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  16. ↑ Staff (27 February 2012). "Eurovision 2012: Τρίτη 28 Φεβρουαρίου 11 το πρωί τα 4 υποψήφια τραγούδια του Ελληνικού Τελικού" (in Greek). Tralala.gr. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  17. 1 2 Nakos, Thanasis (5 March 2012). "ΕΛΛΑΔΑ: Oι ερμηνευτές των υποψήφιων τραγουδιών! H σειρά εμφάνισης στον Τελικό!" (in Greek). OGAEGreece.com. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  18. 1 2 3 "ΔΕΛΤΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ - VIDEO CLIPS ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΣΥΜΜΕΤΟΧΩΝ" (Press release) (in Greek). Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  19. ↑ "Eurovision 2012 - Greek Songs Nominees - EP by Various Artists". Apple Inc. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Toronidis, Theofilos (5 March 2012). "Greece: Video clips for the national final released". ESCDaily. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  21. ↑ "Baby I'm Yours" (in Greek). Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  22. ↑ "Aphrodisiac" (in Greek). Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Stanton, John (12 March 2012). "Greece selects Eleftheria Eleftheriou to sing at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest". EuroVisionary. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  24. 1 2 3 4 ΔΕΛΤΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ - ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΣ ΤΕΛΙΚΟΣ (Press release) (in Greek). Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  25. ↑ "Greece: Videos of songs online". European Broadcasting Union. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  26. ↑ Konstantopoulos, Fotis (13 March 2012). "Greek Final 2012 Figures In". Oikotimes.com. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  27. ↑ "Άπατος ο ελληνικός τελικός της Eurovision!" (in Greek). Star Channel. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  28. ↑ Litsa, Tereza (12 March 2012). "#EurovisionGR και #foustanela trending topics!" (in Greek). Neolaia.gr. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  29. ↑ Grammeli, Afroditi (13 March 2012). "Η Eurovision στα τελευταία της" (in Greek). To Vima. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  30. ↑ Papanikolaou, Natassa; Lefteris Mpintelas (13 March 2012). "Η Ελευθερία θα χορέψει στο Μπακού...". Ethnos. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  31. ↑ "Όλα όσα έγιναν στον Ελληνικό τελικό της Eurovision (ρεπορτάζ-video-φωτο)" (in Greek). Tralala.gr. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  32. ↑ "Αντιδράσεις από το εξωτερικό για την ελληνική Eurovision!" (in Greek). Star Channel. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  33. 1 2 3 Κατηγορούν την Ελευθερίου ότι αντιγράφει Παπαρίζου – Καλομοίρα (in Greek). Star Channel. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  34. ↑ Πρωινή Μελετη. Star Channel. Αirdate: 13 March 2012.
  35. ↑ "Πως φάνηκε στον Σάκη Ρουβά ο ελληνικός τελικός της Eurovision?" (in Greek). Athens Bars. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  36. ↑ "Τι ψήφισε επιτροπή και κοινό στον τελικό της Eurovision;" (in Greek). Star Channel. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  37. ↑ "Results of the 2012 Running Order draw revealed!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  38. ↑ http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-year/contest?event=1583#Scoreboard
  39. ↑ http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-year/contest?event=1593#Scoreboard

External links

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