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gemsofgreece · 2 days ago

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Ethnikós Telikós 2025: Recap, review and song rating

Impressions after watching the Greek National Final

I had been waiting for the first Greek final in more than a decade impatiently, especially because I was totally enamoured with Klavdia's Asteromata. However, while watching, I had SO many thoughts that I couldn't help but write them down somewhere and this somewhere is here, even if tumblr does not have the ideal target group for this, because this is my space to express myself.

Introduction:

The show started with a cute intro in which the hosts for the night - Helena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas - get into the car that will take them to the Christmas Theater where the final will take place. The car takes off from the ground and while it flies amongst the stars Helena and Sakis reflect on their big moments in Eurovision, mirrored in the constellations. It's a sweet concept. The car lands in front of the Christmas Theater and then the driver turns to them only to reveal it's Fokas Evangelinos, who announces "We're here". Fokas Evangelinos is one of the most prominent choreographers in Eurovision, has choreographed many top performances and even a few of the winning songs. The reveal of him being the driver is a clever joke, however it is also menacing because... how should I put it... the time in the sun ends even for the greatest at some point. By having Fokas revealing himself as the "driver" of the whole show from the very intro, you know you're in for something very dated.

Helena and Sakis enter the Christmas Theatre scene from the side, which is both a good and a bad choice, because the camera exposes the "uglier" parts of the scene in this way. The Christmas Theater auditorium is huge, however the scene itself, a theater stage, is a little small for the purposes of the national final. ERT, the state TV responsible for the Greek delegation, filled the auditorium with invitations instead of releasing tickets everyone could buy and attend the show. As a result, even though the theater was generally full, there were some spots in the middle and front, where the seats were empty and this was sort of an ugly thing to expose.

Helena and Sakis start by singing Waterloo and one of Logan's winning songs (didn't even bother to check the title) aka two songs Greeks could not care less about. Then they sing Marinella's "Krasi, Thalassa kai to Agori mou", a good choice because it is the first ever Greek entry in Eurovision and also Marinella is going through some bad health problems right now. "Sing" here is a loose term because both Helena and Sakis playback so hard it is painful to watch. Sakis clearly has not even memorized the lyrics of the foreign songs and he "sings" while constantly looking at the autocue to read the lyrics. As a result, each syllable is heard before Sakis forms the syllable with his mouth. We are starting with a tragedy right away. The whole concept of them singing frozen side to side with an orchestra behind them is also dated.

But then the presentation starts and makes you want the playback back. This is what you get when you appoint singers - and, excuse me, but not ones famous for their eloquence - to be show hosts. I was especially disappointed by Sakis though because he hosted freaking Eurovision decently in 2006 and he was for years the decent host of X-Factor, so WTF was this monstrosity????!!!!! Helena was even more abysmal but at least it was her first time hosting a show. When I am saying they were abysmal, quite probably the worst presentation I have ever watched on such a level, I mean it. Just so you get an idea, Helena at some point required a clap from the audience for managing to pronounce a verb correctly. I don't think she said a full sentence without mixing her words once during the show. They were fully aware of how poorly they were doing, so they had pulled faces, upset expressions and fake smiles that made me uneasy. Yesterday night not knowing Greek was a blessing for whoever foreigner watched the show, you saved yourself from realising the true extent of their flop. This made me upset. ERT made this show with public money. If more rehearsals are needed, fucking do more rehearsals. If the hosts you found are unfit, fucking change them. Enough with all the dinosaurs in Greece taking up all the spotlights. Yes, Helena and Sakis are known in Europe but they are known for performing songs NOT for presenting shows. Give some spotlight to someone who can talk, memorize and is quick thinking. Stop sticking to glories of 20 years back and beating the dead horse non-stop. It makes us look STUPID. It makes us look like we can't UTTER a word in our OWN language. Last year, they ripped Alevras and Kalouta a new one when they were the spokesmen. This year they are all so delicate in order to not hurt Helena's and Sakis' feelings??? Really? These two were EVEN worse!!! I know that in this country where everything works based on what connections you have , Sakis' has got his ass covered and ERT would not want to make him sad but... Helena too?

Next, there is a quick presentation of all participations of Greece in Eurovision where they unacceptably forget one song, Mia Krifi Evaisthissia by Dionysia Karoki and Thalassa. WTF who was in charge of this?

The presentation ends with Zari, so the last Greek entrant, Marina Satti eventually comes to the stage and performs a cool rock cover of Zari... not live but certainly more decently than Sakis and Helena. Marina Satti was unsurprisingly the highlight of the non-competing performances of the night. Helena and Sakis invited her to stay with them for a bit after the song was over. They asked her questions and it's like Marina's mind and speech went on a different speed than Sakis and Helena's struggling brains. Marina said the only clever thing that was heard in that theater last night, when asked for advice as to what the new entrant should do: "I think the best is to show your personality, your identity. We are from Greece, we are modern people, we are citizens of the world". Boom.

The competitive part of the show starts with Helena and Sakis announcing the members of the foreign and the Greek jury. They make sure to butcher all the names of the foreign jury members. And then we see the Greek jury............................. Greece: the country which appoints singers to host a show and TV show hosts / journalists to comprise a music jury................... make it make sense. IF YOU WANTED TO PAY TRIBUTE TO SAKIS AND HELENA YOU SHOULD HAVE THEM AS JUDGES IN THE JURY AND LET JENNY MELITA AND FOTIS SERGOULOPOULOS HOST THE SHOW!!!!!!!

No I never said I was going to be chill about it. Helena and Sakis proceed with announcing the songs, the performers and the songwriters like they are robots.

The contestants:

Elevator (Up and Down) by Rikki

Rikki was the big surprise of the night. After so many playback performances, when I listened to him I thought "what the heck, are the contestants going to be singing in playback as well?!". He was impeccable. It is no coincidence that he was the one who climbed the most against the odds, he was dead last and ended up seventh. A cheerful song, a great staging and choreography as national finals go, great movement and studio quality vocals. I even liked the fun outfit and the hairy chest hahaha If only the song had more... identity to it. Rikki, please try again. Find a more unique song... some more Greek character... and try again because you've got this. Like Marina Satti said, it doesn't have to always be the duality of either English modern songs or Greek traditional songs. For fook's sake, Greek is a language so easy to play and rhyme with, it can work with all genres, if Elevator was in Greek, we would be talking about a whole different situation. But please Greek artists, realise this. Just because you send a Greek song, it doesn't have to always be either Balkan girl bop or a folk lament. Come on, wake up!

Rating: 8 / 10

Free Love by Thanos Lambrou

Rikki's performance had me thinking Fokas Evangelinos had woken up but Free Love came to reassure me that, no, Fokas has indeed stayed a few decades back. Was it him or who was it who thought it was a good idea to dress the poor kid like Elvis Presley??? This was a very dated and unoriginal song with boring lyrics. But here's the thing: Thanos Lambrou was good vocally, his performance was okay and he is a very handsome young man. He should totally try again, with the rock genre if he wants, with Greek lyrics or even English ones as long as the song he presents is better and has more character.

Rating: 6 / 10

Gi Mou by Kostas Ageris

First male of the competition that is not bare chested haha. Gi Mou is a very catchy ethnic Greek song, upbeat, happy with folk elements. The instrumental intervals with the pontian lyre are completely addictive but last for too little. Kostas Ageris absolutely nailed it vocally, however unfortunately his stage presence was not it... Even though there were things happening onstage it still felt lacking. It sort of felt like an AU where Argo with Utopian Land could actually sing. There is no effort to communicate the song, it's like it's for internal consumption, despite being catchy. A nice touch though was when he got the lyre from the musician and started playing it skillfully himself. Kostas Ageris, you too should try again if you work your stage presence. It needs a little more star quality, truth be told...

Rating: 7 / 10

Lost My Way by Andy Nicolas

I think this was my favourite exclusively English song studio-wise. Although beautifully sung, it fell rather flat live and the choreography in the second half of the song was not very good. It all felt like one of the hundreds mid ballads in Eurovision that nobody remembers the other day. Pity for the beautiful sentimental voice of his.

Rating: 6 / 10

Asteromata by Klavdia

You know Fokas did you dirty when one obsessed with your song like gemsofgreece (me) ends up rooting for another. Atrocious, awkward, bad staging. Klavdia going AAAAHHHHHH while dancers sleep on the floor. If Klavdia's team hires Fokas for Eurovision as well, what can I say, you will reap what you sow. Anyway, Fokas sabotaged the favourite song to win. But it wasn't only this. I am so confused by seeing both Greeks and foreigners praise her vocal performance. Guys, sorry to break it to you, you must be tone deaf, literally. Unfortunately, Klavdia, my favourite, was not good in the first half of the song, neither during the competition nor after winning. The acapella part, which is a bit too long, exposed her nerves. I had the impression of her being super confident and I was disappointed by her nervousness because why is it always the Greek singers being so nervous ? Don't get me wrong, Klavdia is an incredible vocalist and she proved it the moment she centered herself. The second half of the song was vocally immaculate and it is a pretty challenging song. But the first acapella half is of critical importance, it has no room for nerves and even tiny mistakes. Thankfully, Klavdia promised right after her victory to "correct what needs to be corrected" which means she was aware of the shortcomings. Today, in a TV show she rated her performance at a 65 - 70 % and said she was going to work very hard until the contest. This was a relief, she is objective and self-aware. I hope she works on her nerves because this is what made her lose her tone. I personally don't mind the glasses but the outfit was also terrible and irrelevant to the song. I am happy my studio favourite won but with this live performance I was left waiting for more and I wonder whether we should support another this year.

Rating: 8 / 10

Paradisos by Konstantinos Christoforou and Kostas Karafotis

The two most famous entrants this year proved why they are famous, with their gorgeous voices. The song is a beautiful romantic entechno (it is a Greek genre, not to be confused with techno) and perhaps the most characteristically trademark Greek song of this selection. Its problem was - what else - the staging and the choreography (and perhaps some dated feel in it). The choreography - thanks Fokas - was absolutely cringe-worthy, with the two singers standing awkwardly four meters apart, then dancing badly on their own each and then turning to sing to each other from a mile away... romantically? Because I know my country well, I assume this vibe was untintentional so it was a little funny. To be honest, I believe Christoforou might be closeted and it looked like he could be intentionally giving these vibes but Karafotis is straight and I don't think he had in mind this could be a gay love song... so something was off... like different wavelengths. Great and harmonious together musically but off performance. I wasn't surpised when Christoforou commented after the show that he loved the experience and would do it again, but Karafotis would probably not want to do it again... In any case, they were both magnificent and I would love to see them try again together or separately. Kosta Karafoti, please reconsider, you have a great voice, come back to the industry.

Rating: 7 / 10

High Road by Georgina Kalais and John Vlaseros

A surprising professional performance with immaculate studio-like vocals. The song was an old school soul / blues-y ballad so perhaps Fokas was able to give it a more appropriate staging. The song is not bad but it is not original and unfortunately the "I take the high road" is repeated like 200 times so it ends up annoying. Vlaseros also lacked any stage presence, unlike Georgina. A notable bonus was the excellent backing vocals.

Rating: 7 / 10

Sirens by Barbz

Barbz took third place with this performance. I won't say this was not one of the most thought out stagings but knowing how blatanly Fokas copied Sweden 2024, it was offputting. Barbz also sounded immaculate, exactly like in the studio version. She gave an emotional performance. I am impressed by the number of great voices this year. I wish the Greek labels will not let all these young people disappear but also respect the genre they wish to sing in. Still, I don't think Sirens deserved third place. Despite her special voice, this type of voices are trending so much the last years that they do not seem that special anymore. The song is okay but feels like I have heard it many times before. Also there wasn't any Greek specific or any character to it really.

Rating: 7 / 10

Vále by Evangelia

The big fan favourite, the Eurofan pushed song... and the one truly bad vocalist of the night. LOL. Evangelia gave a remarkably underwhelming performance... well not to me, because I knew she was a bad vocalist but to those who hyped her for no reason. To get an idea of how much I appreciate her singing, my favourite part was the rap verse and I don't even like rap. That's because she murmurs rather than sings in general. The Cretan Pentozali towards the end is musically beautiful but ridiculously out of place in this song. Evangelia made it even more stupid by trying to dance the Pentozali in her little hot (cheap) dress - Pentozali is a folk war dance, ma'am. A huge injustice that her young fan club pushed her in second place. You know, I have this concern that it was a mistake to release the songs twenty days before the contest because people voted their studio favourites regardless of performance and because I am objective, I think this applies to both Evangelia and Klavdia. People knew they liked the "star charisma" in Evangelia and Klavdia's song so they voted anyway - I'm saying this because even though Klavdia is an immensely better vocalist, she still underperformed compared to other artists.

Rating: 6 / 10

Odyssey by Dinamiss

For me, the victim of the night. Studio-wise, it was my second favourite but after Klavdia's unsteady performance, I honestly thought they had it. They received the biggest applause in the audience and it felt to me that they ate Evangelia for dinner. Beautiful and vocally present, pretty good in the rap parts as well and with the most memorable beat drop in the contest. I don't understand how they were only fourth, for a moment there I thought they beat everyone. They are newcomers and they don't even have a label, I hope they don't disappear. They are an interesting duo, they are sisters, they can rap, they can add Slavic elements to their music (that ethnic "haide ale ale" melody is ethnic Slavic, not ethnic Greek) because they are half-Ukrainian I think. In short, they are fresh faces that can offer something different to the Greek pop music scene. Dinamiss, definitely try again!!!!! On the negatives, the choreography at times was lacking and they looked like they weren't sure what to do with themselves. And well, the song is not exactly peak art or anything, but still.

Rating: 8 / 10

Unhurt Me by Nafsica

Nafsica Gavriilaki channeled her inner Blake Lively and sang a standard English ballad, a type of song nobody in Greece cares for. She was vocally good too, her styling was lovely, the background was cool... but it was an unoriginal boring ballad... who did you expect to charm in Greece with this, Nafsica? The zero points and last place were a little harsh but this was clearly not going anywhere.

Rating: 6 / 10

Play it! by Xannova Xan

...Oh my God... I audibly gasped at this. I was waiting for this song because I knew she was perhaps the best vocalist of the night. But that staging... girl, you ruined yourself. Or maybe Fokas ruined you, I don't know. This staging was totally irrelevant to the song. I had seen some of her crazy styling and I expected very modern colourful hair and clothes, maybe some anime inspiration even, a different fluorescent colour palette, something entirely different. Instead, we got kitch ugly as hell ancient Greek costumes to go with the enlightened starting line "Aphrodite or Athena, I'm both if you know what I mean, yeah". *facepalm* Xannova is the sweetest girl but she lives in USA most of her life and apparently she was too influenced by American teens into "Greek gods" and sex fanfics because that's what this song was basically. And Fokas created a BAD copy of Eleftheriou's Aphrodisiac, if that was possible. So, staging was horrendous. The song is still better than Evangelia's despite its silly lyrics and of course Xannova was indeed miles ahead of her vocally. I still thought she would steal votes from Evangelia but apparently not. Xannova you are a sweetheart and your voice is amazing, try again... with a different source of inspiration this time.

Rating: 7 / 10

Interval and results:

So this was it. As we waited for the results, Helena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas performed (in playback) their Eurovision successes. Rouvas still absolutely got it physically but I don't know why, he just looks soulless now, totally dead inside. Helena did a cool cover of her songs. Then they presented the Cypriot entrant or, rather, Helena forgot about him and was about to be done with the results and the show and then she was like "oh wait, that's wrong guys, no actually we have to see the Cypriot entrant before we announce the results". Yep, this was the level of their presentation...

Theo Evan, the Cypriot entrant, sang Eleni Foureira's Fuego and I couldn't help but laugh when he didn't adjust the lyrics at all and said "Take a dive into my eyes, they are the eyes of a lioness". Another unintentionally funny moment was when Helena told him "Thank you, Theo" and "Theo" in Greek sounds like the word for "uncle".

According to the results, the top three contenders were:

Klavdia

Evangelia

Barbz

and yes I think people voted based on their already formed opinion regardless of the live. My top 3 considering the live performances would be:

Dinamiss

Klavdia

(I can't believe I am saying this but) Rikki

I am still happy Klavdia won because it was indeed the best song, however her performance and staging concerned me. She looked aware of the issues so there's that. Let's hope she gets rid of Fokas and works a lot on her anxiety.

By the way, I know I dragged Fokas to the dirt so I need to acknowledge something. Fokas was not responsible for one or two entries, he was in charge of the whole thing, all twelve participations plus the rest of the show. I understand this is not an easy task, to deal with all this diverse information. Perhaps if they had multiple choreographers responsible for different parts, things would be better. I am not denying Fokas' talent and achievements but ERT definitely overestimates how relevant he can be in his 62 years or it's like nobody can move him from his throne. And I can't forgive how he butchered the winning song.

On the other hand, what concerned me a bit was that in an interview before the contest Klavdia seemed a bit reluctant to go beyond her safe path, she said "What you'll see will be typical Klavdia, I don't like to risk too much" and this is alarming, if she was so static because she feels more comfortable this way. What if what we saw was more her doing than Fokas'?Anyway it's on her now, I hope she realises she has a strong contender in this song and will not waste it.

#greece #eurovision #eurovision 2025 #ethnikos telikos #klavdia #greek national final #review #thoughts #discussion #long post #tw long

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