Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, having internally selected Andrew Lambrou to represent the country with the song "Break a Broken Heart".

Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Country Cyprus
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 17 October 2022
Song: 2 March 2023
Selected artist(s)Andrew Lambrou
Selected song"Break a Broken Heart"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Thomas Stengaard
  • Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt
  • Jimmy Jansson
  • Marcus Winther-John
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (7th, 96 points)
Final result12th, 126 points
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2022 2023 2024►

In the second semi-final, Cyprus qualified for the final on 13 May.

Background

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Prior to the 2023 contest, Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 38 times since the island country made its debut in the 1981 contest.[1] Its best placing was at the 2018 contest where Eleni Foureira placed second with "Fuego". Before that, Cyprus's best result was fifth, which it achieved three times: in the 1982 competition with the song "Mono i agapi" performed by Anna Vissi, in the 1997 edition with "Mana mou" performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou, and the 2004 contest with "Stronger Every Minute" performed by Lisa Andreas. Cyprus' least successful result was in the 1986 contest when it placed last with the song "Tora zo" by Elpida, receiving only four points in total. However, its worst finish in terms of points received was when it placed second to last in the 1999 contest with "Tha 'nai erotas" by Marlain Angelidou, receiving only two points.[2] After returning to the contest in 2015 following their absence in 2014 due to the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and the broadcaster's budget restrictions,[3] Cyprus has qualified for the final of all the contests until 2022, when "Ela" performed by Andromache failed to advance from the semi-finals.

The Cypriot national broadcaster, CyBC, broadcasts the contest within Cyprus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Cyprus has used various methods to select its entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. In 2015, the broadcaster organised the national final Eurovision Song Project, which featured 54 songs competing in a nine-week-long process resulting in the selection of the Cypriot entry through the combination of public televoting and the votes from an expert jury. Since 2016, however, the broadcaster has opted to select the entry internally without input from the public. On 28 May 2022, it was reported by OGAE Greece that the label Panik Records had signed an agreement with CyBC in order to select the Cypriot artist for 2023 through a Greek-Cypriot talent show based on the British reality television music competition All Together Now.[4] However, such plans were pushed back to 2024, with the broadcaster reverting to an internal selection.[5]

Before Eurovision

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Internal selection

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CyBC continued to internally select the Cypriot entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in conjunction with Panik Records.[6] On 17 October 2022, CyBC announced that they had selected Australian-Cypriot singer Andrew Lambrou to represent Cyprus in Liverpool. Lambrou had previously attempted to represent Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022, placing seventh in the national final Eurovision – Australia Decides 2022 with the song "Electrify".[7][8] His entry, "Break a Broken Heart", was released on 2 March 2023.[9]

At Eurovision

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According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (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. On 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Cyprus has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[10]

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 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. Cyprus was set to perform in position 6, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Iceland.[11]

At the end of the show, Cyprus was announced as a qualifier for the final.

All three shows were broadcast live on RIK 1 and RIK Sat with commentary by Melina Karageorgiou and Alexandros Taramountas.[12][13] The grand final broadcast on RIK 1 on 13 May reached over 139,000 viewers, which represents a 61.6% market share.[14][15]

Voting

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Points awarded to Cyprus

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Points awarded by Cyprus

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Detailed voting results

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Detailed voting results from Cyprus (Semi-final 2)[16]
Draw Country Televote
Rank Points
01   Denmark 14
02   Armenia 2 10
03   Romania 13
04   Estonia 8 3
05   Belgium 7 4
06   Cyprus
07   Iceland 12
08   Greece 1 12
09   Poland 5 6
10   Slovenia 9 2
11   Georgia 11
12   San Marino 15
13   Austria 6 5
14   Albania 10 1
15   Lithuania 3 8
16   Australia 4 7
Detailed voting results from Cyprus (Final)[17]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01   Austria 2 3 8 2 4 2 10 19
02   Portugal 16 17 17 15 17 19 24
03    Switzerland 8 5 12 8 8 9 2 12
04   Poland 20 14 20 18 22 21 9 2
05   Serbia 24 24 15 23 25 25 20
06   France 10 19 2 17 14 11 8 3
07   Cyprus
08   Spain 1 4 9 9 13 5 6 23
09   Sweden 5 2 5 3 1 1 12 3 8
10   Albania 23 18 24 11 11 18 25
11   Italy 7 11 1 10 7 6 5 5 6
12   Estonia 13 15 22 4 10 13 17
13   Finland 4 12 4 5 24 8 3 4 7
14   Czech Republic 6 6 7 14 15 10 1 16
15   Australia 3 1 14 7 2 3 8 22
16   Belgium 11 13 19 12 21 16 21
17   Armenia 14 10 11 1 6 7 4 7 4
18   Moldova 12 16 23 19 23 20 10 1
19   Ukraine 19 9 10 22 16 14 2 10
20   Norway 15 21 6 16 5 12 6 5
21   Germany 25 22 18 21 18 24 18
22   Lithuania 17 20 25 13 9 17 11
23   Israel 9 7 3 6 3 4 7 1 12
24   Slovenia 22 23 16 20 20 23 15
25   Croatia 21 25 13 24 19 22 14
26   United Kingdom 18 8 21 25 12 15 13

References

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  1. ^ Gallagher, Robyn (2017-08-03). "Cyprus: Broadcaster reportedly will internally select songwriter for 2018". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 2018-10-24. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  2. ^ "Cyprus Country Profile: Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  3. ^ Psyllides, George (2013-10-03). "CyBC pulls out of 2014 Eurovision song contest". Cyprus Mail. Archived from the original on 2018-10-24. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  4. ^ Daniel, Giannis (28 May 2022). "Kypros: Eurostars, tragoudistes & meli ton episimon somateion fans sto soou anadeixis tou ekprosopou gia to 2023!" Κύπρος: Eurostars, τραγουδιστές & μέλη των επίσημων σωματείων fans στο σόου ανάδειξης του εκπροσώπου για το 2023!. OGAE Greece (in Greek). Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  5. ^ Adams, William Lee (22 July 2022). "Cyprus: Internal selection remains for Eurovision 2023…with "All Together Now" choosing for 2024". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  6. ^ Katsoulakis, Manos (28 July 2022). "Cyprus: Internal selection announced for 2023 and RIK extends deal with Panik Records". Eurovisionfun. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Cyprus will send Andrew Lambrou to Liverpool". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  8. ^ Adams, William Lee (17 October 2022). "Cyprus confirms Andrew Lambrou as Eurovision 2023 singer". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  9. ^ Thermos, Kostantinos (2023-02-28). "Cyprus: Watch a teaser of the "Break A Broken Heart" video clip!". EurovisionFun. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  10. ^ Groot, Evert (2023-01-31). "Eurovision 2023: Allocation Draw results". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  11. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Semi-Final running orders revealed!". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  12. ^ "Κύπρος: Αυτοί θα είναι οι σχολιαστές του φετινού διαγωνισμού της Eurovision!" [Cyprus: These will be the commentators of this year's Eurovision contest!] (in Greek). ShowBiz. 25 April 2023. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Πρόγραμμα Εβδομάδας : 08/05/2023 - 14/05/2023" [Weekly Programme : 08/05/2023 - 14/05/2023] (in Greek). CyBC. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  14. ^ Carabaña Menéndez, Hugo (14 May 2023). "Eurovisión 2023 tuvo un alcance de 162 millones de espectadores: Repasa los datos de audiencia completos" (in Spanish). ESCplus España. Archived from the original on 25 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  15. ^ "Telebarometer | Top 25 Shows" (in Greek). AGB Cyprus. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Liverpool 2023 - Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  17. ^ "Results of the Grand Final of Liverpool 2023". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2023-05-14.